This week politicians and politicos from around the state gather on Mackinac Island for the Mackinac Policy Conference. This morning, attendees will receive a copy of the newspaper “The Mackinac Island Tipsheet”, a parody publication published by the Michigan Democratic Party.
The Tipsheet has articles with titles like, “Rick Snyder’s Economy Not Working”, “Wall Street Execs, Political Cronies Cash In With Snyder Administration”, and “Just Cruising: Snyder’s State Treasurer Was Paid Not to Work”.
Here’s a snippet of the fun:
Wall Street Execs, Political Cronies Cash In With Snyder AdministrationFor Rick Snyder, raising the minimum wage would be “a challenge.” What’s not a challenge for the governor? Putting a controversial lobbyist on your payroll, and giving up to 90% raises to Wall Street investment executives, including a sweetheart deal for a former campaign aide and treasurer of the secretive NERD fund.
Massive raises have gone to 38 employees of the Bureau of Investment, making three of them the highest paid state employees, with Chief Investment Officer Jon Braeutigam the reigning pay champ at $333,000. Also cashing in is Richard Baird, who worked as a lobbyist for the governor’s office while being paid by Snyder’s secretive NERD fund. Baird is now on the state payroll as “transformation manager,” after getting a raise to $140,000.
One of the investment executives getting a raise was Rich DiBartolomeo, who was formerly employed by Snyder’s campaign and served as treasurer of Snyder’s secret dark money NERD fund, before being hired by the Treasury Department at a salary of $180,000.
“What assurances do we have that scarce taxpayer resources are not being used for other questionable purposes within the Snyder administration?” said state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, the East Lansing Democratic Senate Minority Leader. “People have a right to expect more from their government than putting political operatives on the state payroll and allowing Dillon to take a Caribbean vacation on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Sen. Whitmer has led a bipartisan call for an investigation into salaries and bonuses in the Snyder administration.
You can read the entire Tipsheet by clicking the image below.
Click for the full Mackinac Island Tipsheet
While the Tipsheet is a fun and light-hearted look at the failure of the Snyder administration, the intent is dead serious: to highlight just how corrupt and rife with crony politics Governor Snyder’s administration is. It’s incumbent upon us all to remind our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members of that every day between now and Election Day in November.
Print out a few copies and leave them around the coffee pot or lunchroom at work. Start some conversations. They are important conversations to have and the Tipsheet sums up the situation very nicely.
