Mixed political talk about Sanctuary Cities in Michigan
(WJBK) - GOP Senator Jack Brandenburg and GOP Gov. Rick Snyder have one thing in common - they are both Republicans. But to be fair to both, that may be in name only.
The Macomb County lawmaker is a fire-brand and wears his conservative credentials on his forehead. One could never describe the governor that way. In fact, there are some among the ultra-conservative wing of the party that are still wondering if this governor leans too far to the middle for their taste.
So now we have Mr. B. and Mr. S. proving the point that they are cut from different cloth one more time.
There was the governor the other day talking in glowing terms about opening the doors of Michigan to stranded refugees from Syria and, on the same day, a senate committee was considering Mr. Brandenburg's bill to penalize so-called Sanctuary Cities that are welcoming immigrants with open arms.
"Sanctuary cities harbor and protect criminals," the senator argues and "I think that's wrong."
The governor is not so sure the "problem" is that severe as he notes, "Michigan is not one of the more challenging jursidictions in terms of what Sanctuary Cities mean and how they have been operating."
Can you say disconnect?
The governor has never tossed out the welcome mat for "illegals" but always speaks in terms of bringing immigrants into the state who will create jobs.
"He's wrong," protests Mr. Brandenburg. He counters, "I don't think they help to create jobs ... I think we need to be more concerned about the entrepreneaurers we already have in Michigan ... rather than seek out entrpepeanrurers with illegal aliens."
The senator wants to dock the already cash-strapped City of Detroit $1.4 million for being a Sanctuary City and swipe $350,000 from Ann Arbor for the same reason.
Ann Arbor Democratic Sen. Rebekah Warren tells her GOP colleague, "keep your hands off our revenue sharing and let us decide what's right for our community."
And then she praises the governor for his attitude. "I think the governor is right" and she accuses of Mr. Brandenburg of "legislating to the headlines."
And every time a Democrat says something nice about the GOP governor its just one more example of how this governor is sometimes out of step with those who wear the same GOP party label.