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Snyder
defends
record,
says he
made
tough
calls
By DAVID
EGGERT
Associated
Press
KALAMAZOO,
MI -
Republican
Gov.
Rick
Snyder
defended
his
record
in a
town
hall-style
campaign
event
Monday,
saying
he has
faced
some
difficult
choices
but that
he put
Michigan
on a
positive
path
forward.
"I've
made
some
really
tough
decisions.
I've
asked
people
for
sacrifices.
...
Could we
really
build a
foundation
to last
for
generations
if we
didn't
go clean
up a
whole
bunch of
those
giant
messes
that
career
politicians
wouldn't
address?"
Snyder
said in
the
hour-long
event at
Western
Michigan
University,
calling
attention
to his
role in
Detroit's
bankruptcy
filing.
It was
the
first in
a series
of 10
planned
town
halls
that
Snyder
will
hold
with
what he
said are
undecided
voters
before
the Nov.
4
election.
He faces
a tough
re-election
challenge
from
Democrat
Mark
Schauer,
who has
criticized
the town
halls as
GOP
partisan
events.
Snyder
spoke
for
about 17
minutes
before
answering
eight
questions
about
topics
including
his
decision
to sign
a
right-to-work
law,
education
and road
funding,
and a
business
tax
overhaul
that led
to
retirees
with
pensions
paying
higher
taxes.
Questions
came
from a
high
school
teacher,
a
businessman,
a county
commissioner,
a local
mayor
and
people
on
social
media.
The
governor
said
Schauer's
claim
that he
cut more
than $1
billion
in
spending
on K-12
schools
and
colleges
is
"hogwash."
A man in
the
crowd
later
asked
why
voters
should
believe
him when
he said
right-to-work
legislation
was not
on his
agenda
but
signed
it
anyway
after
not
insisting
on
legislative
committee
hearings
and
despite
mass
protests
at the
Capitol.
The law
no
longer
allows
forced
union
fees as
a
condition
of
employment.
Snyder
reiterated
what he
has said
before -
that the
issue
was not
a
priority
until
labor
waged a
pre-emptive
strike
with a
ballot
initiative
that
would
have
made
right-to-work
laws
unconstitutional.
It was
soundly
defeated,
and
Snyder
said the
unions
miscalculated
by
bringing
the
issue to
center
stage.
The law
"is
standing
up for
Michigan
workers,"
Snyder
said.
"If you
see
value in
a union
and they
show you
a
proposition
that's
valuable
to you,
you
should
want to
join.
... But
if you
don't
see
value,
if
they're
not
doing
something
to make
it worth
your
time,
should
you be
forced
to pay?"
The
Snyder
campaign
said it
designed
the town
hall for
undecided
voters.
Democrats
dismissed
it as a
partisan
event,
complaining
that
Schauer
supporters
who
signed
up for
tickets
later
got
cancellation
notices.
The
event
was
moderated
by Tim
Terrentine,
president
of the
Kalamazoo
Regional
Chamber
of
Commerce.
"There's
a whole
long
list of
things
that
Snyder
is
claiming
are
helping
the
state
when
clearly
they're
not,"
said
Bruce
Fealk, a
retired
court
stenographer
who said
he drove
three
hours
from
Rochester
Hills
only to
be
denied
entry.
"We
still
have one
of the
highest
unemployment
rates in
the
country.
Our
seniors
are
getting
taxed.
Our
school
teachers
don't
have
books
and
supplies
...
their
class
sizes
are
going
up."
Fealk,
who
joined a
small
group of
protesters
outside
the
event,
spearheaded
an
unsuccessful
drive to
recall
Snyder
in 2012.
Snyder
campaign
spokeswoman
Emily
Benavides
said
"we're
holding
these
town
halls
for
undecided
voters,
not for
the
Schauer
campaign."
Snyder
and
Schauer
have
agreed
to
appear
Oct. 12
at a
televised
town
hall-style
debate.
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