UPDATE: Video now here.
Story here. Video later.
While the legislature is taking their well-deserved *cough* vacation, the governor is out there working, talking to the press, getting the message out about the upcoming budget battle.
Friday she was in Detroit talking to the Freep editorial board- watch the video here.
You can read some excerpts from the interview here. A couple of questions of interest-
• On what Democrats have to confront in the budget crisis:Democrats have to step up and do reforms on public employee health care. We know that. Democrats have to step up and cast a vote that they have never been able to cast in the past. Do things that the Republicans weren't able to do under John Engler, when they had control of both chambers. We are going to have to, both sides, cast very difficult votes, and everybody understands that they have to step up to the plate to be able to get the solution we need.
• On how she's convincing legislators to accept a budget deal:
It's not really about what piece of pork goes to their district. I honestly think that people want to do the right thing. Which means putting this mess behind us, putting this fiscal mess behind us. But it is just so hard for people to cast a vote, especially with all of the noise that some of the extremes are making about recalls. I think we just need to be very strong with legislators and with citizens that these are tough votes but they were not sent to Lansing to cast easy votes. They have to do what is right and put this behind us. And the sooner it is, the better it is for the state.
The Freep has this story scattered all over their website. Most frustrating.
But what's even more frustrating is the lack of promotion from the Democrats, their overall failure to take the lead in the conversation.
And what's really frustrating is that this stuff doesn't even appear on the governor's own website. That just blows my mind. (Update: Now it does. Good job. Don't make me do that again.)
Why isn't this being promoted anywhere?
Why do I feel like it's 2006 all over again?
And people want me to quit smoking. Yeah, right. Let me have my 19th nervous breakdown first, OK?