Was this about infrastructure/roads/bridges improvement, or am I thinking of someplace else?
The pace frustrated some of Whitmer’s supporters and allies, including voters in southeast Michigan who helped propel her to office in 2018. Her signature issue, fixing roads was a debacle and went nowhere when she proposed raising more than $2 billion a year by raising the gas tax by 45 cents per gallon.
“She hasn’t hit any real home runs in a way that has captured the public’s attention,” said Greg Bowens, a southeast Michigan political consultant.
“The thing that tends to stick in people’s mind is that she wants to raise the gas tax 45 cents, and universally not many people who think that’s a great idea.”
Detroit-area activists hoped Whitmer would be more aggressive, Bowens said. The governor hasn’t pushed to repeal the state’s emergency manager law and rankled black voters when she proposed closing Benton Harbor High School, a plan she dropped after public outcry.
“People were so used to protesting the unfairness of governing by Republicans, particularly as it relates to race, that it was kind of shocking that Whitmer did the same,” Bowens said.
Budget battle
The lack of progress was embodied by a budget battle between Whitmer and GOP leaders that dragged on for nine months.
Avoiding a government shutdown, Whitmer used an unprecedented flurry of executive power this fall to try to force continued negotiations, issuing $947 million in line-item vetoes and using rare executive powers to transfer $625 million within state departments.\
The ensuing power struggle jeopardized funding for local sheriffs, county jails, schools districts and rural hospitals.
Outside of Lansing, some Democrats questioned the governor they’d helped elect.
“She had the right strategy with the line-item veto, but then she messed with autism funding and charter schools” said Steve Hood, a Detroit political consultant and talk radio host. “She caused herself a problem.”
While she later reversed cuts, Whitmer initially vetoed $1 million in funding for an Autism Navigator program that provides online resources and a free call center for parents. She also nixed $35 million for charter schools that are popular in southeast Michigan, temporarily denying a per-pupil funding increase provided to other public schools.
The deal Whitmer and GOP leaders struck in December restored $573.8 in vetoed spending and reversed $82.3 million in transfers. It will require the governor to give notice to the Legislature before executing transfers in future years, but require the Legislature to send a budget to the governor three months ahead of the constitutional deadline.
Left unresolved: how to spend another $373 million in vetoed funding and what to about crumbling roads, mediocre schools or rising college costs, issues that Whitmer campaigned to fix.
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