Can Governor Snyder Re-Brand His Administration and Save His Legacy After Flint?

Laura Weber Davis, WDET

Governor Rick Snyder used his time at the Mackinac Policy Conference with business leaders and policymakers, in part, to attempt to work-up positive energy around the state of things in Michigan. Optimism and enthusiasm for the “relentless positive action” Snyder administration has been missing in large part since the Flint water crisis.

In a speech on Mackinac Island, Snyder told a crowd that members of the media were like “Eeyore” as of late, a reference to the perpetually gloomy stuffed donkey from the Winnie the Pooh series. 

“He’s in a spot that I don’t think he’s quite accustomed to,” says Devin Scillian, anchor of WDIV news and host of Flashpoint. “I think he’s really really struggling to find his footing, [and] still hasn’t found it yet… A moment like Flint comes along and he doesn’t quite know how to handle it.”

“He did seem a little bit more aggressive, a little more agitated [than normal],” says Karen Dumas, host of “The Pulse” on 910 AM.

Dumas and Scillian appeared in a roundtable discussion about Snyder and the policy conference on Detroit Today with host Stephen Henderson, and joined by Bridge Magazine reporter Chastity Pratt-Dawsey.

“At this point he’s a governor who’s backed against the wall,” says Pratt-Dawsey “We have Flint, of course, but we also have his Republican legislators unable to pass his plan [for DPS.]”

Scillian says he understands why Snyder is attempting to seemingly redirect the conversation in the state, and focus on the positive work his administration is working on.

“He’s thrown himself on the sword so many times [regarding Flint]… he feels like, ‘Look, I’ve given this all I can’,” says Scillian, who adds that anyone who thought Governor Snyder might resign over Flint doesn’t understand Snyder very well.

“The only thing he knows how to do is put his head down and get to work.”

To hear more of the conversation on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.