Snyder town hall forum tackles economic issues
MOUNT PLEASANT -- It was standing room only in a Central Michigan University theatre Wednesday night where Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Snyder spoke to a crowd made up of mostly CMU students, and Isabella county residents.
He spoke for about 20 minutes before taking questions from the audience; with topics ranging from high college tuition, job creation, and taxes. He’s calling for a flat 6 percent corporate tax. He said it would be simple, efficient and fair as opposed to the current Michigan Business Tax and 22 percent surcharge.
“It’s time for the era of innovation,” he told the crowd, hailing the theme of his “Reinvent Michigan” tour.
But it was what happened outside that had many people talking: a clash between supporters of “the nerd” and those of opponent Democratic gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero, lead by Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer.
Brewer railed away at his charge that Snyder directed job outsourcing while heading up Gateway Computers.
“As chief executive officer he signed a document that acknowledged that Gateway had outsourced most of their work overseas. That’s in fact what happened. 19,000 Americans lost their jobs when he was at Gateway,” Brewer said.
Asked directly by NBC25, Snyder said, “No I absolutely did not outsource jobs. I created jobs when I was at Gateway and I’m proud of that record. I was employee number 763 and when I left there were over 10,000 employees,” he said.
The fight continues on the airwaves with a new set of post Labor Day ads that have hit the airwaves this week with Snyder and Bernero trading barbs.
