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Local Officials React To Failure Of Proposal 1

MACOMB COUNTY (WWJ/AP) -- With Proposal 1 falling badly, it will now be up to lawmakers in Lansing to start over and come up with a plan to fund road repairs.

House Democratic Leader Tim Greimel of Auburn Hills said that the defeat proved that the middle-class didn't want to foot the bill for road fixes.

"Tonight, voters said, 'enough,'" Greimel said. "They said, 'no more leaning on the middle class to pay more than their fair share.' Our families shouldn't be responsible for all of the heavy lifting."

Greimel suggested that corporations need to stop getting tax breaks and take on some of the financial burden of fixing the roads. He called out the Republican majority for giving corporations too many tax breaks forcing the working class to pick up the slack.

"The other message from voters to the Republican-led legislature is this: do your job," Greimel said. "Don't kick the tough decisions down the road or pass confusing ballot proposals for voters to sort out. Do your job in a straight forward, clear and transparent fashion."

Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel had some choice comments about Michigan lawmakers when it comes to how Proposal 1 was written.

"I think the campaign was just awful, I don't think people believed it," Hackel said. "People weren't looking to have the legislators turn this responsibility back over to them. It's a very simple responsibility of government officials — particularly the legislature — to come up with solutions and do what people ask them to do."

Hackel said that the Legislature needs to come up with a plan that specifically deals with the state's roads. He said that lawmakers failed to do what they were asked to do-- forget the politics and just fix the roads.

"I don't want to hear about the Democrat-Republican thing -- they all sold this thing as being a bi-partisan mixture of wants and needs and this is what they all came up with," "Then they all took two steps backwards after they decided to put this forward and the Governor was the only one left holding the bag."

Brad Williams, Vice President of Government Relations with the Detroit Regional Chamber, spoke live on WWJ Newsradio 950 following the proposal's defeat.

"I think the important thing to remember as the legislature addresses this issue is that we can't solve the problem by creating another problem," Williams said. "So this is going to cost something from voters to get the roads fixed and we're going to encourage the legislature to make the tough decisions."

The constitutional amendment was placed on the ballot by the Republican-led Legislature and had backing from the GOP governor, Democrats and a broad coalition of business, labor and government groups.

But voters rejected the wide-ranging plan. It would have eliminated the sales tax on fuel so all taxes at the pump could go to transportation, restructured and doubled fuel taxes, and hiked vehicle registration fees to boost the state's $3.7 billion transportation budget to $5 billion, an increase of a third.

Snyder is vowing to start discussions with the leaders of both chambers in the very near future.

 

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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