Gov. Snyder: 'You've Never Heard Me Blame Anyone For Anything — I Don't Fight With People'

KALAMAZOO (WWJ) -- Just five weeks away from Election Day, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder visited the campus of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo on Monday night for the first of his "Town Hall Tour" visits.

Snyder outlined his case for another four years as Michigan's Governor.

"We should be proud of being a manufacturing state," Snyder said. "In personal income we are the ninth fastest growing in terms of per capita income increase. Our population is growing again, young people are flocking to Detroit -- we are out of housing in Midtown and Downtown Detroit. So the results are showing up."

Snyder told the gathering that he is "not a fighter," at least when it comes to engaging in partisan politics.

"You've never heard me blame anyone for anything -- I don't fight with people, although people have tried to pick fights with me" Snyder said. "What you hired me to do isn't to fight with anyone, you hired me to solve problems."

The Governor said that in the last three years, Michigan has added nearly 300,000 private sector jobs and, once again, has a growing population base.

"We had the highest unemployment in the nation, we had the largest drop in personal income in the history of the United States probably outside of the Great Depression," Snyder said. "We're the only state that lost population, home values had plummeted -- that's a tragedy.

"So something needed to be done about it, not doing it the same old way, not continuing the old methods of doing things. They weren't working, it was time to reinvent our state," Snyder said.

The next stop for WSnyder will be in Troy on Thursday evening at the American Polish Cultural Center on Maple Rd. at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Snyder is scheduled to make a stop in Detroit at a still "to be determined" location.