The year 2023 in review during a special year end addition Off the Record on the panel, Chuck Stokes, Zoe Clark, Lauren Gibbons, and Bill Ballenger.

As we put the year 2023 in perspective, sit in with us as we get the inside out Off the Record.

Production of Off the Record is made possible, in part by Martin Waymire, a full service strategic communications agency, partnering with clients through public relations, digital marketing and public policy engagement.

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Meyer Macomb.

And now this edition of Off the Record with Tim Skubick.

Thank you very much.

Welcome back to Studio C for our year end addition of Off the Record, here we are.

Here we are.

How did we make it through it?

What a year its been.

Amazing.

All right.

Listen, I want you guys to give me the top story.

And before you answer the top story of 2023, and I'm going to guess there's going to be unanimity on this, starting with Chuck.

Love him or hate him, Shawn Fain.

UAW president.

Oh.

Wow.

Wow.

So much of Skubicks...

So much for my crystal ball.

You did that on purpose!

Lauren.

I mean, I think the strike is a great answer.

And maybe just to give maybe a unique answer, I think gun reform was a pretty big story this year that was going back to February.

And, you know, obviously, the Michigan State shooting really prompted some serious action in the legislature here in terms of gun reform.

So I don't know if that was your answer there.

Nope Im 0-2.

I have a feeling I know yours and maybe it's a little basic, but I mean, it's the fact that Democrats took control and had a trifecta in Lansing for the first time in 40 years.

Bingo Yes.

Well, that's.

What I was going to say.

Maybe mine was too basic.

Well, after 40 years, that's why I just said that's the hook, after 40 years.

And then what's so fascinating, of course, you know, took a majority and then lost their majority, you know, kept control, which we can talk a little bit about.

But of course, lost the majority last.

Month, Mr. Ballenger.

WHITMER Legislative Democrats rammed through their agenda.

Yeah, I have a headline, 2023 Snyder Agenda Undone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's another one.

But but when you really look back and you talk about 40 years, I mean some of it absolutely was.

Snyder When you're talking about the pension tax, when you're talking about EITC, we're.

Talking about right to.

Work, what you're talking about right to work.

But when you talk about some of the social issues, right, when you talk about Elliott Larson, when you talk about an abortion law from 1931.

Yeah, exactly.

So I like the idea of that.

It's it's the.

Snyder and I think you're right on to that.

But but when you're talking about some of the other long term issues, I mean, it's decades and decades and decades in the making how.

How is it...

I dont disagree with you all.

But the only reason I..

Yes you do.

Well I do.

But the reason I say sound painting UAW is it went beyond Michigan in national implications.

And because the UAW is everywhere and it even affected the automakers that aren't unionized, who said we better up the pay of our folks to just to be competitive because he's going to come knocking at our door and he is not going.

But then they went around and laid people off.

That is true.

But Chuck to your point.

I also think it's it wasn't just the UAW, right.

It's the writers strike.

It's the actors strike.

I mean, we really are in this moment where unions across the board just put.

The proof of the pudding is if the president can jump off and use this momentum to go down south and organize.

Which is what he aims to do, whether or not he'll be successful, I don't know.

But he has much bigger aspirations when he looks at what he wants to be the power of the UAW and the labor movement.

You know, he was galvanized by all of this and he was controversial all the way down.

the line.

His ability to get two presidents who are running it likely, you know, get to either talking about President Biden and former President Trump to come down to Michigan during the strike.

And like I said you either loved him or you hate him because there are a whole lot of business folks that can't stand him and can't stand the atmosphere that he created in the in your face type of you know, it was almost he was kind of like Donald Trump of politics.

You know, he was in people's faces and he said things that they were used to hearing.

Yeah, let's pick up on your gun story.

Yeah.

I think that that the reason that came to mind is just because that is something that across the nation for years and years this has been building up.

It's been two years since the Oxford shooting.

We saw that sentencing a week or so ago.

And obviously Democrats and Republicans have gone very different directions on that since Oxford before Democrats took office.

You weren't really seeing any movement on the actual guns themselves.

You were seeing movement perhaps on school safety, throwing money at Oxford to try and rebuild mental health was one of them.

But you weren't seeing actions on the gun specifically.

And Democrats had said as soon as they took office this was something that they cared a lot about.

I don't know that we would have seen it by April if Michigan State had it happened and Michigan State was, you know, put Michigan in the spotlight again for the wrong reasons.

And that was just something that Democrats latched on to and said, we're going to accelerate this, we're going to make it happen.

And they steamrolled over the gun rights advocates that have been trying to stop some of these things, like universal background checks, red flag legislation for a long time.

We'll see what the ramifications of that are.

But, you know, the Democrats really it's sort of, you know, undoing, as we've talked about a lot of the Republican legislation, you know, they actually check for guns when you walk into the Capitol now, which is a big change from 2022.

So and so that was why it came to mind.

I understand.

Yeah, I absolutely think that that it wouldn't have happened as soon because as we were noting, when Democrats did take over again for the first time in 40 years, they sort of had this wish list.

Right.

And they announced it very early on.

It was right to work.

Prevailing wage, ITC, abortion rights and guns weren't on that original list until the horrific events of February 13th.

Chuck and Lauren said it was true on a national basis.

No question.

Their picks of the year's the top story.

So you and I are right in terms of state issues.

They take stock.

But by the same token, let's put this in perspective.

That was the low hanging fruit that they picked lock boxes, background checks, a red flag, a little more controversial.

Yeah.

Where was the assault weapons ban?

Yeah.

Which by the way, the Biden White House called for this past week.

They called in all the legislative folks and said ban on assault weapons and in size of magazines.

That's a heavier lift, right?

Yeah, it is.

Yeah.

And look, there's more to come on.

All these issues like the abortion issues, they're undone stuff their right didn't get done.

Very interesting to see whether they try to go back to that in an election year 2024.

Very dangerous.

Very dangerous.

But polling data suggests that the people are on board, which is what the Democrats said to the R's.

If you guys don't want to support this, do it at your own risk because this is going to hurt you right here.

Yeah, but.

I think when you look at the calendar, sorry to say, I think when you look at the calendar, I think you're absolutely right that the first six months was just sort of this whiplash of of policy changes.

And as you note, you know, policy changes, dramatic policy changes over months.

And then when we hit the summer and things took a little bit of a rest, and then we had the governor in August give her, you know, sort of what's next address, which was this very interesting thing in Lansing where we really hadn't seen before.

Right.

It was almost sort of a summertime state of the state address.

So here's what I would like the legislature to get done in the fall.

A couple of those things got done, but not all of them.

Believe is still on.

Absolutely.

And so I think that's going to be the interesting dynamic when we're talking about what comes next.

And the fact, again, that because two lawmakers won separate elections, the Democrats do not have now a majority.

Well, the.

Interesting.

Go ahead.

Oh, you know, I think as we were talking about it, it occurred to me that another big story is sort of what we saw.

And then at the end of the year, what kind of happens to it?

So much investment, so much money going towards economic development projects, a lot of betting on big companies that are not electric vehicles, batteries, and now in the last few weeks or month or so, starting to pull back on that.

So I'm really interested to see in 2024 what the state decides to do.

There's a lot of lawmakers who would like to see reforms to Michigan's Economic Development Party policy excuse me.

And so I think that's another one.

You know, as we talk about, you know, just the whiplash of excitement that was one of the first things that they passed was just this massive, you know, massive spending on economic development.

And I'll just say quickly, I think what Governor Whitmer has proven in this last year is that she is probably a lot shrewder and more strategic politician than I think many of us may have given her credit for when she was first elected.

I think she has used her power.

She's used her knowledge of how Lansing works.

And she sees on the fact that she had this trifecta and I think nicely supported behind the scenes by little more Barnes in the organization of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Conversely, to what's going on in the Michigan GOP race.

Sorry, we haven't brought up yet, but.

Just.

16 minutes.

But it's interesting that the rubric sort of changed years ago.

It was the Republicans who were all in on business.

Let's give business what they want.

And all of a sudden the Democrats come along and say it.

It's a pretty good issue.

Where were the eyes on all of this stuff?

Some of them signed off, okay, but not everybody did.

In fact, they griped about it.

Yes.

Yeah, I think that's true.

I mean, I think Republicans have always been suspicious of corporate welfare.

So a lot of.

Actors towards are.

Economic garden.

Yeah.

Yeah, sure.

Oh, yes.

Let's not forget.

The Democrats have to say, you know, we can play this game too, and we can get into the business community, get some support, give them some things and whatever.

So I think.

But yet we have Evie's in trouble in their state.

The Goshen thing is on life support up north, is it not?

Oh, yes.

Yeah, yeah.

Impartial really Stooge that.

I don't know if they are.

I mean it's going to be a big issue and I think it's going to be a local issue in a lot of places, not just up in the Eagle County but around the state.

All the stuff of the green energy, local, you know, not in my backyard stuff, whether the state can take that power away without legislators who voted to let the state take power away, paying a price at the polls next year, that's going to be an issue.

January 5th, 2023.

We wake up to see that a stalwart of Michigan politics is leaving.

Yes, number her name, Debbie Stabenow.

I was surprised by that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was surprised.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I really wonder why.

Because honestly, with Dianne Feinstein and Strom Thurmond, I figure, look, she got 20 years left, you know, but she decided to pull the plug early and she decided with all the new people coming in, whatever.

And she does have some concerns about her mother's health, which I think is genuine.

You hear this.

I mean, it's an excuse for a lot of politicians that in her case, she didn't have to make it.

She easily would have been reelected.

So it was a shock.

And this town did an it.

Yeah, it did.

And and I think Bill's absolutely right.

I think her reasons for leaving are very genuine.

And I think they really did center around family.

And, you know, he's look, she's looking at the age of her mom and the fact that she's had to travel so much back and forth between Michigan and Washington and, you know, the family becomes important to all of us.

At some point, you have to kind of look around and say, okay, is this the time for me to spend whatever amount of time we have left having quality time.

And now all of a sudden we have a US Senate race on our hands?

We do.

This is not a give me for the D's, is it?

No, absolutely not.

And then more favorite.

And then that's kind of created this domino effect in the seventh Congressional District because you have Elissa Slotkin, who I mean, that is one of the most competitive seats, not just in the state, but in the entire country now open because she's running for that Senate seat.

And then, of course, months and months after Debbie Stabenow.

So mounts Mint, you have Congressman Kildee announcing that he wasn't going to run again, too.

And so you're going to see some.

Yeah, you're going to see some, you know, open competitive seats in November.

This Senate race is going to be expensive.

Yes.

My TV stations are going country.

That's due to.

I think it's yeah.

And it's as as in the seventh, that eighth Congressional District is also a lot more competitive than when Congressman Kildee first ran for election there.

It's getting you know, it's getting more conservative the way it was redrawn and the redistricting process.

And so it's going to be really interesting to see the the Slotkin Barrett race in 2022 is one of the most expensive in the country.

And that's clearly probably going to be the case again as Tom Barrett tries again on the Republican side, going against his former state Senate colleague Curtis or Tal.

It'll be a really interesting race.

But yeah, to your point, I mean, the Senate race is going to be huge.

One of those districts, the field was settled, Hartwell versus Barrett, one in the other.

A lot depends on who the nominees are for each party and where they come from geographically.

Midland Bay City, Saginaw, Flint in the Kildee district, who's going to be the nominee for each party?

And nobody really.

Is likely.

Going to be James race may turn out to be interesting in going against Malanga.

Yeah, you know, you're a big name in Macomb County politics and Don James is only ending up his first term.

So he better protect his seat.

Well, it's also another moment in time.

And we saw this, you know, I mean, it's it's happened with, you know, Fred Upton's retirement and things like that.

And, of course, the Levin's and Conyers and John Dingell, of course, Debbie Dingell.

So but, I mean, you know, this is going to be the first time in how many decades that a, Kildee won't be representing Michigan in Congress.

So I think they'll find a cousin.

So I still think they're going to find a Debbie Stabenow.

I mean, who is who before the Senate, of course, was in Congress in this now open seat that we're all talking about.

Elizabeth Watkins, open seat.

And so it again, goes back to just how much institutional knowledge that that will not be a part of representing Michigan's from Michigan's congressional delegation in 2024 an on it's a big moment for you know any new names and up and comers now you know with all of these political institutions retiring this is a really big moment for younger, you know, potentially more diverse candidates has to be such a hunger for among voters right now that there is sort of a spectacular moment to.

McDonald River runs for the Democratic nomination in the Kildee seat and gets it and wins that seat.

Guess what?

We got a tie in the Senate.

We've got a tie.

The Democrats can't pass their agenda over there.

It's going to be just like the houses right now for the next five months.

The governor will call a very quick election.

Watch for about an hour and a half.

Let's start let's talk about the mess in the Republican Party.

My word, not there's.

Well, you had Kristina, Karamo, become the chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

This was someone who ran for Secretary of state, I don't believe still has ever said that she didn't win that race.

If she might actually have won that.

Race, we just didn't know.

She still has not done that.

And really, I mean, you look at what's happening within the Republican Party right now, within Michigan, and it's something that I don't know that anyone's ever really seen before in the state of Michigan.

Chair of the one county Republican Party who says she hasn't believed he doesn't believe that she's fit for the job and that they've got to make a change in going into 2024 is too important of an election year to have this kind of disorganization.

So there's tremendous in fact, it.

Was a key meeting on December 27th.

And we are taping on December the 15th.

Right.

And she could be ousted by that time.

And if so, the real question is who's next.

Is going to be to replace my lips.

His initials are Pete Hoekstra.

Oh, well, I know he's interested.

Oh, he's more than intentional.

He'll be.

Right there.

Hell will be on this show.

Yes, a.

While.

But Joy asking the question, she says.

Why would you want this job?

I can see what I was just looking at the tape last week.

There are a lot of people.

In that Republican organization right now who don't like Pete Hoekstra.

Really?

I wouldn't assume that he's.

Because why don't they like him?

They think he's part of the deep state, frankly, in Washington.

They don't buy him as a legitimate Trumpster.

And so I you know, I don't think that's subtle at all.

And the real question is, even if it is Pete Hoekstra or somebody else, what are they going to do?

They've got a terrible mess to clean up.

I mean, Karamo is the single biggest problem.

Get rid of her.

Maybe 30% of the problem is rule.

The remainder is the clean up, and it's going to be huge.

And the Republicans are fully capable of blowing it.

Again.

Though, to that point, if anyone if if another chair is indeed chosen, any one would have to deal with a financial mess of proportions none of us have ever seen going into a big election year.

You've seen candidates, you've seen the House caucus, you've seen a lot of people just kind of take fundraising into their own hands and cut the party out of it entirely, because the party has shown that, you know, they can't raise money, they're in debt, they're have they've had so many financial issues.

And that doesn't even take into account, you know, obviously, it's been very divisive.

Whoever takes that on is still going to have to deal with these deep divisions that have not only led to infighting, it's led to actual fighting.

There has been fighting several fights that have had to be broken up physically at some of these GOP meetings.

You know, that all is well and good.

But the problem is, how do you unite a party that has the Trump people on one side and then you have other people on the other side who are anti-Trump?

How do you put Humpty Dumpty back together again?

I think they're going to be in dividual efforts like the House Republican effort to retake control backed by Rick Snyder and Bill Parfitt.

That's a kind of firewall.

You could call it.

There's a mike Rogers for U.S. Senate silo.

Peter Meyer has his own backup plan silos.

He has to silos.

So, I mean, I think that's going to happen.

And they're going to divorce themselves from all the chaos in the state Republican Party.

This kind of hope that somebody like Karamo or somebody else isn't taking shots at these campaigns in their own party, which Karamo has been doing all along.

She can't keep her mouth shut and she keeps badmouthing the other elements of the party that she should at least keep silent about.

They'll keep silent about her.

They'll just pretend she isn't there or the party organization at the state level isn't there, and they'll do their own thing.

Bill, do you think there's any chance that they can go to one of the former long time Michigan GOP chairs come back in?

They know the structure and say, let's put this party back together again.

That's a divorce.

Or Spencer Abraham or Dave Doyle Wiser.

You know.

Bobby shows that Bobby said, no, I wanted the.

I would say no.

And by the way, would those people want the job at this point?

Some of these people have a decent, normal, rational career and lifestyle party.

They care, but they would find the whole thing blow up in their face when they walk in the door, probably.

And I just don't think the party apparatus, you've got to remember, these are the people that elected Kristen, Christine and Karamo.

These people are capable of making a terrible blunder.

Again, Matt, the piano is waiting in the wings.

Would he be any better?

I mean, I don't think past chairs all the way.

I agree with you.

All of them will be better than what.

The problem is.

There is only one wing of the party that is concerned about unifying the party.

Yeah, the other wing could give a hoot.

They attracted more disorganized, the better it is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

One could argue that that wing of the party does not want to unify the party that they would rather do without them, which I think is where the fundraising issues come in.

Because if you're going full grassroots, that's typically not where the the power and money base is.

All right?

And then we have the spectacle of Rick Johnson, former speaker of the House, convicted of bribery.

What a disgrace.

And look, honestly, Lee Chatfield, that has got to be settled by the attorney general before the end of the year.

He's promised to do it.

Jason Wentworth even comes into play as part of that saga.

So you got three straight Republican speakers.

I mean, there were a couple of others in there too, that have escaped notice.

But those three, it's a terrible blot on the record of the Republican leadership in the House during the first two decades of the century.

Is this exploitable politically by the D's?

Do they play that card?

It is interesting.

I think we've talked about this before, about how silent they've been about this.

And it's it's a sort of farce, an aiding political decision, because that's what it is, right?

I mean, it's it's a political decision about whether to call them out.

I mean, I think the fact that it's it's all former speaker is right.

I mean, if it was something that was happening with someone currently in power, I think it would be different.

But no, it's interesting how little you hear from DS about, I would say less about Chatfield, so much.

In fact, even Governor Whitmer would sometimes say when she's asked, sometimes I've noticed it's more when national media asks her about that.

But she'll say, and you can see, she'll say something like, Well, the people that I used to have to negotiate with is how she'll talk about it.

I remember when the old aphorism, when you're opposition is in the process of destroying you, get away.

Don't get in the way.

Just hold their coat, you know?

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, I I'd keep quiet if I were them for now.

Yeah.

Well they'll bring out the brickbats later if they really need them.

Well and the entire, you know, State House was of course up for election next year.

And maybe that becomes something which is, you know, we've we've run this with integrity and without scandal to an extent.

And those races which may be swing districts.

And it's really close and making that type of argument in a debate or on the campaign trail might make a difference.

Speaking of national media, yeah, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who hasn't interviewed.

Her, I know you know what?

Say she's having.

Like a steady revolving door here.

Okay.

Vanity Fair, the only people missing were Popular Mechanics.

That.

They could be on the agenda for.

But she had a pretty good year from a PR standpoint, didn't she?

On national exposure.

She had a great year and she's made the most of it.

And which goes back to what I said earlier, she has really used those political skills.

She understands that I have tremendous power right now.

I have all the votes lined up on my side in terms of the majority.

So let me strike and do as much, quote unquote, damage as I can.

Right now, because that could change very quickly.

What is the fascination with her?

You know, I think she is really benefiting from the PR, the Democrats around the nation are looking at Michigan.

The Democratic Party flipped both state legislative chambers.

And that's something that a lot of states that are similar in terms of, you know, the like kind of purple but have been controlled by Republicans for a long time.

They look at Michigan and see it as an example.

Now, what I'm really interested in, 2024, I think the state house, if the state house stays in the hands of Democrats, that looks really good for Whitmer.

If it does not, that could potentially be a big problem for that for that image of Democrats really taking Michigan over.

Just a few months, I mean, a couple of years back during the pandemic, she was being interviewed for all the negative reasons, and she was not liked by a lot of folks.

And she was the butt of jokes around the country during that time because she was taking the hard position of what Michigan was going to do in the pandemic.

And she was jumping, guys.

Believe it or not, we've just eaten away 28 minutes.

Okay.

Hopefully in some substantive content next week, we'll have a special sit down with Governor Whitmer at the executive residence with the first gentleman, Doctor Mark Mallory, who will join the conversation.

So join us then.

Thanks to you, everybody.

Have a good holiday and catch you on the other side.

Production of Off the Record is made possible, in part by Martin Way Meyer, a full service strategic communications agency partnering with clients through public relations, digital marketing and public policy engagement.

Learn more at MartinWaymire.com.

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