Tuesday, February 3, 2009

GOP and Michigan Movies -- One Industry They Love to Hate

Gov. Jennifer Granholm's movie industry initiative has got Michigan Republicans in a pickle.

They want to stomp all over the idea and its benefits, but when they do they end up looking like hypocrites.

Take the Livingston County board of commissioners.

A film company has asked for permission to use the Livingston County historic courthouse grounds for up to eight hours to film a portion of a movie. According to a piece in the Livingston Press and Argus, the movie is titled "Betty Anne Waters" and features Hilary Swank.

Commissioner Donald Parker complained that the county should have been paid for the use of the grounds, as Howell public schools were when the film "High School" was shot on their high school campus.

Gee, I thought Republicans wanted to bring business to the state, to diversify the state's economy away from automobile production. I thought Republicans wanted to keep costs down for business, not add unnecessary barriers or obstacles.

Now here's a business that wants to produce something in Michigan and all Republicans can think of is driving up their costs, yanking back the welcome mat the Granholm has put out.

Conclusion: If it's a Democratic idea, they're automatically against it.

2 comments:

Kelster93 said...

Excellent point -- Sen. Mike Bishop (R-Cut Me Some Taxes) was nattering on last night about the need to relieve "burdens" on companies and make Michigan more attractive to business.

The County Commissioners need to look at the big picture: eight hours of filming will bring nice exposure for the county and a very welcome boost for downtown Howell businesses. Do the Commissioners really want Livingston County to be known as "difficult to work with" ?

RE-Investor said...

Are you kidding me?? Can you hear yourself?

The first bloger said: "Now here's a business that wants to produce something in Michigan and all Republicans can think of is driving up their costs.."

Isn't the point of "producing something in Michigan" to create income? What's the point in giving it away...just to say that we have films being produced in Michigan? Film companies budget their production costs to include such expenses.

Gosh...you guys sound like you're grasping at anything to bash Republicans just to bash Republicans, and it really makes Democrats look bad... "shame on you!"