Following weeks of missteps on insider favorite Tudor Dixon’s campaign, yet another outside group is pouring money into the race to attempt to prop up her flailing campaign in the final days. A PAC bankrolled by fraudulent former candidate Michael Markey is lining up to tout Tudor Dixon’s wrong-for-Michigan agenda with just four days remaining of a crowded and chaotic primary. To date, outside groups and Republican gubernatorial candidates have already spent more than $10 million to push bogus attacks against Governor Whitmer this cycle. Here are the facts:
Save Michigan PAC is the Latest Special Interest to Throw Hundreds of Thousands Behind Establishment Tudor Dixon
Save Michigan PAC, founded by ousted fraudulent candidate Michael Markey, has already “reserved $103,000 worth of airtime” in support of Tudor Dixon. This adds to the hundreds of thousands put forward by the DeVos family through their various donations and massive checks written to shady fringe PACs that have collectively put millions towards the effort to install the MIGOP-insider and “power broker” favorite.
Dixon Sold Out to Do Betsy DeVos’ Bidding and Rewrite Michigan’s Constitution So She Can Shortchange Our Kids While Governor Whitmer Continues to Protect Public Education
Tudor Dixon has pledged to decimate public education funding by any means necessary. It’s no wonder the DeVos family recently committed to bankrolling her campaign.
Last year, she voiced her support for “the latest effort by legislative Republicans to create a school voucher system in Michigan” and vowed to sign the attempt to privatize education and steal $500 million annually from public schools into law as governor.
Dixon also announced that repealing Michigan’s constitutional ban on using public money for private education was a top priority for her campaign. Dixon said she “absolutely” backed a tax plan that would slash $3.5 billion from public schools.
Meanwhile, Governor Whitmer is protecting public education in Michigan and exhibiting the strong leadership that it takes to keep our students first. Last year, Governor Whitmer secured a bipartisan $17.1 billion dollar public education budget that completely closed a decades-long state funding gap between school districts, and made the “largest investment in PreK-12 schools in state history” — all without raising taxes.
The no new tax trend continued this year as Governor Whitmer recently signed a historic, bipartisan $19.6 billion School Aid budget, building on per pupil investment gains to invest in the next generation of our workforce, close pandemic learning gaps, and retain teachers in their own communities.
Dixon Cheered on the Ambassador Bridge Blockade, Panned GM’s 4,000 Job-Creating, $7 Billion Dollar Investment in Michigan
Tudor Dixon’s disdain for the auto industry has been evident to working families since she launched her bid for governor.
As “major international gateway” Ambassador Bridge was shut down due to an illegal blockade that impacted $356 million of goods daily, Dixon threw her support behind this major economic chokehold on Michigan and encouraged it to continue.
The auto industry suffered “$299.9 million in direct losses,” and assembly plants at GM and Ford were forced to cancel shifts due to a lack of parts traveling across the bridge, which resulted in workers weathering up to $51 million in lost wages.
Additionally, Dixon was dismissive of GM’s $7 billion dollar investment in “making Michigan the ‘hub’ of electric vehicle development and manufacturing.” Dixon supporter and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey even praised the deal as a “historic” job-creator, as GM is expected to bring 4,000 new good-paying positions to Michigan.
Meanwhile, Governor Whitmer Continues to Lead Michigan to a Strong Economic Recovery with Historic Investment, Tax Cuts, and Support for Businesses
Governor Whitmer is delivering an estimated $200 million in annual tax savings for hundreds of thousands of Michigan businesses. In another move to keep building gains for Michigan’s robust economic recovery, she signed a $75 million tax cut for local businesses.
Governor Whitmer landed a $7 billion investment in Michigan auto manufacturing, the largest in GM history, creating and retaining 5,000 jobs, while generating thousands more jobs in the community and producing $28.8 billion in new personal income for Michigan families. Building on her 2019 success of Fiat Chrysler bringing $4.5 billion and 6,500 jobs to Detroit, Whitmer secured another investment of nearly $2 billion to expand electric vehicle battery production in Holland, supporting over a thousand good-paying jobs, and she recently brought in a $2 billion investment from Ford that will support 3,200 good-paying, union jobs in Michigan.
To connect small businesses with local talent, Whitmer set up free virtual job fairs that have connected over 2,600 employers and 9,900 job seekers. The Governor additionally created nearly 1,500 apprenticeships in new sectors with an emphasis on recruiting Michiganders from historically underrepresented groups, while addressing labor shortages. Due to her leadership, Michigan experienced the fastest small business growth in 23 years as they added nearly 170,000 jobs and reported increased revenues by 24% in 2021. In line with this robust growth, roughly 150,000 new small business applications were received that year, up nearly two-thirds from 2019.
Tudor Dixon Herself Affirmed that the “Piss-Poor” Budget Plan She Has Backed “Obviously” Slashes Police Funding – But Only When Kevin Rinke Does It
The facts are clear. Tudor Dixon and Kevin Rinke would both like to entirely eliminate nearly $12 billion annually from Michigan’s budget and $8 billion from the general fund. This plan is a “piss-poor public policy proposal” that “those who watch the state’s budget closely said would be catastrophic for funding.” If implemented, the “primary funding source” providing over 60% of Michigan State Police’s budget would be immediately threatened, along with thousands of law enforcement jobs.
Oddly, in an interview with Detroit News, Dixon – who has said she “absolutely” supports “phas[ing] out” funding streams for critical services as quickly as possible – argued Rinke “would obviously” slash police funding because he is seeking to “[cut] that revenue with no plan.”
In reality, neither have identified how or if they would replace the law enforcement funding eliminated by this “dramatic shift in state government operations.”
Michigan Association of Police Organizations on a 2017 Bill That Took a Slower Approach than Dixon Has Pushed: This “Would Have a Devastating Impact on Police Budgets”
During a 2017 push by Republican legislators to eliminate $10 billion from the general fund, the Michigan Association of Police Organizations warned that plans like these “would have a devastating impact on police budgets at the state and local levels,” leave law enforcement “crippled,” and “have an incredibly negative impact on the public safety of Michigan and its’ citizens.” Earlier this year, MAPO reiterated their opposition to another Dixon-backed plan noting that it “would reduce police protection and create ‘long-term budget problems.’”
