It has been suggested that Legislative act be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since June 2011.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

Legislation (or "statutory law") is law which has been promulgated (or "enacted") by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it. (Another source of law is judge-made law or case law.) Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to as "legislation" while it remains under consideration to distinguish it from other business. Legislation can have many purposes: to regulate, to authorize, to proscribe, to provide (funds), to sanction, to grant, to declare or to restrict.

Under the Westminster system, an item of primary legislation is known as an Act of Parliament after enactment.

Legislation is usually proposed by a member of the legislature (e.g. a member of Congress or Parliament), or by the executive, whereupon it is debated by members of the legislature and is often amended before passage. Most large legislatures enact only a small fraction of the bills proposed in a given session.^[1] Whether a given bill will be proposed and enter into force is generally a matter of the legislative priorities of government.

Legislation is regarded as one of the three main functions of government, which are often distinguished under the doctrine of the separation of powers. Those who have the formal power to create legislation are known as legislators; a judicial branch of government will have the formal power to interpret legislation (see statutory interpretation); the executive branch of government can act only within the powers and limits set by the law.

Latest Revision[link]

The function and procedures are primarily the responsibility of the legislature. However, there are situations where legislation is made by other bodies or means, such as when constitutional law or secondary legislation is enacted. Such other forms of law-making include referendums, constitutional conventions, orders in council or regulations. The term legislation is sometimes used to include these situations, or the term primary legislation may be used to exclude these other forms.

References[link]

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Steven Arnold "Steve" King (born May 28, 1949) is the U.S. Representative for Iowa's 5th congressional district, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party.

The district is located in the western part of the state and includes Sioux City and Council Bluffs.

Early life, education and career[link]

King was born on May 28, 1949 in Storm Lake, Iowa. The son of Emmett King, a state police dispatcher, and Mildred King, a homemaker, King graduated in 1967 from Denison Community High School.^[1] He attended Northwest Missouri State University from 1967 to 1970,^[2] taking courses toward becoming a wildlife officer.^[1] He does not have a college degree.^[3] In 1975, he founded King Construction, an earth moving company. King founded the Kiron Business Association in the 1980s. His involvement with the Iowa Land Improvement Contractors' Association led to regional and national offices in that organization and a growing interest in public policy.^[1]

Iowa Senate[link]

From 1996 to 2002, King served as an Iowa State Senator, representing the 6th district.^[2] King worked as the Chairman of the State Government Committee and Vice Chairman of the Oversight Budget Committee. He was a part of the Appropriations Committee, Judiciary Committee, Business and Labor Committee, and the Commerce Committee. He assisted in eliminating the inheritance tax, enforcing workplace drug testing, strengthening parental rights, passing tax cuts for working residents of Iowa, and passing a law that made English the official language in Iowa.^[4]

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
  • Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry
  • Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on the Constitution
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law (Vice Chairman) ^[5]
• Committee on Small Business

• Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus
• Republican Study Committee
• Tea Party Caucus

Political positions[link]

King is considered an outspoken fiscal and social conservative. After winning the 2002 Republican nomination, he said that he intended to use his seat in Congress to "move the political center of gravity in Congress to the right."^[6]

During the 110th Congress, King voted with the majority of the Republican Party 90.9% of the time.^[7] King has continuously voted for Iraq War legislation, and has supported surge efforts and opposed a time table for troop withdrawals.

During the 112th Congress King was one of 40 "staunch" members of the Republican Study Committee who frequently voted against Republican party leadership and vocally expressed displeasure with House bills.^[8]

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave King a 'B' grade, based on the key veterans' legislation that came to a vote during the 110th Congress. King was the only US Representative from Iowa who did not receive an 'A' or 'A+' from IAVA. For reference, former POW John McCain received a D in the same report.^[9]

He was the only Representative from Iowa to score 100 percent on the joint Family Research Council Action/Focus on the Family Action Congressional Scorecard in the second session of the 109th Congress. In the 109th United States Congress, and again in the 110th Congress, King chairs the Conservative Opportunity Society, an organization founded by Newt Gingrich and others consisting of Republican members of Congress committed to representing the conservative agenda in the House of Representatives.^[10]

In November 2010 King endorsed Michele Bachmann for House Republican Conference Chair.^[11]

Abortion[link]

Representative King scored a 100% rating with the National Right to Life Committee, indicating a pro-life voting record. King also voted no on allowing human embryonic stem cell research.^[12]

Gun control[link]

King supports a broad legal latitude for individual gun ownership.^[13]

Race and gender[link]

King opposes race based quotas and affirmative action. King has stated: “There’s been legislation that’s been brought through this House that sets aside benefits for women and minorities. The only people that it excludes are white men...Pretty soon, white men are going to notice they are the ones being excluded.” ^[14]

Steve King said on the floor of the House on June 14, 2010 that racial profiling is an important component of law enforcement: "Some claim that the Arizona law will bring about racial discrimination profiling. First let me say, Mr. Speaker, that profiling has always been an important component of legitimate law enforcement. If you can’t profile someone, you can’t use those common sense indicators that are before your very eyes. Now, I think it’s wrong to use racial profiling for the reasons of discriminating against people, but it’s not wrong to use race or other indicators for the sake of identifying that are violating the law."^[15] As an example of profiling, King described an instance when a taxi driver would stop for him before he had to hail a cab, just because he was in a business suit.^[16]

Same sex marriage[link]

On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a state ban on same-sex marriage violated the Iowa constitution.^[17] King soon commented that the judges "should resign from their position" and the state legislature "must also enact marriage license residency requirements so that Iowa does not become the gay marriage Mecca." ^[18] King, along with others, mounted a campaign against the retention of all three Iowa Supreme Court judges who ruled on the gay marriage case. King bought $80,000 of radio across the state calling for Iowans to vote "no" on the judges. Subsequently, all three judges were not retained.^[19]

Federal spending[link]

King fought against Medicare and Medicaid paying for a number of medications such as Viagra, which he described as "recreational drugs".^[20] King also has voted against each stimulus bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, saying, “Our economy will not recover because government spends more. It will recover because people produce more.”^[21]

King gained prominence by being one of 11 in Congress to vote against the $52 billion Katrina Aid package citing fiscal responsibility and the government needing a comprehensive plan for spending aid money. The Sioux City Journal wrote the following about King's vote:

"In September, we took our congressman, Steve King, to task for voting against a $52 billion aid package for victims of Hurricane Katrina. King - who was just one of 11 members of Congress who voted against the package which passed both houses and was signed by President Bush - based his vote on the need for "fiscal responsibility." He said the federal government needed to develop a comprehensive plan for spending aid dollars, including input from members of Congress, before more money was appropriated. He earlier had voted for a $10.5 billion emergency aid package. Well, after reading an Associated Press story about a report that details how perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid have been misspent, it appears we were wrong and King was right about his vote on the $52 billion." ^[22]

Illegal immigration[link]

King is against illegal immigration.^{[citation needed]}. He is considered a likely candidate to chair the House Immigration subcommittee in the Republican-majority House of Representatives.

In April 2006, conservative members of Congress proposed strengthening law enforcement against illegal immigration to the United States. When asked if "the US economy simply couldn't function without" the presence of illegal immigrants, King said that he rejected that position "categorically". He said "they", referring to the 77.5 million people between the ages of sixteen and sixty-five in the United States who are not part of the workforce, "could be put to work and we could invent machines to replace the rest."^[23]

King said that "members of Congress that vote for a guest-worker plan ... will be supporting an amnesty plan and they should be branded with the scarlet letter 'A' and pay for that amnesty in the ballot box in November [elections]".

Political lobbying[link]

On February 26, 2010, King went to the House floor to protest the Democrats' handling of health care reform and said: "Lobbyists do a very effective and useful job on this Hill ...There's a credibility there in that arena that I think somebody needs to stand up for the lobby, and it is a matter of providing a lot of valuable information."^[24]

Political campaigns[link]

Steve King at an event in Ames, Iowa in August 2011.

In 2002, after redistricting took 5th District incumbent and fellow Republican Tom Latham out of the district, King ran in a four-way Republican primary for the seat. His most prominent opponents were fellow state senator John Redwine and State House Speaker Brent Siegrest. The 5th, then as now, was so heavily Republican that it was generally thought whoever won the Republican primary was all but assured of victory in November.

King won the primary election with 30% of the vote, short of the 35 percent required by Iowa law to be named the outright winner. Subsequently, a nominating convention was held which King won on the third ballot.^[25] King easily won election in November over Council Bluffs city councilman Paul Shomshor, and he was reelected almost as handily in 2004.

In 2006, King won re-election in the 2006 general election against Democrat Schulte and Independent candidates Roy Nielsen and Cheryl Broderson with 59 percent of the vote.^[26]

2008[link]

In 2008, King had been seen as a possible challenger for Tom Harkin's Senate seat, but on March 7, he announced that he would run for a fourth House term. King was opposed by Democratic nominee Rob Hubler and Independent candidate Victor Vara. King won with 60 percent of the vote and for the first time won all 32 counties in his district.^[27]

2010[link]

King ran against Democratic nominee Matt Campbell and won with his highest percentage yet of 66 percent. King also won all 32 counties in the 5th District for the second election cycle in a row.^[28]

2012[link]

Iowa lost a district as a result of the 2010 Census. King's district was renumbered as the 4th District, and pushed well to the east, absorbing Mason City and Ames in the process. This placed King and his predecessor, Latham, in the same district. Latham opted to move to the reconfigured 3rd District and challenge Democratic incumbent Leonard Boswell. While the new district closely resembles the area Latham represented for his first four terms, it is much more competitive than King's old district. The old 5th had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+9; the new 4th has a PVI of R+4.

Soon afterward, former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack, the wife of former Governor and current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, announced she was moving to the new 4th to challenge King.

Remarks about Barack Obama[link]

On March 7, 2008, during his press engagements to announce his reelection campaign, King made remarks about Senator and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama and his middle name, saying:

"I don't want to disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, their name - whatever their religion their father might have been," I'll just say this: When you think about the optics of a Barack Obama potentially getting elected President of the United States -- I mean, what does this look like to the rest of the world? What does it look like to the world of Islam? I will tell you that, if he is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror. Additionally, his middle name (Hussein) does matter. It matters because they read a meaning into that in the rest of the world...If he were strong on national defense and said 'I'm going to go over there and we're going to fight and we're going to win, we'll come home with a victory,' that's different. But that's not what he said. They will be dancing in the streets if he's elected president. That has a chilling aspect on how difficult it will be to ever win this Global War on Terror." ^[29]

Then on March 10, King defended his comments to The Associated Press, saying "(Obama will) certainly be viewed as a savior for them.... That's why you will see them supporting him, encouraging him."^[30]

Obama said he did not take the comments too seriously, describing King as an individual who thrives on making controversial statements to get media coverage. He said, "I would hope Senator McCain would want to distance himself from that kind of inflammatory and offensive remarks." The McCain campaign disavowed King's comments, saying "John McCain rejects the type of politics that degrades our civics…and obviously that extends to Congressman King's statement."^[30]

In mid-January 2009, King acknowledged that terrorists were not dancing in the streets, and in fact "They have made statements against Obama." He also said that he found Obama’s decision to use his middle name, "Hussein", when he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009, to be "bizarre" and “a double-standard."^[31]

Steve King said on a radio show on June 14, 2010 that President Obama's policies favor black people. On G. Gordon Liddy's radio program, King said, "The president has demonstrated that he has a default mechanism in him that breaks down the side of race - on the side that favors the black person."^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

	Iowa portal
	Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve King

• U.S. Congressman Steve King official U.S. House site
• Steve King for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Appearances at the Internet Movie Database

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa 1st W. Thompson • Miller • Henn • A. Hall • S. Curtis • J. F. Wilson • McCrary • Stone • McCoid • B. Hall • Gear • Seerley • Gear • S. Clark • Hedge • Kennedy • Kopp • Eicher • Martin • Schwengel • Schmidhauser • Schwengel • Mezvinsky • Leach • Nussle • Braley 2nd Leffler • L. Clark • J. P. Cook • Thorington • Davis • Vandever • Price • Smyth • W. Wolf • Cotton • Tufts • Price • Farwell • Murphy • Hayes • G. Curtis • Lane • Rumple • Wade • Dawson • Pepper • Vollmer • Hull • Letts • B. Jacobsen • W. Jacobsen • Talle • L. Wolf • Bromwell • Culver • Blouin • Tauke • Nussle • Leach • Loebsack 3rd Allison • Donnan • Ainsworth • Burdick • Updegraff • Henderson • Birdsall • Pickett • Connolly • Sweet • Robinson • Willford • Gwynne • Gross • Grassley • Evans • Nagle • Lightfoot • Boswell 4th Grinnell • Loughridge • Walden • Pratt • Deering • Luman Hamlin Weller • Fuller • Sweney • Butler • Updegraff • Haugen • Biermann • Talle • Le Compte • Carter • Kyl • Bandstra • Kyl • N. Smith • Ganske • Latham 5th Kasson • G. Dodge • Palmer • J. Wilson • R. Clark • W. G. Thompson • J. Wilson • Frederick • Kerr • J. Hamilton • Cousins • Good • Cole • Thruston • Le Compte • Cunningham • N. Smith • Scherle • Harkin • Lightfoot • Grandy • Latham • King 6th A. Hubbard • Pomeroy • Orr • Loughridge • Sampson • Weaver • Cutts • J. C. Cook • Cutts • J. C. Cook • Weaver • Lacey • White • Lacey • D. Hamilton • Kendall • Kirkpatrick • Ramseyer • Dowell • Utterback • Dowell • Goodwin • Cunningham • Gilchrist • James Dolliver • Coad • Hoeven • Greigg • Mayne • Bedell • Grandy 7th Kasson • Cummings • E. Gillette • Kasson • H. Smith • Conger • Hays • Hull • Prouty • Dowell • Wearin • Jensen • Hansen • Scherle 8th McDill • Sapp • Hepburn • Anderson • Flick • Hepburn • Jamieson • Towner • Evans • Thurston • Gilchrist • Hoeven 9th Orr • Oliver • Carpenter • Pusey • Lyman • Reed • Bowman • Hager • McPherson • W. Smith • Green • Vincent • Swanson • G. Gillette • Harrington • Narey 10th Holmes • Jonathan Dolliver • Conner • Woods • Dickinson • Gilchrist 11th Struble • Perkins • Thomas • E. Hubbard • Scott • Steele • Scott • Boies • Campbell AL Hastings and Leffler Terr Chapman • A. Dodge

Rick Snyder
48th Governor of Michigan
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2011
Lieutenant	Brian Calley
Preceded by	Jennifer Granholm
Personal details
Born	Richard Dale Snyder (1958-08-19) August 19, 1958 (age 53) Battle Creek, Michigan
Political party	Republican Party
Spouse(s)	Sue Snyder
Children	Jeff Melissa Kelsey
Residence	Ann Arbor, MI (private) Michigan Governor's Mansion Lansing, Michigan (public)
Alma mater	University of Michigan (B.G.S./M.B.A./J.D.)
Profession	Executive chairman Venture capitalist
Religion	Presbyterian[1]
Signature	Rick Snyder's signature
Website	Official website

Richard Dale "Rick" Snyder^[2] (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, and Governor of Michigan. A member of the Republican Party, he assumed office as the 48th governor of Michigan on January 1, 2011. From 2005 to 2007, Snyder served as the chairman of the board of Gateway, Inc., based in Irvine, California. Previous to his election as governor, he was chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Ann Arbor, Michigan-based venture capital firm Ardesta LLC.^[3] Snyder has been mentioned as a possible pick to be the Republican Party candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2012.^[4][5][6][7] Snyder's business executive background and positive style have been cited as assets, with his accomplishments seen as strengthening the case for electing Mitt Romney as President.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Early life, education, and family[link]

Snyder was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, the son of Helen Louella "Pody" and Dale F. Snyder.^[12] Snyder earned his B.G.S., M.B.A., and J.D. from the University of Michigan by age 23.^[13] When he was 16, he took a business class at Kellogg Community College on weekends. By his senior year of high school, Snyder earned 23 college credits.^[14] Snyder visited the admissions office of the University of Michigan in November 1975 and spoke with the admissions director, who recommended that Snyder attend Michigan and create his own degree.^[15]

Snyder also served as an adjunct assistant professor of accounting at the University of Michigan. He resides in Ann Arbor with his wife Sue and their three children and has a vacation home near Gun Lake.^[16][17] The couple were married in 1987 at Cherry Hill Presbyterian Church in Dearborn.^[1] Snyder has acknowledged his faith as a Presbyterian.^[1]

Career in business[link]

Early in his career, Snyder gained experience in business finance. Eventually, he would serve as a high tech industry executive chairman of the board. He also co-founded a venture capital company and served as its chairman and chief executive officer prior to his election as governor of Michigan in 2010. Snyder was employed with Coopers & Lybrand, from 1982 to 1991, beginning in the tax department of the Detroit office. Snyder was named partner in 1988. In 1989, Snyder was named partner-in-charge of the mergers and acquisitions practice in the Chicago office.^[18]

Snyder joined the computer company Gateway, based in Irvine, California, in 1991 as the executive vice president and was named president and chief operating officer in January 1996, a position he held until leaving the company as an employee in August 1997.^[19]

In 1997, Snyder returned to Ann Arbor to found Avalon Investments Inc., a venture capital company with a $100 million fund, along with the co-founder of Gateway, Ted Waitt. Snyder was president and chief executive officer of Avalon from 1997 to 2000. He then co-founded Ardesta, an investment firm, in 2000, becoming chairman and chief executive officer.

From 2005 to 2007, Snyder served as the chairman of the board of Gateway. During 2006, Snyder served as interim chief executive officer while a search for a permanent replacement was made. His tenure on the Gateway board ran from 1991 to 2007 until Gateway was sold to Acer Inc. Snyder has stated he did not vote for outsourcing while he was a Gateway board director and he worked to bring jobs to America as the interim CEO of Gateway.^[20]

Ardesta LLC was founded by Snyder^[21] and three co-founders in 2000 and has invested in 20 start-up companies to date. Snyder also serves on the boards of the U.S. National Historic Landmark Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, the Michigan chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and several boards associated with the University of Michigan.

Michigan gubernatorial election, 2010[link]

Snyder joined Mike Bouchard, the sheriff of Oakland County, state Senator Tom George, Peter Hoekstra, an influential member of Congress from western Michigan, and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox as candidates for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. Bill Ford Jr., Chairman of the Ford Motor Company, endorsed Snyder for the Republican nomination for governor.^[22][23]

Snyder campaigned as pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-family, with a focus on helping the economy.^[13] Snyder's campaign emphasized his experience in growing business and creating jobs in the private sector, while his opponents were mainly career politicians.^[24] Snyder is pro-life and favors standard exceptions on abortion for rape, incest, and saving the life of the mother (he signed legislation banning partial birth abortion in October 2011); he opposes federal funding of abortions; he would not ban embryonic stem cell research; he supports upholding traditional marriage, but would allow civil unions.^[25][26]

On August 3, 2010, Snyder won the primary to secure the Republican nomination with a plurality of 36 percent.^[27] In the general election on November 2, 2010, Snyder faced Democratic gubernatorial nominee Virg Bernero, the mayor of Lansing, and three minor party candidates. Snyder, demonstrating cross over appeal, won with 58 percent of the vote.^[28] With Snyder's election in 2010, Republicans gained a majority in the Michigan House and increased the Republican majority held in the Michigan Senate.

Governor of Michigan[link]

Governor Snyder takes the oath from Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly

Snyder (far right) with (from left to right) United States Deputy Secretary of State Thomas R. Nides, United States Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson, Canadian Minister of State for Science and Technology Gary Goodyear, Governor General of Canada David Johnston, and Canada 2020 Chair Don Newman at the US-Canada Partnership: Enhancing the Innovation Ecosystem conference at the Château Laurier in Ottawa, Ontario, November 2, 2011

Snyder was inaugurated as Governor on January 1, 2011 at the Capitol in Lansing. His first executive order as governor was to divide the Department of Natural Resources and Environment into two distinct departments as they were a few years ago: the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Quality.^[29][30]

On January 7, 2011, Snyder announced he was appointing Michigan Supreme Court Justice Maura D. Corrigan to head the Department of Human Services.^[31] and appointed Michigan Appeals Court Judge Brian K. Zahra to fill the resulting Supreme Court vacancy.^[32]

He delivered his first State of the State address on January 19, the earliest Michigan State of the State since Governor Engler's 1996 address on January 17.^[33] Snyder endorsed the Detroit River International Crossing for the first time publicly in the address, which was received favorably by Republicans as well as by many Democrats, including Mark Brewer, the leader of the Michigan Democratic Party.^[34][35] Snyder appointed Andy Dillon, a pro-life Democrat,^[36] and formerly Speaker of the House, to serve as State Treasurer in his administration.

Snyder presented his first budget to the legislature on February 17, 2011,^[37] calling it a plan for "Michigan's reinvention", and saying it would end Michigan's deficits. He also described the budget as containing "shared sacrifice" but added that it would create jobs and economic growth, "while preserving core, essential services and ensuring a safety net for those who are vulnerable".^[37] The $46 billion budget reduced $1.8 billion in spending, eliminated tax exemptions on higher income private pensions, and abolished the state's complex business tax, replacing it with a 6% flat tax on the profits of C corporations. State Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer criticized the budget, saying that it did not involve "shared sacrifice," but instead was balanced "on the backs of our kids, working families, and our seniors" and "picks out who he’s willing to leave behind."^[38] Snyder supported the government backed rescue of the American auto industry which has gained the support of a 56% of Americans in 2012 according a Pew Research Center poll (63% support in Michigan).^[39][40]

Following approval from the legislature, Snyder signed the fiscal year 2012 budget in June, the earliest it has been completed in three decades.^[41]

In April 2012, Snyder made a surprise trip to Afghanistan to thank and pledge support for U.S. troops. He traveled to Kuwait and then to Germany where he visited injured U.S. soldiers at the U.S. Military hospital.^[42] Snyder has also engaged in trade missions to Europe, Asia, and around the world in order to improve international business relations as well as research and development opportunities associated with Michigan universities.^[43] Snyder has focused efforts to attract companies such as Chrysler.^[44]

In May 2012, Snyder sent a letter to the majority and minority leaders of the U.S. Senate urging Congress to affirm that states can collect sales taxes on online purchases.^[45]

Snyder has been mentioned as a possible pick to be the Republican Party candidate for Vice President of the United States in 2012.^{[46][4][5][6]} Snyder's business executive background and positive style have been cited as assets, with his accomplishments seen as strengthening the case for electing Romney as President.^[8][9][10] Romney's associates have suggested the VP pick is likely to be mild mannered with high integrity and have a similar aptitude for analysis.^[47] Snyder has an extensive career in business and high tech industry; as governor, he abolished the state's complex business tax in favor of a flat tax. Snyder's support for a government backed rescue plan for the American auto industry is shared by 56% of Americans in 2012.^[40][39] A Market Research Group poll conducted in March 2012 showed Snyder's approval rating rising to 50% among likely voters, which matched that of Obama, placing Snyder among the most popular Republican governors in a state carried by Obama in the 2008 election cycle.^[48] Snyder won Michigan with 58% of the vote and has demonstrated a strong cross over appeal. Snyder endorsed Romney prior to the Michigan primary.^[39]

Cabinet[link]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Michigan portal
	Politics portal

• List of JD/MBAs

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rick Snyder

• Michigan Office of the Governor Rick Snyder official Michigan government site
• Michigan Governor-elect Rick Snyder official transition site
• Biography at the National Governors Association
• Biography, interest group ratings, public statements, vetoes and campaign finances at Project Vote Smart
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs

v t e Governors of Michigan Territorial (1805–1837) Hull Cass Porter Mason Horner State (since 1837) Mason Woodbridge Gordon Barry Felch Greenly Ransom Barry McClelland Parsons Bingham Wisner Blair Crapo Baldwin Bagley Croswell Jerome Begole Alger Luce Winans Rich Pingree Bliss Warner Osborn Ferris Sleeper Groesbeck Green Brucker Comstock Fitzgerald Murphy Fitzgerald Dickinson Van Wagoner Kelly Sigler Williams Swainson Romney Milliken Blanchard Engler Granholm Snyder