Advocates question Snyder’s shyness on social topics

By CHEYNA ROTH
Capital News Service
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder has a track record of trying to run Michigan like a business with a focus on jobs and the economy, but when it comes to tackling cultural or social justice issues, Snyder has a self-acknowledged history of staying away. “I don’t spend much time on social issues,” Snyder said in an interview with Capital News Service correspondents. “I spend the vast bulk of my time on economic development, making Michigan better, public safety, all the other issues, because I think that’s typically what our citizens are most concerned with.”
Social issues, particularly same-sex marriage and the question of whether business owners can deny service to people with whom they have religious differences, have been in the spotlight recently. Michigan’s constitutional ban on gay marriage is being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. And the legislature is considering a bill to let businesses turn away customers for religious reasons that is similar to a recent law causing a backlash in Indiana.