Local Governments in the Trump Administration
By Andy LaBarre, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners Chairman and Executive Vice President and Director of Governmental Relations of Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber A Trump administration represents not just a departure from what was expected in 2017, but a departure from traditional Republican administrations as we have known them since Dwight D. Eisenhower. For local governments this is especially worrisome because of a great deal of uncertainty. In the past, local governments could largely prepare for how they dealt with, and what resources they received from, federal partners based on the general ideology of the party in power. With Trump that general ability to anticipate is removed, as he has shown himself to be unique in both his lack of ideological consistency and his routinely erratic behavior. All of this means that local governments face great uncertainty about the years ahead. As I tried to explain in this interview, we are unsure what a Trump Administration will mean for local governments in Michigan, but we assume that combined with a conservative Michigan Legislature, it will mean reduced funding and support to local governments, along with increased mandates.
For more on Andy’s perspective, please read his interview with The Ann Arbor News/MLive.
Andy LaBarre, a 2012 EMU MPA alum, is the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners Chairman and Executive Vice President and Director of Governmental Relations of Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Regional Chamber.