Who is the real Gary Peters?

Posted by hpayne on May 7, 2013

Peters

In the fall of 2011, major Metro Detroit politicians were conspicuously absent from the Occupy Detroit movement. So noxious was the leftist tantrum that even Detroit City Council members eschewed the protests that had become synonymous with public disorder and anti-capitalist rhetoric. But one area Democrat bucked the trend.

Congressman Gary Peters.

The millionaire former Merrill Lynch financial advisor donned a “We are the 99 Percent” button and marched up Woodward Avenue amidst angry unionists, anarchists and class warriors. Last week, the self-described political “moderate” and “independent” launched his campaign to fill the Senate seat of retiring Carl Levin. But if he is a centrist, why does Peters provoke such unusual disdain from even moderate Republicans?

His Occupy Detroit alliance is a glimpse at the real Gary Peters — an ideologically liberal politician who will do anything to stay in power.

“I’ve always believed that the things middle class families struggle with around their kitchen tables should define my work in Washington,” Peters said launching a Senate campaign in which he is the clear Democratic favorite. “Set politics and party aside: If it’s not right for Michigan’s small businesses and middle class, it’s never been right with me. I think that kind of independent approach is exactly what Michigan needs.”

But Peters is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He voted in lockstep with Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s agenda when Democrats controlled the House. Pro-global warming regulation. Pro-stimulus. Pro-Obamacare. His middle-class Oakland County constituents rebelled against his partisan vote for Obamacare, complaining that he was aloof and unresponsive. Only when the subsequent, tea party tsunami threatened his seat in 2010 did Peters row to America’s political mainstream. Overnight, Peters became a small government advocate, condemning Obama’s second, $50 billion stimulus and embracing the Bush tax cuts.

Peters temporary flirtation with those “centrist” issues is instructive.

Having secured his re-election in 2010, he lurched back left — cheering Obama’s agenda for even more spending (never mind $50 billion, now Peters supported Obama’s $450 billion Stimulus II) and burying the Bush tax cuts. In a 2012 Detroit News interview, Peters dodged questions about why it was imperative to shield Michigan small business from tax hikes in the difficult 2010 recovery — but not in the difficult 2012 recovery. Peters makes Mitt Romney look like a flip-flop novice.

“Peters has always presented himself as a reasonable business candidate, even as he votes left,” says Michigan political analyst Bill Ballenger. “It’s a total sham.”

“He’s a phony,” says Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson, a Republican with a true independent streak.

There is one conviction that trumps Peters left-wing politics: winning. His 2010 Congressional campaign was the state’s ugliest — tagging tea partiers with the crude sex term “teabaggers” and accusing his opponent, decorated Iraq veteran Rocky Raczkowski, of business malfeasance, a charge so low it provoked a slander suit.

“He has no moral compass,” says Raczkowski who once considered Peters an ally when they served in Lansing’s legislature. “He has mortgaged our future for his own personal gain. What a chameleon.”

After the elimination of his Oakland County 9th district, he ran for election in Detroit’s leftist, 14th district. His Occupy Detroit march was a signal to the union-heavy district that the anti-spending business ally of 2010 was just for show — even as he had amassed a rich war chest exploiting his stature on the House Finance Committee where he is a member of the elite “New Democrat” fundraising club, raking in corporate dough as gatekeeper for House financial reform legislation.

Like Debbie Stabenow, Peters will be a formidable Senate candidate thanks to his vote for the auto bailout. But his liberal, anti-small business advocacy for Obamacare and higher taxes seed doubt about the real Gary Peters.

Is he for what’s best for Michigan, or what’s best for Gary Peters?

 

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