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Bernero, Virg

CANDIDATE DETAILS

Affiliation


	2005-01-01

Name

Virg Bernero

Address

6017 Laporte
Lansing, Michigan , United States

None

Website

http://www.votevirg.com/

Born

March 31, 1964 (60 years)

Contributor

Wishful Thinking

Last Modifed

Mr. Matt
Jun 21, 2012 07:41pm

Tags

Italian - Married - Straight -

Info

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero is the chief executive of Michigan's sixth largest city. Now starting his fifth year as mayor, Bernero tackles the challenges of today's economy with a fierce determination to bring common sense reforms to government and to create a favorable business climate for new, job-creating investments.

And he's getting results.

Under Bernero's leadership, Lansing has leveraged more than a half-billion dollars in new investment that will retain and create more than 6,000 full-time jobs. Even in the face of serious revenue losses and rising costs, Bernero erased more than $30 million in city budget deficits without raising taxes by making government more efficient and more accountable.

When the U.S. auto industry was on the brink of collapse, Bernero catapulted onto the national stage as a leading spokesman and champion for Michigan's automotive companies and their workers. In scores of appearances on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and CBS, Bernero warned that the failure of the U.S. auto industry would push our nation‘s economy -- and the lives of countless Michigan families -- right over the cliff.

Bernero aimed his most scathing criticisms at the unholy alliance of Wall Street and Washington that has sold out and exported the American standard of living in the name of free trade policies that have sent millions of Michigan jobs overseas. Bernero's fiery rhetoric led CNN to call him "America's Angriest Mayor."

Bernero says he's angry all right -- angry about the collapse of the U.S. economy thanks to Wall Street fat cats and American workers thrown under the bus by Wall Street driven greed. But, the mayor says, he's not nearly as angry as the American people, who continue to suffer on Main Street while Wall Street still wallows in obscene profits and wildly excessive bonuses.

To create a stronger voice for Michigan, Bernero formed a national alliance of automotive mayors to press Congress and the White House to support manufacturing and to assist Michigan's recovery from economic disaster.

Bernero and his MMAC colleagues continue to work directly with the Obama Administration and Congress to bring critical federal aid back to Michigan to help redevelop closed automotive sites and create new jobs for displaced workers.

Virg Bernero is a seasoned veteran of Michigan's political scene, having served previously as a county commissioner and as a state representative and senator in the Michigan Legislature. He also served as the executive director of a statewide non-profit association that helps families and children with mental illness.

Bernero is the proud son of a GM retiree and Italian immigrant who lived the American Dream and provided for his family of five by running a grocery business and then taking a job with GM.

Virg and his wife Teri, an elementary school principal, live in Lansing. They have two daughters in college.

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