Michigan Governor's Race 2006

11-15 Congratulations to Governor Jennifer Granholm and to the good judgment of Michigan voters! Granholm won a majority in every demographic group except for Republicans. She won a majority in every age group, every religious group, every ethnic and racial group, and she got a big majority of the votes of independent voters.

For me there were several disappointments, however, in the election results:

Joe Knollenberg's defeat of Nancy Skinner in a close race for the U.S. House of Representatives. Skinner ran a good campaign on a shoestring and came the closest of any Democrat to winning the House seat for my heavily Republican district in the 37 years I've lived here.

I was also shocked and disappointed by Andy Levin's defeat for state senator by 700 votes by John Pappageorge, a tired old, right wing idealogue. I worked on Levin's campaign and was convinced he would win. He was a far superior candidate and would have won but for the 3,000 votes garnered by a Green Party candidate. Shades of Ralph Nader causing Gore to lose in 2000! Voters should think twice about what they are doing when they vote for splinter parties.

Finally, despite opposition by nearly everyone in both parties to defeat it, (except Brooks Patterson, Republican Oakland county executive), a ballot initiative designed to ban affirmative action in admissions in Michigan public universities and hiring and contracting by state and local governments passed by a fairly big majority. Legal challenges to the initiative offer little prospect for reversal of the initiative despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that such programs do not violate the Constitution. Shame on voters from the home state of Rosa Parks and Viola Liuzzo! Ballot initiatives are a poor way to conduct the public's business. Such issues should be left to the checks and balances of the legislature and governor.

11-3 Latest Rasmussen poll puts Granholm ahead 53-42! http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/State%20Polls/October%202006/MichiganGovernor1022.htm

10-26 Granholm's lead narrows to 5 points, 48-43 according to latest poll as we enter the countdown to the election. The result may depend on which party does the better job of getting out the vote of its supporters. I can't believe that Michigan voters will be fooled by a candidate so lacking in qualifications and whose views are so far to the right of center.

www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/UPDATE/610260453/1129/SPORTS0104"

MICHIGAN MUNICIPAL LEAGUE RIPS DEVOS'S TAX PROPOSAL

DeVos's proposal to eliminate personal property taxes on businesses would cripple towns and cities across Micihgan.

"'Michigan cities are operating with a fiscal noose around our neck. Eliminating the personal property tax would be like kicking the chair out,' said Summer Minnick, lobbyist for the Michigan Municipal League."

THE QUESTIONS DEVOS CAN'T DODGE

10-8 Brian Dickerson on "The Questions DeVos Can't Afford to Dodge." 'He must get better at the essential political art of giving the answer you want to give and not the one that actually addresses the question,'the editorial page editor of the Republican-leaning Detroit news scolded.

"Privately, GOP leaders like Oakland county executive L. Brooks Patterson seconded the News' no-candor counsel, confiding that any more unscripted answers about intelligent design, school prayer,, or stem-cell research could sabotage DVos' support among independents and secular Republicans."

W2 comment: The truth is that DeVos is way to far to the right for Michigan on a whole variety of issues. Perhaps he should move to Kansas if he's sericous about a political career, which I doubt very much that he is, based on his history of dabbling in a several fields.

10-3 Brian Dickerson Declares No Winner of Debate No. 1. [Dickerson column linked below.]

10-3 DEVOS CONCEALED HIS ATTEMPT TO MAKE A KILLING VIA AN INVESTMENT IN ALTERRA A TROUBLED FOR PROFIT NURSING HOME COMPANY ACCUSED OF PATIENT ABUSE AND NUMEROUS OTHER VIOLATIONS.

[Free Press articles linked below.]

10-2 Free Press gives Granholm the edge in first debate with DeVos. [Editorial linked below.]

9-23 Nolan Finley: DeVos blundered when he got off his economic message onto "social issues." But he's not a "right-wing religious zealot in a business suit." [Or is he?]

[Comment: The truth is that DeVos IS a "right-wing religious zealot" in a business suit who got rich from the family company which has been getting away with running a sleazy pyramid maketing scam for years. As if scamming the little guys wasn't enough, AMWAY was caught red-handed several years ago in a scheme for avoiding millions of dollars in Canadian import duties. Amway claimed the scam was inadvertant due to complexities in Canadian tarrif regulations but pleadedd guilty and paid a $25 million fine to settle the criminal fraud case.]

REPUBLICAN STRATEGISTS CRINGE AS THE REAL DEVOS STANDS UP says Brian Dickerson in this morning's Detroit Free Press

"Mayday! Mayday! All hands on deck! Full astern! OK--so maybe Dick DeVos' handlers didn't really shout those things Wednesday when their candidate told teh AP he'd like to see more public schools make a religious doctrine a part of their science curriculum

"But the urgency with which top GOP strategists moved to limit the fall out from DeVos' public embrace of creationism was striking...

"Since last February, Michigan voters have been steeped in a $13-miooion TV campaign designed to portray DeVos as a sophisticated businessman with little time for the social agenda that animates his party's Christian wing....

[Dickerson's column is linked below.]

Other questions for DeVos: What's you position on embryonic stem cell research? What about comprehensive sex education in public schools? What do you think should be done about global warming? Do you think the morning after pill should be sold without a prescription? Do you support a woman's reproductive rights? What is your program for improving PUBLIC schools? Do you support handgun control?

9-20-- DEVOS WOULD INJECT RELIGION INTO PUBLIC SCHOOL SCIENCE CLASSROOMS.

A front page article in this morning's Detroit Free Press reports that Dick DeVos said Michigan school districts should be allowed to teach intelligent design in science classes as a possible explanation of diverse life on Earth, injecting the national debate over evolution into the campaign...DeVos said exposing students to the concept of intelligent design--viewed by most scientists as a nonscientific, religion-based belief--would help them analyze competing theories. [Free Press article linked below.]

MICHIGAN VOTERS HAVE A CLEAR CHOICE THIS YEAR

Michigan voters have a choice between Dick DeVos, an inexperienced and very conservative Bush "Mini-Me" and our current energetic and moderate Governor Granholm who takes a balanced approach to governing which addresses the importance of an attractive business climate without neglecting the needs of all Michiganders.

Granholm has worked tirelessly to bring more jobs to Michigan, recently persuading Kohler to move from Chicago to Grand Rapids, and has implemented a strategy emphasizing high paying research and technical jobs for our state, while DeVos copied WalMart, sending Michigan jobs to China. The July11 announcement that Google is opening a facility in Ann Arbor that will employ 1,000 in tech jobs exemplifies the value of Governor Granholm's new jobs initiatives.

The August 9 announcement by Ford and the State of Ford's plans to invest $1 billion in Michigan, saving 14,000 jobs, is more good news resulting from Granholm's push for jobs.

You wouldn't know it from DeVos's $16 million barrage of television ads, but voters should be aware of how far to the right of center he and his family really are. You name the conservative cause, and DeVos has supported it. For example, the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation funds the National Center for Policy Analysis which supports, among many conservative causes, the privatization of Social Security and opening up the Anwar and other environmentally sensitive areas to oil drilling. It has expressed doubt about global warming and opposes efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. DeVos is not a big supporter of public education and has contributed to religious schools and advocated the expansion of voucher programs to supplant public schools.

And, although he is massively rich from the business founded by his father, his business experience doesn't amount to much more than that of President Bush. Like Bush, he attended Harvard Business School, worked in the family business and dabbled in professional sports. Like Bush, he's been accustomed to starting at the top, taking over as CEO of the NBA's Orlando Magic after his family acquired the team. Shortly thereafter, he left the Orlando Magic to rejoin the family company Amway as president. Currently, he's president of Windquest, a company he founded with the same name as the DeVos family's 86-foot maxi-yacht which travels the country to grand prix racing events.

To be fair to DeVos, his government experience should not be overlooked. In 1990, he was elected to the State Board of Education. But he resigned after only two years of his eight-year term. And in 1996, he was appointed by John Engler to the Grand Valley State University Board of Control where he reportedly had the poorest attendance of any board member. He also resigned from this post before his term was up. That's about it.

Michigan will clearly benefit more from another Granholm term than from a very conservative business and political dilettante like Dick DeVos whose personal campaign motto is: "A rising tide lifts all yachts."

8-27-06 THE EDUCATION ISSUE

DeVos is a devoted supporter of private and charter schools. Granholm believes in public schools. Here's an editorial on charter schools:

"EXPLODING THE CHARTER SCHOOL MYTH

"A federal study showing that fourth graders in charter schools score worse in reading and math than their public school counterparts should cause some soul-searching in Congress. Too many lawmakers seem to believe that the only thing wrong with American education is the public school system, and that converting lagging schools to charter schools would cause them to magically improve.

"The study, based on data from 2003 on students' performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, found charter school students significantly behind their non-charter-school-counterparts. 'But it slso showed that not all charter schools are created equal.

"On average, charter schools that were affiliated with public school districts performed just as well as traditional public schools. That may be a disappointment to advocates who expected them to show clear superiority. But the real stunner was the performance of free-standing charter schools, which have no affiliation with public school systems and are often school districts unto themselves. It was this grouping that showed the worst performance.

"Free-standing charter schools often bite off more than they can chew. The presumption is that without the bureaucratic restraints of the public school system and the teacher unions, charter schools can provide better education at lower cost. But the problem with failing public schools is that they often lack both resources and skilled, experienced teachers. While there are obvious exceptions, some charter schools embark on a path that simply recreates the failures of the schools they were developed to replace.

"Charter school advocates denounced the new federal study even before it was released and took issue with its metholodology, which is not perfect. But this study does not stand alone. The evidence so far shows that charter schools are not inherently superior to the traditional public schools they often seek to supplant--and that they are sometimes worse.

"One advantage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 was the wave of education studies it started. They offer hope that congress will look at the record when it considers reauthorizing the law next year. If it does, lawmakers will back away from the part of the act that offers charter schools as a cure-all. They should instead home in on the all-important but largely neglected issue of teacher training and preparation--which trumps everything when it comes to improving student achievement.

"These studies argue for a more nuanced federal policy that does not just advocate wholesale charter conversion but instead defines and supports successful models only. Beyond that, Congress needs to grasp the obvious, which is that the quality of the teacher corps is more crucial to school reform than anything else. The original law required states to pprovide highly qualified teachers in core subject areas by this year. But the Education Department simply failed to enforce the rule, aprtly because of hack-channel interference by lawmakers who talked like ardent reformers whild covering up for state officials clinging to the bad old status quo.

"Four years later, the national teacher corps is still in a shambles. Until Congress changes that, everything else will amount to little more than tinkering at the margins."

NYTimes 8-27-06

Questions for DeVos and Granholm: Have you read the latest federal study on charter schools? Did you find anything in it that influenced your position on charter versus public schools? What is your program for improving education in Michigan?

While we're on the subject of education, why doesn't somebody ask DeVos and Granholm whether or not they support

--Comprehensive sex education or abstinence only classes in public schools?

--Teaching creationism or intelligent design in public school science classes instead of or along side of evolution?

--Encouraging gay tolerance in public schools?

[I think I know what their answers would but I would like to see them pinned down on the issues so that Michigan voters may cast informed ballots based on something more than carefully crafted TV ad campaigns.]

From "Around the World of Sailing" Archives, July 2005:

"Windquest, Bengal II arive in Rainbow Harbor

"DICK and Doug DeVos's Windquest, one of three maxZ86s that will battle for the Barn Door [in the Transpac from L.A. to Hawaii] later this month, arrived in Rainbow Harbor Friday morning, just after Japanese entry Bengal II. (Emphasis added.)

"For Windquest, the relatively short sail from San Diego was a routine final leg following an arduous overland trip to California from its home in Holland, Mich. The truck and extra-long trailer hauling the mast and keel slipped off a road in Arkansas. The 125-foot spar was twisted out of shape and had to be replaced with one shipped from the East Coast." 

Comment:  Recent press accounts have stated that Doug DeVos is the owner of Windquest. Could it be that Dick is distancing himself from the family's mega yacht for the duration of his gubernatorial campaign because he fears that unemployed workers in Michigan will ask "Where are the Michigan citizens' yachts?"