BlueNovember.Org endorses Jennifer Granholm for governor of Michigan. Her record proves she is a proponent for community ideals and for the common good. Her opponent, Dick Devos, on the other hand, has a record of working against ordinary people and for the interests of corporations and the privileged few.
Education
Granholm has increased spending per student to the highest level in state history. She is a union supporter, which is good for teachers, and she is an advocate for increased core curriculum standards for public schools. Devos has spent millions advocating a voucher system that would take tax revenue from public schools and give it to private schools. Devos has tried to spin this plan as one to help "poor" students who seek alternative education. We aren't buying a plan that diverts public money to private institutions that have no public oversight.
Granholm earns respect for community mindedness and for seeking the common good. Devos earns a cold shoulder for his lack of commitment to our common interests with respect to educating Michigan children.
JOBS and RESPECT FOR MICHIGAN WORKERS
Jennifer Granholm pushed the Republican controlled house and senate to increase the minimum wage. When they wouldn't budge, she initiated the drive to get it on the fall ballot. She said, "We'll let the Michigan voters decide." It wasn't until the Republican majority admitted opposing the minimum wage increase would be a political liability that they put their own version of an increase on the table. Governor Granholm signed the compromise into law earlier this year. The lowest paid and often hardest working people in the state will finally see a pay increase in October 2006. Granholm has worked to bring good jobs to the state. Google, Ann Arbor; Whirlpool, Benton Harbor; Duncan Aviation, Battle Creek, are just a few of the companies Granholm helped bring to Michigan.
Dick Devos was never a proponent to raise the minimum wage and he has created more jobs in China than in Michigan. In fact, after laying off more than one thousand Michigan workers, Devos invested millions of dollars in China.
Granholm scores points for valuing hard work and for "insourcing" jobs to our state (It bears repeating here that she is a supporter of unions. As for Devos, with his record of outsourcing and pushing to make this a "Right to Work" or non-union state, and we were actually using a point system, we would have to give negative numbers here.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS or "THE BIG PICTURE"
Regardless of how many slick ads Dick Devos produces, he is not the kind of person we want as an advocate for Michigan citizens simply because he has never been an advocate for ordinary people and their needs. Jennifer Granholm has spent the larger portion of her life defending people and protecting their interests. It is also important to note Granholm inherited a nearly four billion dollar debt from outgoing Governor Engler. She made hard choices, but she paid down that debt. Devos has strong ties to the current Bush administration. Most Americans now agree our federal government is a mess and it has made a mess of our common interests. Education, civil liberties, job security, environmental protection, a quest for peace: all eroded under Bush administration policies. Dick Devos spent several hundred thousand dollars on Bush's presidential campaigns. This must mean he agrees with Bush policies. So, while Devos ads call for "change", it seems to us that "change" means more of what got us into trouble in the first place. We don't need a George W. Bush type-guy in Lansing.
Jennifer Granholm is clearly the best choice for governor of Michigan.
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