The State Capitol
Building: Scene
of future
debates.
be forced to improve the
schools."
Gov. Engler has indicated
that while he believes in
hools of choice and charter
hools, which would not be
in by school boards, he is
opposed to vouchers for use
in private schools because
they are unconstitutional.
While he served in the
state Senate, Mr. Engler, of
Mt. Pleasant, was virtually
an unknown to the Jewish
community.
He was elected to the
state House at age 22,
spending the following eight
years there before moving
on to the state Senate. He
served there until he was
elected governor.
Since that time, he has
met repeatedly with Jewish
groups, arid he was the
keynote speaker at the
Jewish
Community
Council's annual meeting in
June. In addition, several
members of his cabinet
recently visited Israel for
the first time, opening doors
in Lansing previously closed
to the Jewish community.
In the coming months,
Mr. Engler is expected to
announce the completion of
an Israel-Michigan trade
team.
When talking about Mr.
Engler, his supporters reit-
erate the point that he
has kept promises — some-
thing they say candidates
rarely do. They say he is an
iconoclast whose ideas
can correct economic prob-
lems in the state by trim-
ming bureaucratic layers
and focusing on privatiza-
tion.
"John Engler has become
the prototypical governor of
the `90s," says Oakland
County Republican Chair-
man Jim Alexander.
"I believe the governor
has supported himself well
for 1994 by supporting prop-
erty tax relief and refunding
education," says Les
Greenwald, an attorney and
GOP activist. "He has done
precisely what he told the
voters he would do, which
makes him a very unique
politician."
Steven Victor, Michigan's
local representative for the
American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, is a
friend of Howard Wolpe.
Mr. Victor recently held a
fund-raiser at his home for
Mr. Wolpe.
"Howard Wolpe is a
Jewish candidate who has a
record of achievement in
Congress on some issues
that are of interest to the
Jewish community. He was
chairman of the African
subcommittee, and he
worked for Ethiopian
Jewry," Mr. Victor says.
Though many Jewish
women say they aren't
yet prepared to announce
their candidates of choice,
some are torn between sup-
porting Mr. Wolpe and Ms.
Stabenow — both who they
say are good on women's
issues.
Mr. Wolpe, 53, a 14-year
congressional veteran from
Lansing, retired from the
House of Representatives
last year after Michigan's
districts were redrawn.
He wants to be governor
because "this state should
be doing so much better
than it is. A lot of people are
anxious about jobs and hav-
ing the finest educational
institutions."
Mr. Wolpe's pitch to the
voters involves his will to
re-train the work force for
high-wage jobs, cut property
taxes and develop a fair way
to finance the schools.
He says Michigan must
become a leader in new
technologies that will be key
to the state's environmental
and industrial future.
In fact, all of the
Democrats said they believe
jobs and education need to
be given high priority on a
governor's agenda.
Before
serving
in
Congress, Mr. Wolpe, who
holds a doctoral degree, was
a professor of political sci-
ence. He served on the
Kalamazoo City Commis-
SCHOOLS page 52