The D.C. Connection

Doug Ross now is No. 2 at the U.S. Department of Labor and the only Jewish
Michiganian to get a top administration appointment.

KIMBERLY LIPTON STAFF WRITER

I t wasn't long ago that
Doug Ross said he wasn't
interested in moving to
Washington.
And now that he is
there, the new assistant
U.S secretary of labor for
employment and training will
complete his term (through
1996) and most likely return to
Michigan — his home.
In August, Mr. Ross official-
ly became second in command
to Labor Secretary Robert Re-
ich. The move surprised no one
but Mr. Ross, the only Jewish
political insider from Michigan
appointed to a key post in the
Clinton administration.
After the Clinton victory last
November, Mr. Ross was the
first to say he didn't want to
move to the nation's capital. He
was happy in Michigan running
his business, Michigan Future,
Inc., a private venture he found-
ed to create and promote long-
term economic development in
the state.
Now he holds a prestigious
job he didn't even seek.
Last spring, Mr. Reich called
Mr. Ross, requesting that he
join his labor team.
"Bob Reich called and said
America needed to create a sys-
tem to help people move from
one job to the next," he said. "It
was too much an opportunity to
pass up."
In his new job, Mr. Ross, for-
mer director of the Michigan
Department of Commerce, over-
sees a multi-billion dollar fed-
eral agency with 1,700
employees.
Doug Ross talked about his
new job during a Yom Kippur
weekend visit to Michigan. He
came to town to break the fast
with family and friends — and
to do a little work at the same
time.
A member of the Birming-
ham Temple, he had arranged
to have his new boss, Mr. Reich,
address the members as part of
an ongoing lecture series.

As he always does, Mr. Ross
made the most of his time.
Though he had been in traction
for a neck injury a few days be-
fore traveling to Detroit, Mr.
Ross kept to a busy and tight
schedule.
On his agenda: He spoke be-
fore a Michigan State Univer-
sity symposium on "Schools,
Taxation and Michigan's Fu-
ture." He attended a fund-rais-
er for U.S. Rep. Sander Levin.
He introduced Mr. Reich to the
group of about 200 temple go-
ers.
He was on a mission: pro-
moting in Michigan a plan he
helped create with Vice Presi-
dent Al Gore, reinventing the
government, and promoting a
Labor Department strategy to
update education in America to
reflect a changing economy.

Doug Ross, left, with his
boss, Labor Secretary
Robert Reich.

In his new job,
Mr. Ross oversees
a multi-billion
dollar federal
agency
with 1,700
employees.

"In the old economy, people
were never taught to think," he
explained. "The president be-
lieves we do a poor job of prepar-
ing 75 percent of our kids who
don't graduate college. They
leave high school with no mar-
ketable skills.
"In the new economy, no one
will pay these people middle
class wages," Mr. Ross said.
He told the MSU group,
which comprised public school
officials from all over the state,
that America can place some
blame for its economic failings
on the education system.
He said the United States is
not prepared for the constant

changes in the environment,
and he estimated that just 20
percent of the country's work
force is prepared for change.
"We need to think for a living
to manage change," he told the
group, adding the days when
teachers could teach passively
are over. "There is a new para-
digm for learning. The test is, if
you go back to an old class room
and see that it looks familiar or
it looks too comfortable, it is
wrong.
"It means starting over," he
said. "Let's take what we know

and improve it."
He said the education focus
should not be on financing— as
is the case in Michigan, where
Gov. John Engler and the
Michigan Legislature wiped out
next year's funding mechanism
for public schools without first
coming up with a replacement.
"Clearly finance is an issue,"
he said. "There is no evidence
that better education will come
from getting the financing right.
Getting it wrong will hurt, but
getting it right is only a part of
it."

Mr. Ross went to Washing-
ton with a lengthy resume, in-
cluding serving as a state
senator and as a legislative aide
to Congressman John Dingell
of Michigan and former Mary-
land Sen. Joseph Tydings.
He was president of the Cor-
poration for Enterprise Devel-
opment, a Washington policy
organization devoted to eco-
nomic and human develop-
ment; and he co-chaired
Michigan Citizens Lobby, a con-
sumer and taxpayers advocacy
group. El

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