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July 19, 2002 - Image 33

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2002-07-19

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Editorials are posted and archived on JN Online:

www.detroitjewishnews.com

Don't Bypass The Primary

in

ichigan voters will elect a new governor
for the first time in 12 years on Nov. 5,
but an earlier election will narrow the
field in the hotly contested race for the
state's top elective position. On the Democratic side
in the Aug. 6 primary, each of the three Democratic
candidates has been elected to a major office. But
Jewish voters would do well to vote for Jim •
Blanchard or Jennifer Granholm.
Progressive on social issues and moderate on eco-
nomic issues, both are proven friends of the Jewish
community — personally and through an array of
friendships, acquaintances and advisers. Each under-
stands that a growing, prosperous Michigan — and
Detroit — is essential for all residents of this great
state. Each has unequivocally defended the right of
Israel to defend itself militarily against Arab aggres-
sion.
Key gubernatorial issues include: human
services — especially for the elderly — in
a time of falling state revenues; school
tuition vouchers versus funding for public schools;
policies related to taxes, public health, transporta-
tion and the environment; and renewal of Detroit,
the state's biggest city.

es with her knowledge, charis-
ma, mettle and record as the
state's chief legal protector of its
citizen rights.
She has battled on behalf of
consumer protection (like fight-
ing gas-station price gouging
after the Sept. 11 terror attacks)
and family causes (like fighting
for mentors for truant children
and against ultra-violent video
games). She also has built a
high-tech crimes unit.
As governor, she would bring
a keen sense of how we can
again make our core cities
vibrant: from market-based
incentives for develop-
ers of once-blighted
land to giving young
people a reason to stay
here rather than move to
Chicago or other "hip" cities.
If the polls hold, the gover-
nor's office is likely to be the
next step for Granholm on a
path that could place her in the
Democratic Party's national
political arena. But along the
way, we believe the former assis-
tant U.S. attorney from Detroit
would represent the interests of
all Michiganians with integrity,
passion and accountability.

Dry Bones

EDIT ORIAL

Experience Versus Potential

If elected, either Blanchard or Granholm would
serve the state, and the Jewish community, well. For
Michigan Democrats concerned about cultivating
the next generation of leadership for their party,
Granholm is the better, more resonating choice.
The work of governor is limited in national and
international affairs. But in that office, Blanchard
and Granholm clearly would possess the drive, heart
and ties to make decisions designed to invigorate
the economic relationship between Michigan and
Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.
Blanchard, 59, is not only a former ambassador to
Canada, with which Michigan shares a border, but
also served our state with distinction as a congress-
man. He was a presidential appointee to the board
that planned the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Washington and was part of a congressional dele-
gation to Israel at the time of the 1978 Camp
David peace accords.
He later served eight years as governor, where he
saved and created jobs, appointed many Jews to
office, developed an innovative college tuition sav-
ings plan and spurred the state to buy State of Israel
Bonds. In 1990, four years after being re-elected by
the largest margin in Michigan history, he lost the
governorship, some say, because he failed to court
Mayor Coleman A. Young and Detroit voters.
With Blanchard, Jewish voters know they have a
champion, a confidant and a loyal public servant.
Nothing over the past 12 years has changed that
impression. Jim Blanchard's return to Lansing as
governor would be a fitting cap to a stalwart politi-
cal career.
In her brief period in the spotlight as state attor-
ney general, Jennifer Granholm, 43, has displayed
the potential to be a political superstar. She impress-

Bonior's Baggage

The other Democratic con-
tender, U.S. Rep. David Bonior
of Mount Clemens, has amassed a notable record on
Capitol Hill. While the tide within the Democratic
Party, especially during the Clinton administration,
was toward a Democratic centrism, Bonior, 57,
remained true to the liberal traditions of his party.
He may attract the votes of some labor-minded
Jews, but Bonior lacks a key skill his opponents
bring to the stump: the ability to build bridges and
coalitions that would move bills into law of benefit
to all Michigan residents. Could he work with a
Republican majority in the state Senate and House?
We suspect there could well be ideological gridlock.
Like his opponents, he brings up the importance
of a safe, secure Israel. But unlike them, Bonior
takes pains to compare Israel's strong, provoked mil-
itary response resulting in unintentional Palestinian
civilian deaths with Palestinian suicide bombers who
brazenly target Israeli civilians. To find moral equiv-
alency in those barbaric bombings and what Bonior
calls Israel's "decades of occupation" of the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, arguably still part of the Land
of Israel, is unconscionable.
While we acknowledge Bonior's tenacity in refus-
ing to moderate his longstanding positions on
Middle East policy, we also recognize he has not

truly tried to reach out to the Jewish community.
Surely, he knows that without some effort toward
moderation, a Bonior victory in the Democratic
primary would propel Jews into the Republican
Party in droves. We can only assume he doesn't
care.
The Democratic primary victor is likely to square
off in the general election against Lt. Gov. Dick
Posthumus, running in the Republican primary
against lesser-known state Sen. Joe Schwarz of
Battle Creek. As Senate majority leader, Posthumus,
52, showed that he could bring consensus. He's
business friendly, a fiscal conservative and commit-
ted to equal education opportunities, but not
tuition vouchers. He visited Israel as part of a
Detroit Jewry-sponsored delegation_ and is actively
courting the Jewish vote. He counts GOP heavy-
weights like Max Fisher and Edward C. Levy Jr.
among his supporters.
Posthumus clearly has the wherewithal to be a
closer friend to the Jewish community than Gov.
John Engler.
Nov. 5 is Election Day. But to overlook the Aug.
6 primary is to give up your privilege as an
American to help choose the final two contestants
for Michigan governor.



7/19
2002

33

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