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Opinion

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Re-Elect Gov. Granholm

N

early everyone agrees:
Gov. Jennifer Granholm
is very smart, com-
municates
extremely
well, is char-
ismatic and
can reach
out to people
of all ages,
incomes,
occupations
and ethnic-
ity. I would
like to argue
that much
has been done during the most
difficult circumstances by her
administration.
Our state has depended on
the automobile industry for 100
years, and now we no longer can
due to automation and outsourc-
ing; not to Indiana or Ohio, but to
Mexico and India and to China.
We are required to completely
restructure and diversify into the
new economy. This is a task that
any governor can only partially
affect. Three previous governors

faced earlier stages of this revolu-
tion and they had only minimal
success.
Additionally, when Jennifer
Granholm became governor
in 2002, she was faced with a
$4 billion deficit and a hostile
Republican majority in the
state Legislature. In spite of
this daunting arena, she got to
work. She would not ask for a
general tax increase; and she
would protect public education
as well as those most vulnerable
— the elderly, the poor and the
disabled.
At the same time, she has
championed a $6 billion eco-
nomic plan. "Jobs Today, Jobs
Tomorrow" is the most compre-
hensive economic plan in the
nation. It creates jobs currently
and, most importantly, diversi-
fies our economy to create jobs
tomorrow. This plan invests in
the working people of Michigan.
She has put tens of thou-
sands of our citizens to work
by accelerating 10 years of road
and bridge construction work,

Support Dick DeVos

A

s a lifelong Michigan
resident whose fam-
ily and businesses
have been rooted in this state for
generations,
I want to
bequeath to
my children
the same
opportuni-
ties for
success here
that I was
afforded.
I was
raised, edu-
cated and
married here. It is here that my
wife, Nancy, and I chose to raise
three children amongst the most
vibrant Jewish community in
the country. While we had hoped
that our children would make
Michigan their home as well, the
sad truth is that more promising
opportunities await them else-
where as they proceed along their

26

October 12 g 2006

chosen career paths.
To me, the need for a fresh
approach is obvious, which is
why I am supporting Dick DeVos
for governor. While I believe that
both candidates for governor
are well-intentioned, I am con-
vinced that only with immediate
and drastic change is there any
chance for this state to resurrect
itself.
With the economy in decline
and employment prospects wan-
ing, we are witnessing a massive
out-migration among the young.
As reports show, we have the
highest unemployment rate in
the nation. We rank first in the
number of people leaving the
state and 49th in retaining young
adults. This brain drain, this
hemorrhage of talent from our
state, may well be the most dam-
aging and hard-to-reverse deficit
crippling our economy's ability to
rebound.
Nowhere is this more acutely

work with jobs that are available
and helping others get the skills
they will need to hold good-pay-
ing positions. Nearly 110,000
have obtained jobs in the first
year.
She instituted the nation's
most rigorous curriculum for
every high school student in
Michigan. She has proposed a
guaranteed $4,000 scholarship to
all Michigan students to be used
in college.
Her programs are making
health care affordable and acces-
sible for everyone. These pro-
grams have extended health care
and prescription drug benefits
to 300,000 Michigan residents.
Her new Michigan First Health
Care Plan will make health care
universally accessible to everyone
in our state; also, the MIRx pro-
gram has helped lower prescrip-
tion drug prices for seniors.
She has tirelessly traveled
around the
nation and the
Michigan world to bring
new industry

nursing home improvement and
pollution cleaning projects down
to two to three years. Her 21st
Century Jobs Fund is a $2 billion
initiative to create thousands
of good-paying jobs that won't
be outsourced and will help
keep our children in Michigan.
Hundreds of applications already
have been received. This pro-
gram will diversify our economy
by attracting higher-growth
industries such as life sciences,
alternate energy, advanced man-
ufacturing as well as homeland
security.
Gov. Granholm's programs pro-
vide significant funding to bring
and maintain biotech and other
high-tech firms to Michigan. At
the same time, she has cut more
funding out of the state budget
than any previous governor.
Gov. Granholm's new MI
Opportunity Partnership is
already connecting those seeking

At issue: Whom

voters should support

to Michigan. Two new projects
from Toyota and one from Google
in Ann Arbor are the founda-
tions to help make the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor and
Wayne State University in Detroit
world leaders in the 21st cen-
tury for research and economic
development. According to Site
Selection magazine, Michigan
ranked fourth in the nation in
new business sites and expanded
business.
She is an advocate for embry-
onic stem cell research to help
cure spinal injuries, Alzheimer's
disease, Parkinson's disease and
diabetes; her opponent, Dick
DeVos, favors adult stem cell
research only. Mr. DeVos sup-
ports teaching Christian Bible
theories in public-school sci-
ence classes (intelligent design);
Jennifer Granholm would limit
such theories to comparative reli-
gion classes.
Gov. Granholm is a moder-
ate, as were Governors George
Romney, William Milliken and
James Blanchard. Yet her oppo-

for governor on Nov. 7

felt than within our Jewish com-
munity. Our children are leaving
the state in record numbers in
search of economic advantages
Michigan simply cannot offer
because we failed to diversify. As
the recent Detroit Jewish census
study stresses, we desperately
need to preserve the growth and
vitality of our younger Jewish
community to avoid a freefall of
our population.
I have come to know Dick and
the entire DeVos family to be
honest, sincere, energetic and
motivated by a desire to give
back to their community and
their state which have given them
so much. This is the driving force
behind Dick's gubernatorial run
— he does this not to enhance
his personal fortune or that of
the company which he managed,
but rather to address the desper-
ate needs of the people of this
state.
Leaders in government, as in

business, need to be creative,
fresh-thinking team builders
capable of making tough deci-
sions. They need to be bound
by personal responsibility and
accountability — all of which I
have found to be hallmarks of
Dick DeVos.
As CEO of Aliticor, he made
the hard calls necessary to turn
the company around and, in so
doing, saved the jobs of countless
Michigan employees dependent
upon that company for their live-
lihood.
That is exactly what Michigan
needs today.
Knowing Dick DeVos as I
do, I am confident that he will
create an invigorated economy,
transforming and diversifying
our stagnant automotive and
manufacturing base into a robust
Michigan that boldly welcomes
global competition. He will apply
the same skills and leadership
used to manage a multi-billion-

dollar international corporation
to overhaul and streamline state
government, and empower local
communities and school districts
to improve accountability in our
education system.
Dick has always been a great
friend and strong supporter of
Israel, having gained a firsthand
appreciation of the country from
several trips there begun long
ago. His respect for its unique
security challenges, its vibrant
democracy, its front-lines fight
against terrorism and its contri-
butions as America's strongest
ally in the region help explain
why, irrespective of the political
costs, he recently decided not
to address the Arab-American
Political Action Committee
because of the statements
expressed by some of its officers
in support of Hezbollah.
Dick and I are the same age.
He has shared with me his hopes
and dreams for the children