Although it is not on par with the excitement and press attention surrounding the State of the Union address in early January, Governor Jennifer Granholm’s upcoming State of the State address could be just as important not only for her career, but for Michigan Democrats in the future--and for good reason, as Michigan faces the nation’s highest unemployment rate for months, an auto industry that is still facing enormous challenges, and a public school system in Detroit that is consistently rated as one of America’s most under-performing districts.
The stakes are high for the Governor to not only defend her eight year record, but to lay the foundation for proposals that could propel a Democrat to the GovernorsMansion in 2011. She may have her work cut out for her, as Republican Gubernatorial candidate and Attorney General Mike Cox is currently poised to win over Democratic candidates according to a recent poll.
As she takes the podium for her eighth and final time as Governor, she will undoubtedly attempt to pass the blame for a variety of social and economic issues that have remained during her tenure. For one thing, Granholm will have to explain her plan to create jobs in the state, as Michigan experiences a nearly 15-percent unemployment rate. While the careless lending by banks was the major factor in creating the crisis in the first place, Granholm’s management in office seems to have exacerbated the problem. A $1.58 billion deficit in the 2011 budget has been created, likely because of increased spending (which hasn’t stemmed the unemployment rate) and falling tax revenues. Tax increases seem to be inevitable, which will put further strain on the middle class and small businesses. It will take a grand effort for her to pass the buck and play the victim on Wednesday night.
Granholm needs to explain the now-common trend of growing union membership in the Michigan government. According to newly released data by the MackinacCenter for Public Policy, a think tank in Midland, union members in governmental jobs jumped nearly five percent from 2008 to 2009. Nearly 315,000 out of 710,000 government employees in the state belong to a union. This trend is troubling, as increasing union membership will not only put more strain on the already-fragile Michigan budget, but will conveniently politicize the civil service workforce, allowing Democratic causes to be advanced, even if Republicans take Lansing in 2011. Michigan has historically been friendly to unions, but as union membership in the private sector has fallen across America, Granholm simply appears to be catering to unions in the public sector for political gain.
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