For all you Michiganders what do you think of her? I didn't vote for her. Now, she might shut down? How irresponsible is that? She seems to be running from the problems in our economy at hand. What do you think about this?

Granholm cannot make or pass a budget -she is not allowed. Check the constitution.


To me the FULL blame goes on the House and Senate. THOSE are the folks who are screwing us majorly. People say "Granholm wants to raise taxes" - check the house and senate - THEY are the ones passing bills. "Granholm won't make jobs" - House and Senate pass the business taxing bills etc.

I was a state employee until my heart problems with my pregnancy. I worked in DEQ - and for each person who left or retired, my workload increase. No hiring. No budget - we didn't get General Fund money, we had to charge to run tests - and THEN - we couldn't use the money WE generated because the House and Senate EARMARKED it for other stuff. I generated over $100,000 in one month of running tests - and at the end of the month was unable to purchase chemicals I needed to continue testing. We then lost a lot of money because we had send tests out and pay someone else to run them.

That has nothing to do with the Governor. That has everything to do with egotistical morons like Mike Bishop.

What are they doing now? Well, Tuesday, the House talked about a bill to not require a signature on your car registration. That's important for our failing economy right?

There may be no money available to PAY state employees - pay the Sec'y of State workers, pay the DNR, DEQ, DCH, etc. Police and prisons will continue to run, that's how things work.

Who's in charge of appropriating money to allow folks to continue to be paid? Not Granholm. She has done what she can - Executive Directives that abolished a large number of committees and research efforts. She set Directives restricting travel for state emps, restricting buying supplies (when I left, we were unable to buy paper, so that was getting fun), cancelled all periodical subscriptions, firing all temp and student positions (we lost 4 employees from that), cut "space" allowances - we lost an entire building for chemical and lab supply storage.

At that time, the House and Senate was passing a thing to recognize and show appreciation to the Ford Wixom plant - that had just laid off over a 1000 workers.

Go to the state site. Read the bills and stuff the House and Senate are working on. Getting a subscriptions to Gongwer or MIRS is even better. See what Granholm has done - that's under the Executive Directives and Executive Orders.

Make an EDUCATED decision, not one based on our lovely "news" services - that do an excellent job of reporting only a tiny slice of the pie. It takes time and effort to understand the workings of our gov't - and one of those workings is that the govenor of any state cannot "make" a budget, any more than the President can make a budget. All they can do is veto - they cannot raise or lower taxes, or any of the budget stuff.

(Yes, this is a sore subject for me! Sorry!)

I personally do not like her but I just could not vote for DeVos and I am a Republican. He refused to say how he would do anything so I felt I could not trust him.

I know the economy is rough in Michigan but I don't feel she can do anything major about it but try to bring jobs here. It is the auto industry and NAFTA to blame. In my town a small plant just shut down and instead of allowing the union to bargain for jobs they said don't bother even if you would take minimum wage we would not stay here because it is cheaper to run a plant in Mexico. Also most of the Auto Industry (Thank God not Toyota my DH employer) is having a downturn which happens in Michigan for 2-5 years every 20 or so years (remember the 80s) but they will turn around. At least we are not losing the whole industry.

Jen

You have some valid points but the House is only as good as its elected counter part and support. I did read up on stuff last night to get a better picture of whats going on.but if she doesn't have a lot to do with this and it is based all on the House than why do we even need a governor.
She still has to o.k. decisions and it doesn't seem like anyone is compromising.

You are right about that. The outsourcing has a lot to do with the state of our economy. I admit I don't understand all the political issues but I still don't think it is right to make promises that you cannot keep. I just don't like her that much and it isn't because of what the news says about her, it is just my personal opinion. I just don't think she has helped matters.

Checks and balances. The House/Senate make the bills, the Governor can veto or pass. If the Governor vetos, the bill can still pass if the House/Senate passes it again by a certain majority. If the bill is passes, then the Judicial comes in and can shut it down again. Eventually, if it keeps being tossed, "we the people" get to vote on it. If the House/Senate passes a bill for them to get a 200% payraise, then the Governor can say heck no and veto, and so forth.

The big thing - NO ONE is compromising. The Judicial branch doesn't get into budget stuff much, if at all, unless there are illegal or unconstitutional appropriations. That leaves the House/Senate and Executive Branch. I'm irritated that the Governor has vowed to veto certain things, I'm irritated that partisan politics prevent anything from getting done - ie - if a good idea for this disaster comes from a Democrat, then the "solid" Republicans will automatically vote no, and vice versa. The House/Senate makes press statements saying Granholm is not working with them, and Granholm makes statements that the House/Senate is not working together. Neither are doing us Michiganders a whit of good. I want to see statements on compromise and the good of the State.

For the record - I dislike almost ALL politicans. I am not a staunch supporter of any of them, Granholm included. I however STRONGLY dislike the blame game, and where I feel the blame is due (House/Senate), I am disgusted with both Granholm AND Rep. Bishop for acting like two little kids fighting in a sandbox. Both of them need to grow up and the both need to work together and quit sniping at each other on the news.

Needless to say, I'm not impressed with any of our "elected leaders" of this State. Hopefully, next election I will vote non-incumbent for every thing I can. I did vote for Granholm, because I liked what she WANTS to do, unfortunately, she can't do half of what she wanted because her office cannot have the support to do anything (K-16 schooling, higher education help etc). I disliked DeVos because of his ideas and disrespect to my job and my coworkers. When you get the chance to vote for your boss, you aren't going to vote for the one that vows to take away your vacation or pay raises and possibly put you on unpaid time, or just lay you off, no matter where you work.

If you don't like where the state is going, then do EXACTLY what you started doing last night - start getting to understand the political machine more. Learn who does what, and why, and what they are doing right and wrong. It's more depressing than hearing it from FOX or CNN, but if more Americans actually spent a little time learning about politics and their leaders, and VOTED, then there may be a good chance we may not be in this mess, or may be able to get out of it. But as long as people vote based on sound bites, or just don't vote at all then, well, as a state and nation we are completely, utterly, totally screwed. I'd imagine our right to vote is the right most neglected by all Americans That's sad.

ITA Thank you for your input. Sometimes I think people get intimidated because they do not see good in either candidate running. Sometimes you have to vote for the lesser evil and make an opinion without paying attention to mudslinging. The first time I voted I was 23 because I didn't feel I was educated enough to make a good decision. Needless to say I still don't know as much as I would like too. I am trying to learn and believe that it is a citizen's duty to vote for the greater good.

I don't blame Granholm for our economy. I did vote for her. I think alot of our problems are coming from NAFTA. I worked in a factory and my job was sent to Mexico. I was lucky I had a college education and found a job before I was let go. Some of my friends-can't find jobs or the jobs that are out there they don't pay as much. I believe Michigan will pull thru with this, because 25 plus years ago everyone was living Michigan and moving to Texas where the oil jobs were.

My dad did say that this happened before in his time. It is probably the same time you are talking about.