Blanchard and Engler appear on the same stage for the first time in 20 years

LIVONIA - Political junkies expecting to see fireworks when two former Michigan governors and political foes appeared on the same stage together for the first time in 20 years were disappointed, but they were treated to their opinions on a wide range of subjects, from the state of affairs in Lansing to calling for building the planned public-private Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) between Detroit and Canada.

Former Democratic Governor Jim Blanchard and Republican John Engler headlined the 15th Annual Fundraising Dinner for the Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) on Thursday night, appearing together for the first time since Engle unseated the incumbent Blanchard in 1990.

Since 1992, the nonpartisan MPLP recruits, trains, and inspires 24 unique leaders from across the state every year to prepare them for effective governance. The dinner serves as the major fundraiser for the program, and this was the largest turnout in the 15 years the dinner has been put on featuring a well known Republican and Democrat.

"You all think this is going to be like the Michigan International Speedway; you're just waiting for the crash,” Engler joked.

Each man gave a short speech, and they jointly took questions from the audience. Despite a tough campaign in 1990, both men get along well and were gracious. In fact, they both agree on the DRIC bridge.

Blanchard served as the Ambassador to Canada from 1993-1996, and he said Canada supplies more oil to the U.S. than any other country and accounts for billons of dollars of trade a year. He said the DRIC bridge is vital to keeping that important trade route open. Plus, it will prove 10,000 jobs.

“This is something we can do right now,” he said. “It’s supported by a who’s, who, including Brooks Patterson, John Engler and the Detroit Chamber of Commerce.”

Engler agreed.

“We need to get this bridge built,” he said. “We need to get the (Michigan) Senate working on this.”

Blanchard gave a very optimistic speech, saying Michigan will rebound from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

“I said this two years ago at the Michigan Political History Society dinner and I’ll say it here: our state is too great and our people our too resilient to be held down for long,” he said. “The only question is when and how we will recover.”

Engler is the president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, and he said any recovery has to include manufacturing. He also said manufacturing accounts for $1.6 trillion a year in the U.S.

“You hear this all the time; that we don’t make anything in this country anymore,” Engler said. “Our political leaders and future leaders need to know we are still the largest manufacturer in the world.”

The Q & A section was wide ranging, and Engler cleared up the rumor that he was moving back to Michigan to run for the U.S. Senate against Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-East Lansing. His triplet daughters are now high school freshman, and he said he was not running.

“I have a house full of drama,” he said. “I don’t think I would want to ramp it up even more.”

When asked what piece of advice they have for turning Michigan around, Blanchard produced a copy of the 20-page report of the bipartisan Emergency Financial Advisory Panel he chaired with former Republican Governor Bill Milliken that says a combination of cuts in spending and creating a modern tax structure that abandons the focus on the economic system of the 20th century will address the shortfall and combat the immediate shortfalls and position us to thrive in the future.

The two former governors also weighed in on the current race for Michigan Governor. Neither is currently endorsing a candidate, but Blanchard he would have endorsed his former Treasurer Bob Bowman, who was in the race briefly.

“I think the Democrats have an opportunity more than people think,” he said. “But there’s no doubt it will be uphill.”

Engler said he likes the chances of Republicans to take back the governor’s mansion.

“If a Republican can’t win this year, a Republican can never win here in Michigan,” he said.

Republicans want Michigan to go back to the future to 1973

The slow economy, a downturn in car sales from the Big 3 automakers, a loss of revenue from the Single Business Tax and 15 years of tax cuts have combined to present Michigan with one of the worst budget s shortfalls in its history. The state will come up $3 billion short of funds used to pay for education, health care and public safety, and there is an immediate school-funding crisis, with a $377 million shortfall for the current year.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s 12-person, bipartisan Emergency Financial Advisory Panel - made up of two former governors and state budget directors, legislative leaders and longtime Lansing policy experts from both political parties - issued its final 20-page report last week. The common sense reports says a combination of cuts in spending and creating a modern tax structure that abandons the focus on the economic system of the 20th century will address the shortfall and combat the immediate shortfalls and position us to thrive in the future. Clearly, the only way we are going to fix the problem is with a cut in spending and an increase in revenue.

Senate Republicans think we are going to win the race to the bottom with 15 years of tax cuts. There is no way we can compete with Communist China and others that pay slave wages and provide no, or very few, services. A pair of tax studies last summer illustrated quality of life, such as good schools, cultural opportunities and low crime attract businesses, not low taxes. We are already competitive in taxes with other states, and now the Republicans want to cut the essential services that attract business here. Since 1994 and Proposal A, Michigan has enacted tax cuts that have reduced revenue $3.2 billion a year. Taxes have been cut 30 times since 1993, and we are more than competitive with other states in base tax rates.

Yet since then everything else has gone up. The caseloads of social workers, more people on Medicare, more prisoners and the cost of educating both secondary and higher education students have increased steadily since 1973. Yet revenue has gone down.

We had more state employees in 1973 than we have now. I want to move forward, not backward.

Under former Republican Gov. Bill Milliken we had 52,673 state employees. In 2000 under former Republican Gov. John Engler – the only former living Governor who did not participate in the Advisory Panel – there were 61,493 state employees. In 2006 there were only 52,255 employees. Does than make Engler a big government advocate? Hardly.

To make up the current shortfall just through cuts would require, for example, eliminating all funding for colleges and universities and all mental health services.

Misinformed critics that refuse to pay their fair share are already out, and despite experts saying only investment in education, infrastructure and quality of life issues will help improve the economic outlook critics still want that race to the bottom. House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche made the ridiculous claim that Granholm talks about budget "doom and gloom" every January without proposing structural spending reform. What do you call 30 tax cuts every year for 15 years and spending cuts for the last four to make up for the budget deficit left the current governor?