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by Tim Skubick
April 3, 2009

Hang on to your hats, buckaroos. We got ourselves another maverick roaming around out there on the campaign trail.

Nope, it’s not the hockey mom from Alaska. This one is from West Michigan, where conformity is a way of life — which makes the maverick label on Pete Hoekstra even more fascinating.

In case you missed it, Congressman Hoekstra announced his bid for the GOP nomination for governor recently, and when asked if he was a “maverick,” he shot back, “Yeah.”

You want proof?

When President Bush pushed No Child Left Behind, conservative Hoekstra locked arms with liberal Democrat Barney Frank and almost derailed the thing.

When President Bush nominated a new CIA director, Hoekstra dumped on it.

When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wanted to shut down the federal government, he ordered the GOP caucus to fall in line. Hoekstra and a handful of other Rs got out of line instead.

When the previous West Michigan incumbent, Congressman Guy Vander Jagt, ran for re-election 18 years ago, Hoekstra broke party rules by challenging the entrenched congressional leader and proceeded to beat him.

And when it came time to take the no-tax pledge on the eve of his bid for governor, Hoekstra refused to do it, calling the promise not to raise taxes a lousy idea.

“I’m willing to take my own position if the party is going in a direction I don’t agree with,” he advised the political scribes in this town the other day.

When most Republicans toss their hat into the ring, they stage the event at a friendly venue such as their local chamber of commerce shop.

Not Mr. Maverick. He found a business in Southeast Michigan that was organized by the Teamsters union and made his announcement there. Most unusual, but a calculated move.

In fact, his close relationship with Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa Jr. is Hoekstra’s ace in the hole. The two grew their relationship after Hoekstra chaired a congressional panel seeking to oust Ron Carey as the previous head of the Teamsters, which was under investigation by the feds.

Hoffa is apparently in Hoekstra’s camp. When Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon, who might run for governor himself, asked for Hoffa’s help, Dillon was reportedly shown the door.

“Of all the Republicans in Congress,” Hoekstra suggests, “I have the best relationship with labor.”

Now that’s not saying much, because most Rs in Washington have no relationship with the blue-collar crowd, but Hoekstra will try to exploit his union entrée in the election.

But to do that, he somehow must convince those union types to vote in the GOP primary, and in 2010 there will be plenty of Democratic primary races to keep organized labor from wandering over to help Hoekstra.

In his maiden news conference in this town, Hoekstra was straightforward. Asked what his business tax policies would be, he confessed: “I don’t have an answer.” He’s taking soundings before writing one.

If he had one misstep it was on repairing our crumbling roads. He does not want to raise taxes, but will count on “economic growth” to produce new dollars to get the job done.

In other words, if the maverick gets elected he won’t be a fixin’ the road system anytime soon, since there ain’t no economic growth around here, partner.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972.

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Izzo and Team Help Out …

Maybe they ought to appoint Tom Izzo the new CEO of General Motors. After all, there is an opening and, after this weekend, Izzo will have nothing else to do after he delivers the national championship to his beloved Michigan State University.

Izzo and his team of self-described “blue-collar” B-ball players have done something that nobody else in this state has done for sometime — give us something to smile about.

Dare we say hope is alive?

Rick Wagoner never produced hope or smiles. Even though well intentioned, he never got GM back on the road, and eventually he fell on the sword after being pushed by President Barack Obama. The symbolism of Wagoner being a loser was unfair, but who said life was fair?

Izzo is a winner. He fought all the odds, without a federal bailout, and now finds himself in the Final Four in Motown.

It is an uplifting saga that appears at just the right time, proving that the impossible can be overcome. Are you listening, Michigan’s economy?

The Spartans could never beat the overpowering Louisville squad, the sports know-it-alls predicted. The Cardinals racked up 103 points in their previous game, and MSU was lower than an underdog. But when they cut the strings on the net, there was Izzo, scissors in hand, making the last slice with a big smile on his mug — one that the entire state shared.

Ever since they announced that the Final Four would be in Detroit, Izzo and his team have been on a mission to make it to Motown. While most of his interviews have centered on the Xs and Os of each game, every once in awhile you heard Izzo talk about other personal feelings as he came close to tears.

He’s noted that this state has been through a lot lately, and he and the team wanted to do something about that. And they have.

Thanks, and Go Green.

The Games We Play …

There’s a little game we play up here called Get the Governor To Say Something Nasty About the President — or GTGTSSNATP for short.

It’s usually a fruitless game for the Capitol press corps because governors know we are playing it and they don’t want to get in Dutch with the Commander in Chief.

It has worked, however. Former Gov. Bill Milliken often took the bait when talking about Tricky Dick or his felon sidekick, Spiro T. Agnew, author of the infamous line to describe journalists: Nattering Nabobs of Negativism.

Current Gov. Jennifer Granholm was never bashful about taking a swipe or two at George W.

But alas, with a Democrat in the White House, she is now on her best behavior. But one sensed this week she might take the bait.

When President Obama fired the CEO of General Motors, you could read between the lines when the governor called Rick Wagoner a “scapegoat” and told the national media that she was “not sure it will do much good.”

She never really slapped the White House, but you could tell she was not pleased.

Let the game begin.

She was asked, “Do you completely support everything this president has done to the auto industry?”

A dead-on question, which she ignored.

She waxed on about how the president wanted to help the industry, bla, bla, bla.

However, she did confess she did not like the bankruptcy option laid out by the president, but that was nothing new and certainly didn’t move the GTGTSSNATP needle.

There was one last attempt as she walked out of the Capitol.

Did you support the removal of Wagoner?

No she did not.

Did they call you and ask for your advice?

No they did not.

So it was a cheap shot wasn’t it?

And the answer was…

…a smile, which is very tough to put on the radio or in print.

Oh well, she wins.