Getting to Know You

by Tim Skubick

April 9, 2010

In the midst of the most convoluted governor’s race in modern times, one question keeps popping up: why would anybody want to be governor now?

Aside from the lousy economy and a toxic political environment in town, there’s another good reason to avoid this job at all cost.

The new governor will have a completely new Senate to work with and 39 new members of the Michigan House out of a population of 110. In other words, the theme song of the new administration should be “Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you.”

And here’s a freebie heads-up to all the would-be governators: don’t make the same miscue the current governor made at the outset of her tenure in town.

Roll the tape back to the early months of the new Granholm administration. The rock star governor was riding high in the polls as she began an uncharted journey as the first female chief executive in state history. To say that expectations were running high would be an understatement.

Someone who had been in town for a thousand years approached the new governor and suggested she invite legislators to the executive “cottage” on Mackinac Island as part of the “getting to know you process.”

Just by way of background, the island manse is envied by every other governor in the country, and every sitting lawmaker would be thrilled to death to get an invite.

In a word, the suggestion was a brilliant strategy, as it would give the bubbly governor a chance to rub elbows with the folks she would need later on if she wanted to get anything passed in the House and Senate.

She could have the Rs up on one weekend and the Ds on another or mix and match them. It didn’t matter.

Remember, just like the new governor coming in next year (with the exception of Andy Dillon, Alma Wheeler Smith and Tom George), Gov. Jennifer Granholm was the new kid on the block and a blank slate.

Well, as the story goes, the island schmooze-fest got as far as one of the key gatekeepers in the new administration and was immediately quashed. This person reportedly saw the island home as a retreat for the First Family, not to be disrupted with crass political glad-handing.

It was a kind notion, but totally off the mark.

Politics is the art of the possible, and not having a first-name relationship with the key players from the opening bell is a recipe for making the art impossible.

The island gig never happened at that time.

Now comes House Speaker Andy Dillon suggesting that the governor was not very good at forging legislative relationships. He might be right, but to be absolutely fair about this, Mr. Dillon and his one-time sidekick, Mike Bishop over in the Senate, were not exactly the best dancing partners either.

It takes three to tango, and the GOP and Senate leaders were stepping on her toes all over the place, and she has the bunions to prove it…figuratively of course.

So new governor out there, whoever you are, don’t ride into town on a white horse thinking you are going to reinvent Michigan all by your lonesome.

You might better reserve a horse and carriage and bring all your new legislative friends to your new island home and do what the soon to be ex-governor should have done in the first place.

Tim Skubick is Michigan’s Senior Capitol correspondent and has anchored the weekly public TV series “Off the Record” since 1972. He also covers the Capitol and politics for WLNS-TV6 in Lansing.

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There He Goes Again
You gotta hand it to Geoffrey Fieger. He knows how to play the news media like a Stradivarius, and we get suckered in every time.

“Fieger May Run for Governor,” the headlines screamed recently in a bad case of déjà vu all over again.

Fieger can go months without saying squat, and then he shows up out of nowhere doing a TV show over in Grand Rapids and dangles this dandy in front of buddy Rick Albin…

“I’ve…got the documents. I’m examining the documents to run,” he said, breathlessly manipulating the media on the same story he’s been manipulating them with since the invention of newsprint.

Take this to the bank sports fans: Geoffy-poo is not running for governor, just like he didn’t run for mayor of Detroit, despite speculation that he might, and just like he might run for Pope (only he is not Catholic).

Review what he said: “I’ve…got the documents.”

Wow. Stop the presses. He’s got the documents. So?

Your dog could have the documents and could even be studying them (before he eats them).

So why do we get roped into this each and every time?

Because, and Mr. Fieger knows this, he is good copy.

Fieger is to political correspondents what crack is to a druggy…you just can’t put it down once you start using it, and the news media have been using Fieger for years, and vice versa.

Don’t be misled, the Capitol press corps would love to have him in the governor’s office. He’d be a hoot to cover and amount to the full employment bill for political writers if he were running his mouth and the state at the same time.

But, alas, boys and girls, Fieger can exam all he wants. And when the filing deadline of May 11th rolls around, the papers will read: “Fieger Won’t Run for Governor.”

But stick this in your bonnet. If Attorney General Mike Cox gets the GOP nomination for governor, watch Fieger turn into a one-man wrecking crew to defeat his “bud” Mr. Cox.

That one you can print and believe.