Stupid Administration Tricks

by John Lindstrom
Gongwer News Service
March 19, 2010

One could forgive Governor Jennifer Granholm if she were seen about the halls of the governor’s residence this week muttering to herself, “With friends like these…”

Not since former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick publicly stabbed her in the back on the issue of charter schools during her first year in office has Ms. Granholm had such an awful week in terms of public foul-ups.

Slapped silly by the outright silliness over the “meatout” issue, she then had to endure the much larger and more serious problem of a convicted con-man convincing the state to grant him a $9.1-million tax credit for a business in Flint. This was a man she had shared the stage with just the day before as she had announced a series of tax credits aimed at restoring the state’s economy. The headline from the day was supposed to be about Saab’s new headquarters in Royal Oak or a major new battery manufacturer in Muskegon.

Instead, the headline now is about Richard Short and RASCO, and how some three years after being paroled for embezzlement he was hailed as economic hero for the state.

Ms. Granholm is being hammered for these incidents. That’s what happens when your name is preceded by the title “Governor.” She’s a big girl. She understands that.

More complicated is how to assess “wha’ happen?” Based on what has been ascertained so far, while Ms. Granholm has to take responsibility for these snafus, they are not personally her fault.

They do, however, speak to some nagging issues of how sharp the administration has been on its overall game, checking through on the details and being fully prepared. These incidents will also, or at least should also, serve as case studies to whomever takes over the governor’s office next on watching the details in the administration.

Start with the “meatout” mess. For 25 years the organization behind the National Meatout Day, a group called FARM, Farm Animal Rights Movement, has held the day on March 20, the first day of spring. National Agriculture Day takes place on the same day.

FARM makes no pretense about what it is: a national vegan organization. Vegan lifestyles call for an all plant-based diet as well as no animal products in the rest of your life if at all possible.

In the 25 years since it started “Meatout” day, the group has sought out public proclamations from governors and cities as well as support from Hollywood celebrities.

And guess what, they’ve had tremendous success. Before Ms. Granholm’s proclamation, at one time or another 31 other states had issued proclamations supporting the National Meatout Day. That includes proclamations from some major meat and fish producing states such as Texas, Alaska, California, Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington and Virginia. Last year, Indiana issued a proclamation supporting Meatout day. So far this year, New Hampshire and Connecticut had also issued proclamations in support of Meatout Day.

Now the standards Ms. Granholm, and presumably most governors before her, uses to issue proclamations are, charitably, pretty low. Communists, Nazis, and out and out Satanists wouldn’t get a proclamation. Otherwise, going through the maybe by now 1,000 proclamations Ms. Granholm has issued since taking office, one could conclude no political consistency in their nature.

After all, she’s proclaimed in favor of the nation’s Christian heritage and gay pride. She proclaimed in favor of Michigan wine and underage alcohol use awareness. She has issued proclamations dealing with awareness on most diseases (so far beri-beri and scurvy haven’t shown up on the list). She’s proclaimed in favor of jazz, the state’s tartan and baton twirling.

She’s proclaimed in favor of Michigan egg farmers. In fact, one could ask how come Michigan’s various meat and dairy industries have not asked her to proclaim in favor of them, since she clearly would if they had.

The FARM organization’s local field office asked for a proclamation. An administration official said they’d be willing to help. Ms. Granholm has supported healthy diets, has even proclaimed in favor of taking fruits and vegetables to work, so on first glance, thought whoever on the staff was handling it, maybe this is consistent with those efforts.

Had someone really read the language of the proclamation, essentially the same language used for all the previous proclamations, it might have, or should have, raised some alarms. Because it is clearly more than just encouraging eating a healthy diet, it is definitely anti-meat, and Ms. Granholm is definitely a meat-eating governor. The proclamation talks about the benefits of the vegan lifestyle. It talks about how not eating meat exposes one to fewer pathogens such as salmonella (of course, in the last several years there have been salmonella scares involving sprouts and spinach too, so…).

Whatever, the proclamation got printed, got signed (whether why by signature machine or Ms. Granholm herself is unclear given the state of her penmanship) and got posted on the governor’s website and FARM’s website. And there it sat until Tuesday, when the Michigan United Conservation Clubs posted a picture of it on its Facebook page and the outrage began.

As silly an error as issuing the unedited proclamation in the first place, the overreaching anguish and outrage was a bit much. One critic blasted Ms. Granholm for declaring Meatout Day on the same day as the “sacred” National Agriculture Day. (“Sacred?” Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur, Eid, National Ag Day? Does Hallmark have a card for it?)

In fact, for a citizenry tired by the inability of officials to keep moving ahead on programs and policies, the rapid-fire response to the proclamation had to be a bit disconcerting. Fix the state’s roads? Not yet. Sort out tax policy? Not ready. Figure out how to make college affordable? Still working on that. Fix the corrections system? Yeah, in process. Complain about a nothing proclamation? On it, got it, did it.

Were it not for the serious situation involving the ex-con CEO, the proclamation would have gone down as an annoying mark in a struggling administrative record. But with the RASCO flub on top of it, Ms. Granholm will have to endure an embarrassing review of at least the operations of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and, by extension, her administration.

There was a popular management concept in the late 1980s and early 1990s that has fallen by the wayside, but is still a valid approach: total quality management. It has a bit of zen concept, but its goal is to reduce error and improve service through constant review of practice. In that light, a review of the administration and the MEDC is not a bad thing, particularly in this situation.

Thanks to some sharp-eyed Flint-area television viewers and reporters there, the state was saved from, well, who knows what at this point, but a potentially disastrous situation. Mr. Short is insisting that his business is a legitimate operation and that he will go ahead with his plans for a major renewable energy company.

One would feel less queasy about that, however, had he not been convicted of embezzlement in the first place and had told his parole officer that he was working, since he is a CEO. That his partners seem to deny they are his partners doesn’t heighten one’s sense of confidence in the RASCO scheme. Everyone is in favor of the recovered criminal making good, but maybe not with their money.

The MEDC and the whole multi-decade concept of trying to aid selective companies most likely to be successful has been under serious intellectual challenge for several years. No matter who is elected governor, it is unlikely the state will drop the policy, at least in the short term.

This instance could lead to major changes in how the state pursues its policy. An honest, straightforward review of the MEDC and the MEGA process could accomplish that.

What the state should worry about, however, and the battered Granholm administration would have the right to complain about, is if reviews and investigations devolve into just scoring political points off the administration. That would do little to ensure the state doesn’t endure a mess like this again.

And frankly, an investigation and review aren’t needed to make political points. The political damage to Ms. Granholm has already been done by this incident and the Meatout Day mess. Those running for office are already making as much as they can out of dual doofusseries. Any objective review findings that open the administration to any other criticism will be instantly politicized as well. A politically motivated review could end up backfiring by being seen as unnecessary piling on.

With nine months left to her administration, Ms. Granholm has to care about the reviews of the MEDC, at least her internal reviews, since the state will continue to make awards, and they will have to be so clean they pass Vatican review as well as the state’s.

During that time though, and after this week, it would not be surprising if Ms. Granholm foregoes the Michigan burgers and Michigan beets and heads right for some Michigan brew.

John Lindstrom is publisher of Gongwer News Service. For nearly 50 years in Michigan, Gongwer News Service has provided independent, comprehensive, accurate and timely coverage of issues in and around Michigan’s government and political systems. For subscription information, including a free trial, visit Gongwer online.