Balancing a budget that keeps coming up short “has dominated my first year,” Granholm told NEWSWEEK in a recent interview. The governor knew she’d be inheriting an unwieldy deficit even before she took her oath last January but estimated it would be something to the tune of $1 billion. It turned out to be close to $3 billion, a fairly significant chunk of Michigan’s $39.1 billion state budget. “It has been a very challenging year in that regard,” she says.
Making the challenge even more daunting was Granholm’s promise to fix Michigan’s fiscal woes without raising taxes. That has meant that she has had to resort to extensive restructuring and downsizing–even hot-button areas like K-12 education have not been left untouched. While Granholm has not raised taxes, she has proposed that a small income-tax cut be put on hold for a year, with the intention of generating revenue that could go back to K-12 education. “The Republicans are lining up to do this so far,” she says (a recently reached compromise will put the tax cuts on hold for six months).
In Granholm’s world, it is of utmost importance that Republicans indeed line up. She’s a Democratic governor in a state with a Republican-controlled legislature, a Republican supreme court, a Republican secretary of state, even a Republican attorney general. “I’m the Lone Ranger,” she laughs. Ultimately, though, she thinks Michigan voters appreciate the mix. “[People] expect us to work together. The balance I do think is healthy. But the partisanship … it’s something I’m still getting used to,” she says.
From the beginning, Granholm decided that the best policy with respect to the budget was to be forthcoming with Michigan voters. She took to the road and in town-hall-type forums presented the basics of the budget process and the realities of what megadollars worth of cuts would mean. Then she asked audience members to vote for what to keep and what to cut.
By summer, the budget for 2003-2004 appeared to be successfully balanced. But in October, bad news broke: there was still a $920 million shortfall. Seeking more input, Granholm took to the road again. The second round of cutting is proving to be tougher, says Craig Ruff, president and CEO of Public Sector Consultants, a policy research firm. “We’ve cut through the fat and now we’re coming to the muscle. How can she keep her Democratic base of support at the very time she’s the leader who is making deep cuts in the programs they hold most dear?” But so far, Granholm’s accessibility and no-nonsense approach have paid off. According to Lansing-based EPIC-MRA’s Ed Sarpolus, she has been rated favorably by 60 percent or more of Michigan citizens polled in several surveys conducted between May and October.
Granholm says she tries not to focus solely on the budget, and a whole host of other issues are on her agenda as well. Talk about the importance of early-childhood education and her voice quickens as she discusses initiatives to redefine day-care centers so they “aren’t just warehousing kids, but are reading to them and engaging them in an instructive curriculum, even from birth.” Another hot topic: “cool cities,” an effort aimed at reinvigorating Michigan’s urban areas so they will attract young people who have been leaving for better opportunities elsewhere.
“It’s amazing how much you can get done if you don’t care who gets the credit,” she says. “I’m really interested in pulling people together.” But when others play hardball, such a strategy can backfire. She admits her first year as governor has been a learning experience and that in some ways she was ill-prepared for the politics that came with the job. “I’m much better on being pragmatic than being political,” she says.
Michigan insiders have given mixed reviews of her first year in office. Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher for Inside Michigan Politics, a state-based political newsletter, sees her as “a great schmoozer and great communicator,” but also as having no sense of direction. “She talks in generalities about certain issues,” says Ballenger, “but there is no substance or follow-through.” Ruff speaks in more glowing terms. “It’s rare to find someone both that smart and that charismatic,” he says. If there is one criticism, says Ruff, it’s that her style outshines her mettle. “Among Democrats and Republicans, she probably gets an A+ on style, and probably a B or B+ on leadership.” Not too bad for a beginner.
