Democrats have been the dominant political party since 2002, when then-Attorney General Jennifer Granholm was elected governor, succeeding three-term Republican governor John Engler.   Pundits and party activists began whispering about the possibility of amending the Constitution so she, a Canadian, could run for president.  There was even an “Amend for Jen” movement!

Four years later, she was re-elected in a landslide and Democrats took control of the state House of Representatives.  Granholm was a rising star in the Democratic Party.

The Democrats’ momentum carried over into 2008.   Conditions were so unfavorable for Republicans that John McCain pulled the plug on his Michigan operation five weeks before Election Day.  Republicans took a further drubbing that year and despondency set it.  At the time, being a Republican in Michigan was about as popular as being a Republican in San Francisco.

But given Granholm’s utter economic ineptitude – she can boast of holding the highest unemployment rate in the nation for over 40 months – coupled with the fact that Democrats in Washington majorly overplayed their hand, the state appears to be shaping up completely different this year.  Her job approval has been stuck in the 30s for months and her star has crashed to the ground.  She’s no asset to Democratic candidates.

In a state that Republicans pulled the plug on in 2008, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder has consistently held a twenty point lead over his fire-breathing opponent Virg Bernero, also known as “America’s Angriest Mayor.”  Bernero is the one who took the lead in demanding the auto company bailouts and had proposed one of the nuttiest ideas I’ve heard in a while: creating a state-run bank.

At the state Senate level, Democrats have been slow to defend seats currently held by their party.  In one western Michigan district that is traditionally a 50/50 split, the Republican candidate holds a double digit lead in the polls.

And in the state House, sources say Republicans stand to do very well in nearly 80 districts.  There are 110 seats in the Democratically-controlled House.

Conditions are so bad for Democrats that no Obama administration official has attempted to campaign here.  But this past Sunday, former president Bill Clinton appeared at a Bernero rally.   The Detroit Free Press reported Clinton and the entire statewide Democratic ticket drew some 500 people, unable to half-fill a Detroit high school gymnasium.  The paper described the result as “anemic.”

All of this likely spells real trouble for Obama in 2012. A once-solidly Democratic state is about to rebuke the economic policies of Granholm and Obama.  If Michigan goes “red,” Obama’s chances of being re-elected will continue to fade.

I swear other governors look at Michigan’s policies and do the polar opposition, with good reason.

Adding insult to the ailing meat industry, Governor Jennifer Granholm proclaimed today, Saturday, March 20, “Michigan Meatout Day.”  Apparently the Tofu Lobby got to the governor and she sided with them, instead of the farmers and meat producers of Michigan.

Now, Therefore, be it Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of the state of Michigan, do hereby proclaim March 20, 2010, Michigan Meatout Day in Michigan. In observance of this day, I encourage the residents of this state to choose not to eat meat.  Eating a healthy diet can be fun. Explore the different recipes that can be created by using fresh ingredients and by having a sense of adventure.

From Michigan Information and Research Service, a daily state capitol newsletter:

Granholm Press Secretary Liz Boyd said the Governor gets hundreds of requests to make official proclamations and the office tries to be accommodating whenever possible. She said folks are reading too much into the proclamation.

“It’s March Madness this Saturday, and I’m sure there will be a lot of people eating chicken wings and burgers regardless of whatever the Governor writes in a proclamation,” Boyd said.

Then why waste the paper, governor?  If you’re so accommodating, how about a proclamation acknowledging your lack of success in getting Michigan back on track?   How about admitting your “jobs plan” isn’t worth the paper it’s written on?

Actually, I’ve got the perfect final proclamation idea from our illustrious governor – I’ll even provide the wording:

Now, Therefore, be it Resolved, That I, Jennifer M. Granholm, governor of the state of Michigan, do hereby proclaim January 1, 2011, Granholm Free Day in Michigan. In observance of this day, I encourage the residents of this state to celebrate by setting off fireworks (only those that don’t leave the ground, of course.)  Celebrating the riddance of me can be fun. Explore different ways to celebrate, like cutting taxes, reducing regulations, and becoming truly business-friendly.

In case Granholm hasn’t figured it out, “Michigan Meatout Day” is a good example of why Michiganders are counting the days until we have a new governor, regardless of party affiliation.

Lennox waged a battle to have Peters choose, the Chairmanship or his Congressional race. By May of 2008, Lennox had effectively won his battle and Peters was asked to resign and he did. Lennox was not unscathed from his battle. The administration threatened sanctions against Lennox on a number of occasions. Eventually, a letter of reprimand was put into Lennox’ university records. In fact, the school attempted to hold a number of disciplinary hearings at which the potential punishment of Lennox could have been expulsion. At one hearing, Lennox showed up flanked by no less than six members of the media. The administration quickly cancelled that hearing and held another in secret over Spring break a couple weeks later.

After this, Lennox flirted with a run for the State Congressional seat in his home district in Michigan. He eventually settled on running for drain commissioner in his home county of Cheboygan. Lennox ran on a unique platform, “Fire Dennis“. He was running not only to remove himself as drain commissioner of Cheboygan County but to remove the entire position of drain commissioner in Cheboygan County. Why would he run on such a platform? First and foremost, there are no drains in Cheboygan County. The drain commissioner of Cheboygan County was symptomatic of the problems of governance in Michigan. The state’s constitution requires that all counties have the same levels of government service. So, since some counties have a drain commissioner, all counties have to have a drain commissioner, even if Cheboygan County doesn’t actually have a drain to commission.

Currently, there’s a bill in the committee in the House and in the Senate to change the laws and allow for Cheboygan County to remove the position of drain commissioner.

For the last year, however, Dennis Lennox has been running for the Michigan State House Seat in his home district.

To understand Lennox’s platform, you must understand the economic situation in Michigan. That’s where I began the interview. In fact, the state of Michigan has been in a perpetual state of recession/depression since 2001. Whereas most of the rest of the country recovered and boomed in 2002-2003, the state of Michigan continued to flounder. The maufacturing sector in Michigan never recovered, lead so-to-speak by the automobile sector, and it has kept Michigan in a near perpetual double digit unemployment. This past decade has been the “lost decade” in Michigan.

As a result, the state has seen a max exodus out of Michigan. The state of Michigan loses one family every twelve minutes and the state has lost more than one million people since the beginning of the decade. Some of the problems are structural. The automotive sector is in a state of decline and Michigan is intertwined with that sector. The city of Youngstown was once sprawling when it hosted the steel sector. When that sector depressed, so to did Youngstown.

The problems are also structural in that the government of Michigan; municipal, county, and state, is terribly inefficient, full of red tape, and as Lennox characterized them “crippling taxes”. For instance, two years ago GM was looking to build a new plant. They were deciding between Michigan and South Carolina. It turned out that South Carolina could procure the building of this plant in half the time because Michigan carried so much red tape in terms of permits and other requirements. So, GM chose South Carolina. Michigan has its own OSHA (Occupational of Safety and Health Administration). The Michigan OSHA has its own rules and regulations that are stiffer than the national rules and it makes doing business in Michigan that much more difficult. The state of Michigan, between municipal, county and state offices, has more political elected offices than any state in the country. In his home county of Cheboygan, there’s one politician for every 156 people.

The overlapping and inefficient government leads to crippling taxes. The state’s personal income tax stands at 4.35%, the sales tax at 6%, and the state has recently instituted a privilege of doing business tax, a pseudo corporate income tax. That tax was instituted so haphazardly that forms and instructional materials weren’t prepared in time for the tax to be effective. So, not only were businesses made to pay more in taxes, according to Lennox the increase was 200-300%, but business owners were confused by what forms to fill out. In 2007, Governor Granholm instituted a $1.7 billion tax increase. At the time, she promised that this tax increase would once and for all balance the budget and lead to prosperity. It hasn’t and things have only deteriorated since. In fact, Lennox scoffed when I pointed out the commercials with Jeff Daniels, meant to promote economic development in the state

Lennox said that after spending millions on these commercials, business hasn’t improved in the slightest.

So, to Lennox, to save Michigan the state needs a top to bottom reform of its entire government. Let’s start with his position of drain commissioner. This happens because the state requires that every county “provide the same level of services”. So every county has a prosecutor, a sheriff, a drain commissioner, etc. This is silly and inefficient. It creates a drain commissioner in a county with no drains. The biggest and smallest counties each have a sheriff. This is also inefficient. By changing the laws, smaller counties can combine some of their services. Other counties can remove unneeded offices like a drain commissioner in a county with no drains.

By changing laws, and in some cases the constitution, school boards can be combined, police departments, and many other government services that are currently being provided in an inefficient manner because that’s the way the law requires it. Lennox made sure to stress that he doesn’t want to close any schools. Instead, he wants to remove the layers of bureaucracy that govern the schools. For instance, in his county, there are six high schools and each has its own ELECTED school board. If the laws changed, those six school boards could be combined into one and a lot of government waste could be removed.

Lennox is a small government conservative which of course means he believes in lower taxes. The only tax he’s committed to cutting is the $1.7 billion tax increase instituted in 2007. He’s also taken Grover Norquist’s no new tax pledge because as he put it “taxes hurt not help businesses and people”. Lennox is focused on reforming government and making it more efficient because he believes a leaner and efficient government leads directly to lower taxes.

As for Lennox’ current job, both bills are currently stuck in committee. The Speaker of the House, Andy Dillon, pledged to give his bill an up or down vote, but that hasn’t yet happened. The budget battle, which happens just about every year, put most other business on hold and the bill hasn’t made it out of committee yet in either chamber. Lennox pledged to me that he would continue to pursue having the position of Cheboygan County drain commissioner removed if and when he makes it into the state’s legislature.

The primary is in August of 2010. The district is more than 60% Republican and so the winner would be a favorite in November of 2010.

The White House has just announced their plan to transfer Guantanamo Bay detainees to Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois.  From my briefings at GITMO and speaking with people who know the situation well, I can say that moving GITMO terrorists to Thomson, is a huge unnecessary gamble.

Those terrorists still remaining in GITMO are among the world’s most dangerous warriors. They are wickedly creative in thinking out of the box when contemplating doing us harm, as evidenced by the attacks of September 11, 2001.  They command the loyalty of thousands of fellow jihadists around the world and have complete control over the minds of followers, both in detention and on the outside.  On a whim, they can—and have—ordered those under their command to commit suicide at a moment’s notice.

I have enormous respect for American military personnel who will guard Thomson along with civilian law enforcement.  These professionals will undoubtedly be well-trained and dedicated to protecting the public.  But they will be responsible for guarding the largest terrorist cell in the world.

Those in favor of closing GITMO do not seem to get the fact that terrorists are not going to be mollified by simply changing the address of the terrorist’s prison.  Rather than satisfying the left-wing base and attempting to win an international public relations battle, we should keep the state-of-the-art detention facility in GITMO open rather than bringing these terrorists to small town America.  Terrorists need to be tried in military tribunals, as opposed to civil American courts that come with an array of rights of the accused, appropriate for criminals but not for terrorists.

This decision of moving GITMO terrorists to Thomson was rushed and planned in secrecy.  Rather than answering the questions about who exactly is coming, what security improvements are being made to Thomson and how much this will cost, the Administration is simply selling this as an economic stimulus package.  While the president’s Council of Economic Advisers estimates the relocation of these prisoners may reduce unemployment a few percentage points, it’s important to remember these are the same people who promised the unemployment rate would remain under 8 percent after the stimulus passed.  We’ve all seen how great those predictions have turned out.

The bottom line is Thomson is a top quality prison, very well equipped to handle maximum security criminals. It should be opened as a state or federal prison to ease overcrowding, but not to house the most dangerous terrorists in the world.  Only time will tell how wise or reckless this move is.

Before any decision is finalized we need answers to these critical questions.  Indeed, it was the answers to these questions that caused  Governors Granholm of Michigan and Sebelius of Kansas to say thanks but no thanks.