Facts about Michigan Governors

Here are some facts about past Michigan governors. Perhaps this will come of use some day in a trivia game. Or perhaps you're a nerd like Rick Snyder and me and just like to know some useless facts.

Here we go:

1. Steven T. mason (1836-1840): Our first governor

2. William Woodbridge (1840-1841): He blamed mason for all states problems, including the $400,000 budget deficet (which pales to Granholms $1.6 billion shortfall).

"Look, if you don't have it, don't spend it," Woodbridge advised. "And if a U.S. Senate seat comes open 14 months into your term, take it. Worked for me."*

3. J. Wright Gordon (1841-1842): Left the state after just 10 months as governor to take a diplomatic post in South America.*

7. Epaphroditus Ransom (1848-50): He was a no-nonsense guy from Kalamazoo who stressed good roads and low taxes. At the time, taxes in Michigan averaged 70 cents per resident.

"You have to keep reminding people that this is a relatively cheap place to live," Ransom suggested. "And you'd better keep it that way. Now, good roads do make it easier for people to leave, so I'd just keep moving the orange barrels around. Creates the illusion of improvements at a fraction of the cost."*

9. Robert McClelland (1852-53): He had the good fortune to be governor at a time, 1852-53, when Michigan was growing so quickly that its public debt was paid off and the state actually ran a surplus.*

"Growth will solve a lot of problems," he said. "But political extremists on either side will cause more. And if you get an offer to become secretary of the interior, take it. Worked for me."*

14. Henry Crappo (1865-1866): He was a lumber baron who was governor from 1865-68. "Say what you think, believe what you say, but talk very little -- and work unceasingly."*

21. Cyrus Luce (1887-90): When he left office Michigan had paid off every dollar of its debt.

"Look to the farms," advised Luce, a farmer who was a major promoter of Michigan agriculture. "People are not going to stop eating. You still got good dirt, lots of water. There's growth there, no pun intended."*

24. Hazen Pingree (1897-1900): Michigan was back in the red.

"I always liked the graduated income tax, but I couldn't sell it," said Pingree. "But then I also wanted to be governor and mayor of Detroit at the same time. Not sure I'd want either job today."*

41. G. Mennen (Soapy) Williams (1949-60): Waged running warfare with a Republican-controlled Legislature over taxes and spending.

"I guess I could have looked for more places to compromise," said Williams. "You've got to get your tax system right. But you've got to look out for the underdogs, too.

"I had about six weeks left on the job when President John F. Kennedy made me an assistant secretary of state. Worked for me."

46. John Engler (1991-2003): A republican.

47. Jenniffer Granholm (2003-2011): A democrat. She lead over a state that went $1.6 billion in debt, watched as the unemployment rate rose to 13.1 percent as a result of high taxes, high regulation,
and otherwise unfriendly environment for businesses. She also raised taxes and added service taxes in an attempt to ballance the budget. Her approval rating was the lowest of any governor in the U.S. at 37% by 2007.

In 2006 she said, "In five years, you're going to be blown away by the strength and diversity of Michigan's transformed economy". At that time Michigan's unemployment rate was 6.8 percent, in November 2009 it was 15.3 percent.

48. Rick Snyder (2010 to ?): A republican. No infomation yet available.

Sources:

* Ron Dzwonskowski, Detroit Free press, Sunday, October 31, 2010, "Ghosts of governors past have advice for next one."
** Wikepedia "Jenniffer Granholm."

Perhaps a good book to read for more Michigan facts is Source material for this column came from a 1987 book, "Stewards of the State," by George Weeks.

Michigan governors

Just for fun I thought I'd list all the Michigan governors. Perhaps this will come of some use during a trivia game or something.

Northwest Territory (see Ohio):

1. Arthur St. Clair 1787 to 1802 (Federalist)

Michigan Territorial Governors:

1. William Hull 1805 to 1812
2. Lewis Cass 1813 to 1831
3. George Bryan Porter 1831 to 1834
4. Stevens T. Mason 1834 to 1835
5. John S. Horner 1835 to 1836

State Governors:

1. Steven T. Mason 1837 to 1840 (Democrat)
2. William Woodbridge 1840 to 1841 (Whig)
3. J. Wright Gordon (acting) 1841 to 1842 (Whig)
4. John S. Barry: 1842 to 1846 (Democrat)
5. Alpheus Felch 1846 to 1847 (Democrat)
6. William L. Greenly (acting) 1847 to 1848 (Democrat
7. Epaphroditus Ransom 1848 to 1850 (Democrat)
8. John S. Barry 1850 to 1852 (Democrat)
9. Robert McClelland 1852 to 1853 (Democrat)
10. Andrew Parsons (acting) 1853 to 1855 (Democrat)
11. Kinsely S. Bingham 1855 to 1859 (Republican)
12. Moses Wisner 1859 to 1861 (Republican)
13. Austin Blair 1861 to 1865 (Republican)
14. Henry H. Crapo 1865 to 1869 (Republican
15. Henry P. Baldwin 1869 to 1873 (Republican)
16. John J. Bagley 1873 to 1877 (Republican)
17. Charles Croswell 1877 to 1881 (Republican)
18. David Jerome 1881 to 1883 (Republican)
19. Josiah Begole 1883 to 1885 (Democrat)
20. Russell Alger 1885 to 1887 (Republican)
21. Cyrus G. Luce 1887 to 1891 (Republican)
22. Edwin B. Winans 1891 to 1893(Democrat)
23. John Rich 1893 to 1897 (Republican)
24. Hazen S. Pingree 1897 to 1901 (Republican)
25. Aaron T. Bliss 1901 to 1905 (Republican)
26. Fred M. Warner 1905 to 1911 (Republican)
27. Chase Osborne 1911 to 1913 (Republican)
28. Woodbridge Ferris 1913 to 1917 (Democrat)
29. Albert Sleeper 1917 to 1921 (Republican)
30. Alex Groesbeck 1921 to 1927 (Republican)
31. Fred Green 1927 to 1931 (Republican)
32. Wilbur Brucker 1931 to 1933 (Republican)
33. William Comstock 1933 to 1935 (Democrat)
34. Frank Fitzgerald 1935 to 1937 (Republican)
35. Frank Murphy 1937 to 1939 (Democrat)
36. Frank Fitzgerald 1939 to 1939 (Republican)
37. Luren Dickenson 1939 to 1941 (Republican)
38. Murray Van Wagoner 1941 to 1943 (Democrat)
39. Harry Kelley 1943 to 1947 (Republican)
40. Kim Sigler 1947 to 1949 (Republican)
41. G. Mennon Williams 1949 to 1961 (Democrat)
42. John Swainson 1961 to 1963 (Democrat)
43. George W. Romney 1963 to 1969 (Republican)
44. William Milliken 1969 to 1983 (Republican)
45. James Blanchard 1983 to 1991 (Democrat)
46. John Engler 1991 to 2003 (Republican)
47. Jennifer Granholm 2003 to 2011 (Democrat)
48. Rick Snyder (2011 to ?)

Some facts (compliments of wikepedia):

1. From statehood to 1966 governors were elected to two year terms
2. From statehood until 1851 elections were held in odd number years
3. The governor of Michigan traditionally receives the courtesy title of his or her excellency, though it has fallen out of use in recent years.
4. More commonly, the governor, as with other elected state office-holders, is addressed as the honorable
5. A new state constitution was drafted in 1850 and took effect in 1851
6. As part of the process bringing the constitution into effect, there was a single one-year term of governor in 1851
7. With the new constitution of 18151, elections were held on even numbered years
8. The constitution adopted in 1963 changed the governor's term to four years, starting in 1967, and are held during mid-term Presidential elections.
9. In 1992, an amendment to the Michigan constitution imposed a lifetime term limit of two four-year terms for the office of governor. John Engler, the governor at the time, was exempt from this rule, and served three terms

Bad Leadership in Michigan

Oh boy. Something is wrong with the Michigan economy, and democrats and a few republicans in that state have just made matters worse.

During the .com bubble of the 1990s states, like Michigan, found their profits soaring. The eyes of the legislature lit up, "Wow! All that money to spend..."

Instead of spending that money wisely, and encouraging people to save and invest, state legislatures, like the one in Michigan, spent that money like it was going to continue coming in forever. Then, when the .com bubble burst just prior to the end of the Bill Clinton presidency, these states found themselves running in the red.

This isn’t the first time this has happened in American history, as few of the mistakes our government makes are. However, some of us learn from our mistakes and some of us never do.

Yes well managed government programs can be a good thing. Yes we do need to pay some taxes. We need this money for essential government programs like repairing roads, educating kids, social services, etc.

Ultimately you reach a point of diminishing returns. Michigan hit that point when the .com bubble burst.

This happened because our elected officials see a needy group of people and propose to solve their problem with a new government program, rather than creating an environment which allows them to solve their own problems.

Which goes to the old saying that some people think they know what’s best for others and propose to solve their problems. When governments do this they usually make the problems worse.

These programs might seem good on the surface, but the burden falls on tax payers, both individual and businesses. The result being that not only do the needy suffer, but so too does everybody else.

When taxpayers reach the point they have no money left after paying their bills and their taxes, they start to hoard their money. The economy falls into a recession.

In the past 100 years, we have had many recessions from which to learn from. Some have fallen into depressions and some have been shortlived.

Historically, as I’ve mentioned in previous columns, the short lived recessions are the ones where our government leaders relieved individuals and businesses from the burden of taxes.

George Bush understood this when he cut taxes. Overall, the economy in the United States is doing very well right now as a result.

"But...but if you cut taxes you will make less money for the government. We will have to cut programs."

The truth is, as history has proven, with sound economic policies which include tax cuts and eliminating wasteful government programs, governments have made more money with tax cuts than with tax increases.

And, by doing this, essential programs that remain can shine.

Harding, JFK, Reagan and Bush 42 all proved this.

The poor economy in Michigan is the result of overspending, overtaxing and overregulating businesses.

When taxes are raised again and again in order to support more and more government programs, the burden ultimately becomes too high for these businesses and they move to a more friendly environment or close their doors all together.

So, by cutting taxes, Bush did his part, now it was up to the states to do theirs. They needed to cut their own taxes, cut wasteful state programs, and create a good economic environment in their respective states as Bush did with the Fed.

While most states did this, Michigan did not.

What did Michigan do? Nothing. It continued to spend and spend. Thus, many of these once in the red states were now thriving, and Michigan continued to run in the red. Now Michigan is or is very close to being the worse economy in the United States.

A republican legislature had four years under the leadership of Governor Granholm to create a friendly economic environment in Michigan, but they refused to do anything that might create this friendly economy. They refused to stop taxing the people and businesses, and they refused to cut taxes.

The current democratic house, republican run Senate and a liberal Granholm in her second term continued to do nothing to help the burden on businesses and the good people of Michigan.

That, my friends, is what led to the crises that nearly led to a complete state shutdown this week.

To avoid the shutdown, Governor Granholm demanded that taxes be increased, and demanded that a 6% sales tax be expanded to many services, something business associations were adamantly opposed to.

Taxes on the people are already so much that people can hardly afford to pay their bills, so now the Michiganders will have to fork out even more money. This further sets the table for economic doom.

The same holds true for recruiting new businesses to come into Michigan. Why would any business come here when they know right away that the economy in most other states is freindlier on businesses than Michigans.

Economics 101 has proven over and over again that the best way to stop a recession is to lower the burden on the people and businesses by lowering their taxes. The money businesses do not give to the government they spend on building and new equipment, and this ultimately leads hiring more workers. Each one of these workers is a new taxpayer.

New businesses come into town because of the incentive of low taxes, and they too spend on new buildings and equipment and hire workers, all of whom, you guessed it, pay taxes.

And, by creating new taxpayers in this way, good and sound tax cuts can generate more money than tax increases.

Because it was clear that Granholm had no clue about economics 101 when her 1st term ended, I encouraged my friends not to vote for her. They did,however, and now we all have to pay the price -- literally.

While Michigan will not face a state shutdown for the time being, the tax hike Granholm petitioned for will in no way improve the economy in Michigan.

Until we get new leadership that understands how to run our economy, Michigan will be a sound example to all of the United States what will happen if Washington becomes more liberal.