In her State of the State address this week, Governor Jennifer Granholm sounded as if she'd sat in on many of the 96 Community Conversations held by the Center for Michigan last fall. The agenda she outlined, in many ways closely resembled the common ground vision of the 1,500 participants in the Community Conversation process.

Examples from the speech:

"To create new, good jobs, we have set a bold course of action to diversify our economy and to give our people the skills and education they need to not only cope in a changing world but to thrive in it."

"We agree that we must significantly increase our advertising of this beautiful state to attract tourists and businesses. We are eager to pass what will be the largest investment in marketing Michigan in our history, expanding to new markets, trumpeting our virtues across the nation and around the world."

"Legislators from both parties agree that we must pass laws that protect our great blue jewels, our Great Lakes, from water diversion."

"We must continue to reform government. There are three major reforms I want to underscore: first, we can achieve significant savings in our Corrections Department by adopting changes that save money but do not compromise public safety. Money that we save from adopting corrections policies similar to those of other Midwestern states can be used to hire more police officers in our neighborhoods to prevent crimes. Thank you for committing to work with us to achieve these common sense changes."

The question is whether those words can be turned into action.

The governor's hopeful calls for bipartisanship in the new year are good, but do not erase 2007, a year in which hyperpartisan budget fights blocked almost all policy work in Lansing.
Among those who have not forgotten are the governor's own financial advisors. A year ago, the Emergency Financial Advisory Panel issued sweeping ideas on how to reform state and local government. In the end, they feel they were ignored, MIRS staffer Susan Demas wrote this week.

Among Demas' most revealing quotes:

"I honestly don't know how many people read our report," said former Michigan governor James Blanchard.

"The report is applicable today as it was when it was written," said former Congressman and longtime Michigan legislator Joe Schwarz. "I would make a strong suggestion for all men and women in the Legislature to reread it. Some of them never read it in the first place. This should be their top priority. The bell rings as soon as the governor's State of the State and it's not going to be any easier in fiscal 2009."

Many of the recommendations of the Emergency Financial Advisory Panel were missing from Granholm's State of the State address.