To: Governor Jennifer Granholm

A lifelong resident of Michigan, I have tremendous affection for its people. Michiganders are smart, tough and resilient. Given policies that promote growth, we are also highly creative.

Michiganders are blessed with fertile ground for agriculture, our precious and increasingly valuable great lakes, and physical beauty that belie perceptions of Michigan as a rust belt state.

I share your optimism about Michigan’s future. I even share much of your vision on how to fulfill our state’s potential. However, I’m deeply disappointed that a smart person such as you, one I voted for, has failed to provide the leadership necessary to solve Michigan’s current budget crisis. Until Michigan can bite the bullet and move on, our state’s promise will go unfulfilled.

The state legislature under your leadership has been gridlocked by partisan bickering. Much has been made of the need for reform to balance the budget. Most of it has been wrapped in unproductive political rhetoric. The solution, while painful in the short term, is simple. Our state needs to get leaner, and fast. If you truly listened to people like Ron Gettlefinger, Rick Wagoner and Alan Mulally you would understand that when your revenues shrink, you must shrink.

Our businesses have shown they can compete with the best in the world. While national trade policies have contributed to a less competitive Michigan, our automobile manufacturers, suppliers and union leaders have decided to stop blaming Washington for their woes. Instead, they have focused on what they can do here and now, and they have negotiated groundbreaking labor agreements. From Wall Street to Main Street, most observers have concluded that while painful for many, these new agreements will make our state’s core manufacturing sector far more competitive going forward.

I share your disdain for critics who don’t offer specific, tangible alternatives to current approaches, and at the risk of exposing my ignorance about how Lansing works, my thoughts on what you need to do, here and now, are as follows.

Based on published reports, the state needs to cut between $440 and $450 million in spending to balance the budget. In an editorial published last Sunday, The Detroit News stated, “The governor claims she has slashed 9,000 jobs from the payroll. But the state’s Civil Service Web site shows that that in December 2002, the month before Granholm took office, there were 52,608 state employees. As of January, 2007, according to that same Web site, there were 53,024 state employees, an increase of more than 600.”
Based on my research, the same Web site indicates that the average taxpayer expense for a state employee is $77,806 in salary and benefits. If you had had truly overseen a reduction in the state’s workforce of 9,000, or 17%, the state would have reduced its expenditures by over $700 million. Such a savings would have wiped out the current deficit and gone a long way toward offsetting the anticipated revenue from the recently enacted, and ill-advised, sales tax on services.

The editorial went on to note ”State employees also got a pay hike this year. Repealing it would save $150 million.”

While accurate numbers can be elusive in a state with over 50,000 employees, it seems indisputable that a reduction in the state’s workforce along the lines of what you have claimed would have more than solved our current budget crisis.

It’s time for you to demonstrate real leadership by insisting that state government be reduced in size by 10%. Whether these cuts are across the board, or whether they are done strategically, is immaterial at this point.

If you have the same affection for Michigan’s citizens and businesses that I have, you should consider the following actions:

1. Place a hiring freeze on all state jobs.
2. Repeal the pay raises already granted to our state’s civil servants.
3. Demand from every state department a plan for process improvements that would result in a 10% reduction in their collective staffing costs.
4. Repeal the sales tax on services.

You should inspire your state employees to seek the same process improvements, with the same focus on arriving at common ground, that you’ve urged our state’s business and union leaders to strive for. The CEO’s of our state’s major companies, and our state’s union leaders, have partnered to accomplish exactly what you’ve suggested. It’s time for our state’s Chief Executive to walk the talk and do the same.

The state you love, the state with innovative and creative people that will transform its economy for the 21’st century, deserves nothing less. Our income tax increase will be hard to swallow, but it will be done. The state must get leaner. It’s time for our state’s dedicated civil servants to share the sacrifices that workers in private enterprise have already experienced.

I believe your vision for a better future for Michigan has merit. But I know that without strong leadership, here and now, our state’s recovery will remain on hold. Michigan has the physical and human assets to restore our state to its previous preeminent position in the foreseeable future. If we start now, the dividends will be realized quickly. The rest of the world is not blind. They see a state with tremendous assets that is undergoing a transformation. The smart money will bet on Michigan at the first inkling that we have our “stuff” together, that we’ve accepted reality, bitten the bullet, and are moving forward.

Respectfully,
Mike Gonyea