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October 18, 2004Milliken says he will vote for KerryByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Former Michigan Gov. William G. Milliken broke with the Republican Party today and formally endorsed Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry in the presidential race. "I felt so strongly about the direction of this country that in the end, it wasn't a difficult decision to make," Traverse City resident Milliken said in an interview today with Record-Eagle editors and reporters. Milliken also issued a three-page statement of his views about Bush and domestic and international issues. "Women's rights, civil liberties, the separation of church and state, the funding of family planning efforts world-wide - all have suffered grievously under (President Bush) and his administration," Milliken said in the statement. Milliken said Kerry "has put forth a coherent, responsible platform of progressive initiatives that I believe would serve this country well." He criticized the Bush administration on several fronts, including the war in Iraq, tax cuts and for "pandering to the extreme right wing across a wide variety of issues" which he says has increased the "polarization" of the country. "The truth is that President George W. Bush does not speak for me or for many other moderate Republicans on a very broad cross section of issues," Milliken wrote. Milliken is Michigan's longest-serving governor, holding office from 1969-82, where he fostered a solid bi-partisan relationship with state Democrats and forged a progressive economic and social agenda on issues like the environment, urban development and women's rights. In the current presidential campaign, Milliken earlier expressed his disappointment with the Bush ticket through his part in a national advertising campaign entitled "Come back to the mainstream" released prior to the Republican National Convention. The effort criticized the "partisan ideology" of the Bush administration and called for a "speedy return to the pragmatic, problem-solving mainstream" of the moderate wing of the GOP. Read Milliken's full statement here.
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