07/16/2006

Op-Ed

Candidates talk green — but not in ads

BY GEORGE WEEKS
Columnist

They fall far short of making the environment and natural resources front burner issues of Campaign '06, but actions and proposals of current candidates are inching along the greening of Michigan politics that got a flickering start in the 1970s.

"I will be a steward of Michigan's precious environment," businessman Dick DeVos, Republican challenger of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said in a vow to protect natural resources "unmatched in the nation and around the world" that is in his 64-page Michigan TurnAround Plan which he trumpets in his statewide TV ads.

But environmental vows don't make it into his ads (latest estimated cost: nearly $10 million) — nor into those that the Democratic State Party has so far spent an estimated $3 million on to tout Granholm.

DeVos in his printed plan says "we can protect the environment and create jobs at the same time" — but that thought doesn't work into a 30-second spot crafted around his credentials as a job-creator.

Not surprisingly, given what voters tell pollsters about their priorities, each side uses its TV dollars to emphasize spurring the economy, not saving the environment.

On Friday, DeVos spokesman John Truscott said DeVos will have a more specific environmental agenda, and Granholm Press Secretary Liz Boyd said her boss will build on "her exceptional record " on such issues.

The late six-term Gov. G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams once said: "Each and every one of us stands on the shoulders of our predecessors."

So it is as Granholm this week leads celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF), which has provided $662 million for about 1,500 projects under legislation signed by then-Gov. Bill Milliken and crafted by Sen. Kerry Kammer, D-Pontiac.

Granholm Tuesday is to join Department of Natural Resources Director Rebecca Humphries and other officials at Hull Park in Traverse City to commemorate the fund that sets aside the oil, gas and mineral lease payments and royalties paid to the state for exploration on public lands and place them in the Trust Fund.

The fund provides matching grants to local government and state agencies for land acquisition, public outdoor recreation projects and recreation facility development projects.

"Every penny of the fund is used to improve recreation, recreational access and to add to local and state projects to develop parks and preserve unique areas of the state," says MNRTF Chairman Sam Washington, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

In both capacities, he fills shoes of his late brother, Tom Washington, who was a gruff but lovable driving force behind creation of the fund and a power in making politicians of his era pay heed to natural resources.

Brothers, as governors, stand on earlier shoulders.

STUPAK STEADFAST

No congressional district has more miles of shoreline than that of Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee. So it figures that he would combat threats to the waters off those shores.

Among politicians I have covered the last decade or so, I don't recall any more steadfast than Stupak in pushing legislation on Great Lakes issues, including banning oil and gas drilling in and under the lakes, and prohibiting sale or export of Great Lakes water.

Some of his issues are of more limited interest, such as his meeting earlier this month with Canadian officials about Michigan complaints of discharge of sewage from a waste treatment facility in Ontario.

And then there is the issue of controlling cormorants, long-necked birds that are devouring an estimated million pounds of fish stocks daily in the Great Lakes. Stupak got $300,000 for control efforts in a House-passed bill.

Stupak's efforts are applauded by state Rep. Howard Walker, R-Traverse City, who got $150,000 into legislation to aid the federal-state battle along northern waters.

George Weeks recently retired after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.