Monday, Aug. 30, 2010

Dowagiac’s community conversation for Michigan’s Defining Moment to craft a common ground legislative agenda for the watershed 2010 election took place last Sept. 30.

MDM points public policy priorities toward this “watershed election” when term limits replace the governor, Senate majority leader, House speaker, attorney general, Secretary of State, 38 senators and more than 70 percent of the state House of Representatives. Seventeen people — 13 men and four women — took part at Elks Lodge 889 in an exercise which identified with their clickers economic development and diversification as the most urgent need. A second round of voting prioritized accountability and bipartisan leadership.

Participants, guided by the Kalamazoo community relations firm Lam and Associates, which partners with the non-partisan Center for Michigan, came from five local service organizations — Dowagiac Rotary Club, the Elks, Civitan, Moose and Cass County Post 1855 of Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).

Brian Lam and his wife, Bobbi, conducted 49 such meetings across seven counties, including Niles (with Shelley Klug and the Southwestern Michigan Economic Growth Alliance, or SMEGA), Buchanan, Sturgis, St. Joseph, Decatur, Paw Paw, Allegan, Three Rivers, Kalamazoo and Portage.

Dowagiac’s dialogue stood in contrast to a June 10, 2009, Cass County “Community Conversation” 23 leaders took part in at the Edward Lowe Foundation’s Billieville Conference Center in Penn Township. Host Dan Wyant, a former state agriculture director and MDM “founding champion,” is president and chief operating officer of the Edward Lowe Foundation and a Southwestern Michigan College trustee.

“10,000 Voices to Transform Our State,” a “citizens’ agenda,” common ground built from the bottom up at 600 community meetings, has been boiled down from three years of talking into a 24-page summary — “10,000 voices blend into one urgent chorus for Michigan’s future … details a long-term vision and concrete action plan for our state’s ascent to a new era of prosperity … a place where newly-minted college grads and retooled manufacturing workers vie for plentiful jobs with good wages right here at home … a Michigan that is such a great place to live that our grandchildren never feel a need to leave … a place that enthusiastically invests in its most competitive assets — its natural resources, universities and distinctive local communities … where citizens, community leaders, public workers and politicians willingly hold themselves accountable for significant, strategic civic progress.”

In broad strokes, the people’s 10-point action plan is to: create a more business-friendly entrepreneurial environment; overhaul the Michigan tax system for the 21st century; build on Michigan’s distinctive and competitive assets; change how and what schools teach; transform education operations and funding; hold educators, parents and students to higher standards; hold politicians — and ourselves — more accountable; lengthen or repeal term limits; execute transparent and strategic state budgets; and intensify consolidation and service sharing in local government, such as discussions Cass County firefighters have already begun. These are the kinds of issues which should be central to this fall’s crucial statewide election — not the usual blitz of numbing negative attack ads. This agenda grew not from the dogma of any particular party or special interest group, but from the grassroots. It is rooted in widespread public concern for the state as a whole. One question posed to Community Conversation participants was, “If your legislators were here today, what would you say to them?”

Be bold. Take risks. Be accountable. We’re watching. How are YOU going to retain US? Represent your constituents and not your party. Put Michigan first. How have you helped me this year? Take a longer view of issues and solutions. What does it mean to adequately educate a child in the 21st century. Figure it out and fund it. Search out ways to hear those who can’t speak for themselves. Work 100-percent of your time to help us turn the corner to a prosperous Michigan.

To that we would add read The Center for Michigan’s Defining Moment report, keep them honest with the Campaign Truth Squad at www.michigantruthsquad.com and stay informed with the e-newsletter at the centerformichigan.net.