Jenny G. is in the NYT!

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who served as Michigan’s top dog from 2003 to 2010, is selling her new book, A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future. It seems there was a shortage of lengthy books authored by state politicians so Granholm and her hubby, former First Gentleman Dan Mulhern, stepped in to fill the void.

The Canadian-born Democrat and one-time actress wannabe with the distracting mole on her right cheek served as Michigan’s attorney general under Republican Governor John Engler – which couldn’t have been fun – for four years before being promoted by voters in November of 2002. (My former boss, Jim Blanchard, decided to try to snag the governor’s seat again but Granholm clobbered him and former Congressman Dave Bonior, a real nice guy, in the Democratic primary.) She went on to achieve...

I don’t really know.

She promised in an early State of the State speech that we were going to be “blown away” by her administration and in eight years in office, she...

I’m not really sure.

In a September 17 New York Times article entitled "Cautionary Lessons from Michigan," it’s pointed out that Granholm led the state during a rocky economic crisis which overshadowed all else and she was forced to cut taxes, jobs and spending. She laments that she “didn’t have the tools to be able to wave a magic wand and fix the loss of manufacturing jobs and the loss of market share of the auto industry and the bankruptcies,” and praises the federal government for bailing out the auto industry and providing all the stimulus money that kept this state afloat.

Mulhern and Granholm

I thought Governor Granholm was nice enough – I met her a few times and she was quite charming, and I knew people who worked for her and sang her praises – but I’m hard-pressed to recall anything significant that occurred during her watch. I know she faced massive deficits and an unyielding legislature. I know she was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame. I know she created a program to provide free community college for unemployed workers. I know the King of Sweden honored her for “fostering relations between Michigan and Sweden to promote clean energy.”

Mostly I remember that Michigan reached its highest unemployment rate ever, the highest in the nation, while she was in charge.

Granholm, who now teaches at UC Berkeley, refused to comment on her successor, Rick Snyder, in the New York Times article. This is the same Rick Snyder who eliminated the Michigan Business Tax – handing his business buddies $1.8 billion in tax savings – and is now trying to recapture revenue by reducing public assistance, eliminating tax credits for the film industry and brownfield redevelopment, and slashing education spending, among other short-sighted moves. I admire Granholm’s sense of decorum; if they had asked me to comment, I wouldn’t have shown such restraint.

Too bad she couldn’t have just titled her memoir, I Did the Best I Could with the Hand I Was Dealt. Now that’s a book I’d actually read.

Read Chris Savage’s review of A Governor’s Story, published today at A2Politico.com.