Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm
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Jennifer M. Granholm was elected governor of Michigan 2002. In 2006, she was re-elected with the largest number of votes ever cast for governor in Michigan. As Governor, Granholm led the state through a brutal economic downturn that resulted from a meltdown in the automotive and manufacturing sectors. She worked relentlessly to diversify the state’s economy, strengthen its auto industry, preserve the manufacturing sector, and add new, emerging sectors, such as clean energy, to Michigan’s economic portfolio.

In addition to diversification, Granholm focused on creating jobs, attracting international investment, improving education, and training Michigan’s workers to promote Michigan’s long-term economic health. She pushed the state to double the number of college graduates and signed into law a college prep curriculum for every high school student in Michigan in addition to some of the toughest turnaround requirements for low-performing schools in the nation. In 2007, she launched No Worker Left Behind, a program that gave unemployed and under-employed citizens the opportunity to attend community college or technical school to receive training for high-demand jobs by offering state-paid tuition to Michigan’s displaced adults. The program enrolled more than 147,000 people, with a 75 percent job placement or retention rate—the best results in the nation. Community college enrollment in Michigan increased by 50 percent between 2000 and 2010.

Under her leadership, Michigan had the second highest rate of child health care coverage in the nation despite the economic challenges. She received praise for her commitment to the cultivating new jobs in Michigan. During her tenure as governor, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation brought in almost 4,000 companies or expansions projected to create 653,000 jobs. While serving as governor, Michigan was repeatedly named one of the top three states in the nation for business locations or expansions and was twice recognized by The Pew Center on the States as one of the best-managed states in the nation. According to the Gallup Job Creation Index, Michigan led the country in the improvement of job market conditions between 2009 and 2010. Granholm was also a fiscal hawk— cutting a greater percentage from state government than any state in the nation and resolving more than $14 billion in budget deficits. For example, she eliminated 25 percent of state departments, shut down 13 prison facilities, and reformed public employee benefits and pensions.

Prior to becoming governor, Granholm served as a judicial clerk for Michigan’s 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. She became a federal prosecutor in Detroit in 1990, and in 1994, she was appointed Wayne County Corporation Counsel. Granholm was elected Michigan’s first female attorney general in 1998.

Granholm is a Distinguished Practitioner of Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. She is presently teaching a graduate course, Special Topics in Public Policy, at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Granholm and her husband, Dan Mulhern, recently authored the political bestseller, A Governor’s Story: The Fight for Jobs and America’s Economic Future, which tells how Michigan pioneered ways out of an economic storm—and offers proven advice for a nation desperate to create jobs. She is the host of Current TV’s new show, “The War Room with Jennifer Granholm,” which airs weeknights at 9/8c.

Granholm is an honors graduate of both the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School. She and her husband have three children.

Blog Entries by Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm

Get Mad as Hell About Citizens United and Register to Vote

(14) Comments | Posted May 31, 2012 | 2:53 PM

We learned yesterday that Republican SuperPACs will spend one billion dollars this election. That's on top of what Romney and the RNC were already going to spend. Billions of dollars from a handful of billionaires. With one goal: to buy an election. All thanks to the Supreme Court...

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Honor Sacrifice by Supporting Vets

(292) Comments | Posted May 26, 2012 | 12:26 PM

This Memorial Day weekend, we reflect upon what it really means to honor the memory of the men and women who fought for our country. We'll visit gravesites, observe moments of silence, hold parades and barbeques and celebrate the freedoms our soldiers provided -- all important gestures.

But as a...

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Voter Suppression Is Treasonous

(915) Comments | Posted May 22, 2012 | 7:15 PM

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said that every battle is won before it is fought. The Republican Party wants to prevent the battle from happening at all. It's very shrewd and it's totally un-American.

In November, five million eligible voters will find it harder to exercise their rights...

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Today, the Billionaires Are King

(148) Comments | Posted May 19, 2012 | 12:44 PM

We've spent a lot of time talking about Super PACs and the Billionaire Boys Club. Why does this matter so much? Because it's poisoning, ruining, corrupting our democracy. I know it sounds trite -- "ruining our democracy" -- but I can find no more appropriate words.

Our...

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Women: We Want You on the Political Battlefield

(3) Comments | Posted May 15, 2012 | 10:07 PM

If Maggie Hassan, a Democratic candidate for governor in New Hampshire, isn't elected, there will be zero Democratic women governors in the United States. Not one.

When I was fresh out of law school, I had a burning desire to do something important, to have an impact...

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Dear Mitt: You Did Nothing to Save Detroit

(675) Comments | Posted May 8, 2012 | 9:45 PM

Dear Mitt Romney:

There are politics, there are lies, and then there's you. You take it to a whole 'nother level.

OK, I admit that I have a particular animus toward you, as a guy that knifed us in the back when Michigan was on its knees, but you...

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Occupy a Wing of the Democratic Party

(197) Comments | Posted May 3, 2012 | 5:22 PM

Earlier this week, Occupy protests erupted across the country. I'm inspired by the movement. I could smell democracy in the air last fall when young and old were peacefully standing in solidarity against income inequality. It was emblematic of the best of democracy -- ideas expressed in the public square....

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Fired up! Climate Change Gridlock Needs to Be Replaced With Action

(117) Comments | Posted April 21, 2012 | 6:53 PM

What are we going to do about climate change? Across the political spectrum, people want clean energy jobs. Across the political spectrum Democrats, Independents and Republicans now see that the climate is changing. Across the political spectrum, people don't want young soldiers dying in hostile nations to protect...

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Mitt Romney Is a Hollow Man

(1198) Comments | Posted April 10, 2012 | 1:44 AM

I have a problem with Mitt Romney. And it's big problem -- one that extends beyond our ideological differences. Here's what fundamentally disturbs me about Romney's character:

It's not even that he's misstated facts, if they were just truly misstatements. Part of what really bugs me is that he's carefully...

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16-Year-Old Laela Zaidi Speaks Out Against War on Women

(23) Comments | Posted April 6, 2012 | 12:31 PM

I've had governors, senators, political strategists and reporters as guests on my Current TV show, "The War Room with Jennifer Granholm" to weigh in on this question about the war on women. Last night, I heard from a teenager, and while she may not be old enough to...

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Race in America: We Are No More "Post-Racial" Than We Are "Post-Partisan"

(39) Comments | Posted March 23, 2012 | 10:03 PM

When someone lives as a minority, they experience the world differently than those of us who live in the majority.

We may occupy the same physical space, but we don't occupy the same psychic space. I think it's important to look at the issue through the eyes of experience....

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5 Reasons Zimmerman's "Stand Your Ground" Defense Won't Work in Trayvon Martin Case

(312) Comments | Posted March 21, 2012 | 10:24 PM

As a former federal prosecutor and a former attorney general, I want to talk about the Trayvon Martin story because it disturbs me as a prosecutor, and it deeply disturbs me as a mother of a teenage son. Let me say a word first as a prosecutor.

You've heard of...

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Thank You, Paul Ryan. Your budget is a gift.

(105) Comments | Posted March 21, 2012 | 11:46 AM

Paul Ryan's budget plan was rolled out over the past few days with two slick video trailers -- Pretty unusual for a Congressional budget committee chairman. Seriously!

The videos had music and beautiful shots and lots of Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan walking down the halls of Congress. Paul...

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Fired Up! Republicans Are Taking the Country Back ... in Time

(696) Comments | Posted March 9, 2012 | 2:44 PM

One of the battle cries of the far right is this: 'We want to take our country back.' Maybe you dismissed that as meaning, back from the Democrats. But you notice, they don't say, 'we want to take our government back.' They say... 'our country.'

And based on the evidence...

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Look at the Facts: Romney's Record on Auto Industry Doesn't Match Rhetoric

(183) Comments | Posted February 1, 2012 | 3:15 PM

"The Motor City" is more than just a nickname. It's who we are. It's not just a source of pride for the millions of us who know Michigan and our history. It's a source of pride for America, because vehicles across the globe are designed and built right here in...

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We're Number Three!

(26) Comments | Posted March 30, 2011 | 5:52 PM

Here we go again.

In the wake of turmoil in the Middle East and the nuclear accident in Japan, we're hearing pleas for national energy policies to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and make America energy secure. As President Obama observed today, every leader since President Nixon has...

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America Needs a Jobs Race to the Top

(233) Comments | Posted December 9, 2010 | 8:05 AM

As last week's jobs numbers reminded us, emerging from the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression isn't going to be easy. We need to be creative and daring. We need a moon shot -- a Jobs Race to the Top. The goal: create three million new jobs in three years. 
...

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A Mighty Wind

(166) Comments | Posted November 19, 2010 | 8:59 AM

Last century, Michigan led the automotive revolution, putting the world on wheels. This century, Michigan will lead the green industrial revolution, making wind turbines, solar panels, advanced batteries, and other technologies to power our nation's 21st-century progress. The investments from the federal Recovery Act complemented state policies we...

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Shaping America's Clean Energy Future

(41) Comments | Posted September 14, 2010 | 7:06 AM

Livonia, Michigan. Home to over 100,000 citizens, great schools and parks, one of Michigan's best burger joints (Bates Hamburgers) -- and now home to North America's largest advanced battery plant, further solidifying Michigan's position as the advanced battery capital of the world.

Yesterday, I...

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Not Your Father's UAW

(326) Comments | Posted August 10, 2010 | 9:29 AM

The ground shook a bit in Michigan last week, and it had nothing to do with the weather or the interesting results of a state primary election.

The speech of brand-new president of the UAW, Bob King, at the 45th annual Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Management Briefing...

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