Popularity: 3
Vote:   | All 50 states had the same national economy. And on virtually any measurement you wish to look at, Michigan has moved up and improved against the others. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | And there should not be a limit on the creation of new public schools. We ought to expand choices for parents. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | And, in the case of Michigan, that was a high-tax, high-welfare, high-spending, low-opportunity environment that needed to be turned around. And it has. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | As governor, I learned the importance of having an agenda. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | As you look around the country there are still a significant number of states where their whole school debate is over school funding and we've been focused on the quality debate for most of the '90s. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Believe me, I'm not going to try to get into testing. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | But the fact that Michigan, at the beginning of the 21st century, is now viewed as one of the best managed states, a state where a AAA credit rating has been recovered after a quarter of a century. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | Despite these hurdles, manufacturers in the U.S. and their employees are doing remarkable work. |
Popularity: -3
Vote: | For Michigan, a special issue is at stake because Clear Skies will bring eight counties with over a million people into attainment with EPA's ozone standard. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | Given the professionalism of Michigan teachers, I think they're not teaching because of the financial rewards. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | I care about the children of Detroit. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I created no authority that wasn't already there under the constitution. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I don't put labels on myself. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I expect my next job to be outside government. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I had made a decision early on that we were going to do the right things and that if they worked we were going to be very successful. And if for some reason they didn't, all the claims and the protestations and the excuses wouldn't make any difference. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | I have an old saying that the harder I work, the luckier I get. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | I hope there's an interest in upgrading performance in every schools in the state. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I just have a position that any child that's in a failing school should be able to get out, or be in a position to have that school fixed. |
Popularity: -3
Vote: | I kept telling everyone I wasn't going to Washington to stay. I go to visit. |
Popularity: -2
Vote: | I think that so many of our problems stem from the idea that Washington sees a problem and then there's got to be a national law and before you know it the accountability has gotten very fuzzy. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I think we've got outstanding teaching in Michigan classrooms. |
Popularity: -3
Vote: | I wish we could have acted quicker on Detroit or other failing schools. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | I'm a compassionate conservative. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | I'm very eager to take over the chairmanship of the National Governors Association. |
Popularity: -3
Vote: | I'm very pleased with the job President Bush is doing and he's off to a terrific start. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | I've been in the legislative branch and now the executive branch and in each case I felt it was important we use our constitutional responsibilities to the fullest. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | I've gone from being one of the youngest governors to now the longest consecutive serving governor in the country. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | In many ways George Romney was the first real modern governor. He helped write the new constitution and then became first governor to serve under that constitution. |
Popularity: 4
Vote: | It does seem to me that there is a whole generation of kids that get lost here because those schools aren't better. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | It was stunning there was such a passive acceptance of a lousy school system by the community leadership. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | It's time for America to rally behind a bipartisan agenda that means jobs and growth and billions of dollars of new capital spending. |
Popularity: 6
Vote: | Let me be clear, American manufacturers aren't asking for a bailout. What we are asking is for Washington to take their foot off the brake and hit the accelerator. |
Popularity: -2
Vote: | Manufacturers account for nearly 60 percent of all industrial research and development. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Manufacturers employ more than 14 million Americans doing what Americans do best, making things, building things, transforming raw materials into finished products. |
Popularity: 4
Vote: | Michigan is also the only industrial state that has a AAA credit rating. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | Nobody gets any guarantees. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | Now, for America, it is time we act - to reduce costs and indecision, to remove barriers to investment and trade, and to reward innovation and creativity. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | One can look around at virtually any town in Michigan that has any water or waterfront and see that buildings have been cleaned up, contaminated sites have been cleaned up. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | Redistricting is one of the purest actions a legislative body can take. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | Ronald Reagan was another practitioner who believed that if you could make progress, if you could get 80 percent maybe today, that's what you get. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | So regardless of the environment that we all found ourselves in, Michigan's made moves and improved its position vis-a-vis the other states. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | Sometimes it is better to begin the journey, to get under way, then it is to sit back and wait until such time that you're convinced that all conditions are perfect and that there'll be no surprises along the route. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | The asbestos problem impacts everyone. |
Popularity: 3
Vote: | The Build Michigan and Clean Michigan campaigns are also very important and by themselves could have been singled out. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | The challenges that Detroit's auto industry faces are the same challenges that many manufacturers face across this country. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | The Clean Michigan Initiative has been and continues to be a success. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | The current Michigan Constitution was written in 1961 and '62. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | The greatest luck that I've had has been the ability to find men and women who came into my administration who worked with me and brought extraordinary talents that we were able to take full advantage of. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | The parent knows instinctively that if they're working and setting an example for their child that means that child is more likely to be in school, more likely to stay out of trouble and more likely to complete their education. |
Popularity: -2
Vote: | The U.S. Council on Competitiveness still worries that science and math education in America are lagging too far behind our competitor nations. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | There are other projects in state government that go a lot slower than you'd like. No point in dwelling on those. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | Very few charter schools are being created in some of the best school districts in the state. If you're an educational innovator, that isn't where the greatest need is. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | We didn't pass any constitutional amendments that affected the executive branch while I was governor. |
Popularity: -1
Vote: | We don't think anybody should close their eyes to the fact that we have challenges. |
Popularity: 0
Vote: | We have broken the cycle of dependency. People have found out they're better off working. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | We need a national energy strategy to increase domestic supply, stabilize prices and encourage the development of new, clean sources of power. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | While America's infrastructure needs are substantial, there is no reason to delay completion of the highway bill. Every day of delay means jobs lost, investment opportunities missed and growth sacrificed. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | You win by working hard, making tough decisions and building coalitions. |