Word: michigan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Clinton called it a "huge step in the right direction." Whatever its fate, it has further beatified the Governors. Specifically, it has enhanced the vice presidential chances of John Engler, one of its key Republican negotiators. Portly, balding, tenacious and smart, Engler does happen to govern a swing state, Michigan. He is Catholic. More important, he has slashed government and welfare rolls, been reviled for it, but ended up victorious at re-election. Says conservative editor and strategist William Kristol: "He's an obvious V.P. choice. I think after Powell, Engler is the most likely choice...
Engler's beast-to-beauty story began in 1990, when he defeated Democratic incumbent James Blanchard by a margin of less than 1%. Engler was not particularly popular, but he promised to dig a strapped Michigan out of a $1.8 billion deficit without raising taxes. He lost no time starting. Half a year after his election, he shocked observers by eliminating Michigan's general-assistance program for the state's 83,000 childless, able-bodied poor. Then he moved on to civil servants, cutting 20 boards and commissions and 5,000 state jobs...
...toughed it out and was rewarded. From 1993 to 1995, Engler's budget slashing--along with a providentially strong recovery by Michigan's auto industry--enabled him to cut taxes 21 ways and increase them only once. In place of the huge deficit, there was a $300 million surplus. Engler forged on with an intensive welfare-to-work program that he claims has found jobs for 30% of the recipients. Critics have called that number incomplete and misleading. But Engler's boast of having saved $100 million on welfare reform became his national calling card. As the state's economy...
...lemon business promises to become lemonade. In Dearborn, Michigan, last week, nine of the nation's biggest and most powerful automobile dealership owners (annual sales: about $4 billion) announced plans to invest $100 million in a chain of 10 Driver's Mart superstores, manned not by commission agents but by salaried "sales consultants" offering "pre-owned," "nearly new" and "off-lease" autos at nonnegotiable, uniform prices. Driver's Mart plans to sell the reconditioned cars complete with warranties and 30-day return policies. "When you think of shopping for a car," urges Driver's Mart president Thomas Eggleston, "think Home...
DIED. RAY MCINTIRE, 77, Dow chemist who inadvertently invented Styrofoam in a 1944 experiment; in Midland, Michigan...