Straight Facts About Our Candidates
Michigan Governor
JENNIFER GRANHOLM FIGHTS FOR WORKING FAMILIES
Preserving Jobs. Gov. Granholm helped create and retain thousands of union jobs. She signed orders that gave preference to Michigan-based job providers for state contracts and brought back a state call center from India. (Crain’s Detroit Business, 4/10/06; 3/22/04; Associated Press, 1/23/06; Free Press, 12/15/04; 12/15/04; Toledo Business Journal, 2/1/05)
Opposes Unfair Trade Agreements. Granholm knows unfair trade agreements like NAFTA that ship our jobs overseas are part of the problem. Granholm believes “we need trade agreements that have labor and environmental standards.” (Lansing State Journal, 5/23/04)
Protecting Our Wages. Granholm signed a minimum wage increase that she called “a tremendous victory for working families.” She supported higher wages by vetoing a bill that would have prohibited cities from passing living wage ordinances. (S.B. 318, 2006; AP State & Local Wire, 5/7/04, 5/28/06)
DICK DEVOS FAILS WORKING FAMILIES
Will Export Our Jobs. As president of Amway, Dick DeVos laid off 1,400 Michigan workers while investing millions of dollars in manufacturing plants in China. (AP State & Local Wire, 6/22/06)
Supports Unfair Trade Agreements. Dick DeVos supports bad trade agreements like NAFTA that export our jobs. Michigan has lost 63,148 jobs due to NAFTA. (Christian Science Monitor, 9/20/93; Economic Policy Institute, “NAFTA’s Cautionary Tale,” 7/20/05)
Protecting Big Business Tax Breaks. DeVos and Amway lobbied for big tax breaks for companies like Amway in a minimum wage bill. In 1997, a $300 million tax loophole benefiting Amway was signed just before DeVos invested hundreds of millions in China. (Detroit Free Press, 8/3/06; Common Cause, “Return on Investment,” 11/12/97)
VOTE Nov. 7
How you vote is a personal decision. Whatever you decide, please vote.
