Time for a Little Politics

Our governor, Jennifer Granholm (MI - D), in her infinite wisdom, has decided, probably upon pressure from benefitting interests, to demolish the State of Michigan Department of History, Arts, and Libraries (HAL). That was not enough. She also decided to establish a brand spanking new "Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention". It will have a board of nine members to divvy up the carcass of HAL. Here is the makeup of that board. (I have just found out that Blogger will not let me cut and paste.)

"Nine members will form the Michigan Center for Innovation and Reinvention Board: the director of the Department of Natural Resources, superintendent of public instruction, and seven gubernatorial appointees. Three of the members selected by the governor will be from a list of candidates nominated by President Simon, and a fourth will be from a list of candidates nominated by Mayor Bernero. The board will issue its final report to the governor by June 1, 2010."

Look at that list. The DNR, three cronies of the president of MSU, a person selected by the Mayor of Lansing, the "superintendent of public instruction"--that leaves three people without an agenda, but they will also be hand-picked by the governor. This does not look good for historians, genealogists, and preservationists in the State of Michigan.

If you read the article I linked to above and scroll down to the very bottom you see what happens to the State Historic Preservation Review Board. It goes to MSHDA! All the irreplaceable historical records and books go to the DNR! And they will "evaluate and implement additional cost saving measures". What does that mean? Will our archives end up as litter in the bottom of animal cages, or as landfill in some state park? Why put an agency devoted to the outdoors in charge of things that should be stored INDOORS? And with MSHDA running the Historic Preservation Review Board will we now be mandated to use vinyl windows and siding and "encapsulate" all lead paint? I shudder to think what will happen.

The Department of Education will now be running the Library of Michigan with the same caveat to "evaluate and implement additional cost saving measures". Oh, wonderful.

And who will get the wonderful, almost new building just two blocks from the capitol? Why, probably MSU!

Here are some links to articles written by other concerned genealogists/historians:
http://mimgc.org/LOM.html
http://globalgenealogy.com/globalgazette/gazsh/gazsh-0034.htm
http://http//www.mla.lib.mi.us/node/1027

If you are a resident of the State of Michigan, please take the time to let the governor know how you feel about this at this link: http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-21995-65331--,00.html

Sorry for all the links, but this is an important issue and I wanted to cover all the bases.