Who, or what's to blame for lake's problem smell? - Local History ...

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hit on MEA
hurt Nov.8 ?
Gv. John Engler's path to a a sec.
nd term is not yet assured, even
though Michigan's Democrats will
not be united behind a single candidate
until the Aug, 2 primary forces them to
choose,
Instead, 42 percent of all respondents to
The Detroit News poll taken by South.
field-based Nordhaus Research Inc. say
they will vote for or favor a second Engler
term, but 44 percent say they defi.
nitely or probably would vote against
him.
The governor's major problem is with
Michigan women, He gets only 37 percent
solid and tentative support among all
women m the poll, as contrasted with 46
percent who oppose his candidacy. The
poll shows an even split for and against
Engler among men.
Part of his problem with women may
stem from his administration's all-out attack
on the Michigan Education Association,
and by inference, on public school
',.
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teachers and parents who back their
children's teachers.
But with the primary just weeks away,
no single Democrat has emerged as a
clear choice. In fact, former Congressman
Howard Wolpe led The Detroit News poll
with 19 percent support followed closely
by state Sen. Deborah Stabenow, with 15
percent backing.
Other Detroit News polling results help
explain the governor's lack of strength in
spite of an economy that IS expanding
and an unemployment rate that is declining.
The poll showed that 27 percent of the
respondents list improving the economy
and creating jobs as the state government's
top priority this year, a figure that
critics explain emerges from the public
perception that the economy's improvement
has been felt unevenly around the
state.
.
Tim Naylor of Nordhaus said, however,
that the explanation may lie in the lag
time often perceived beween when things
start to get better and when people recog.
nize the improvement.
Democrats, in the Detroit newspaper's
view, believe the recovery is an illusion
for many Michiganians, and that the decreasing
unemployment rate means little
because high-wage manufacturing jobs
have been replaced by low-paying service
Jobs.
For the governor, "Michigan is back"
has become a popular theme, the Detroit
paper went on, as Engler brags about the
declining jobless rate, gains in personal
income and corporate profits, and earn.
ings growth for small and medium-size
busmesses.
While more of the public may be sold
on that view as time passes, people who
have not benefited from the economic re-
\.vy.:Jry,or see ..... e prO::lp~1 Vi. ""p'VY"'-
ment in their own jobs or bus mess, obviously
will continue to challenge
Engler's claim that "Michigan is back."
Even the poll finding that the p~bhc'sl
third priority for state gov~~ent IS ~pgrading
the schools hardly mdicates sails. I
faction with the so-called Engler educa.:
tion reform package passed by the
Legislature.
That feeling, in fact, may be a reaction
not only to the legIslation itself b~t. also
to the all-out attack that the adm~mstration
made on the Michigan EducatIOn As.
sociation and, as we've said, by inference,
an attack on public school teachers and
the parents who support them.
As might be expected, the MEA is responding
to the Engler attack with a
well-financed campaign of criticism of and
opposition to the governor which, if this
early poll IS accurate, could jeopardize his
re-election,
Since Engler has no primary opposition,
time appears to be on his side, especially .
if the economic recovery continues.
If more people see improvements in
their own situations, the governor could '
easily win in November even though his
public standing now just oofore the Aug.
2. primary appears to be somewhat precarIOus.
Robert G. Edgar
Publisher
Robert B. Edgar
Founder and Publisher
(l94D-1979)
.
Publubed Weekly by
Aa.ocbo PIobhoh ...
96 Ker..::- YA
John Minnis" ..... .... ~ ~
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Letters are on page SA
•
Speakmg of weather, it's
been unusually hot and dry
here since I arrived. I haven't
even needed my umbrella.
Temperatures hit the mld-80s
last week, the first time m
years The normally staid Brits
are sweating It out and wondering
why they never developed
alf conditIOmng - eIther m
their cars Oftheir homes.
•
On BastIlle Day, July 14
(Grosse Pointe News editorial
writer Wilbur Elston's bIrth.
day, hope it was a good one),
tanks rolled down the Champs-
Elysees, almost 50 years to the
day smce they were pushed out
of Pans. While the Germans
received pohte applause from
the spectators during France's
annual mihtary parade, some
of those long of memory and
tooth were less elated.
•
Round up the usual suspects,
At least that's what Bntlsn p0-
lice are domg following a recent
infant-snatching from a
hOspItal A Vogue covergirl
who slightly resembled a police
sketch of the babyknapper was
arrested and questIoned not
• « "' .-...---.. _~.......-. _ -.eo He .....
once but twice. The woman was
arrested for the second tun~
while shopping m a London department
store on Oxford
Street.
The Vogue model and her 3-
week-ldson were hauled to p