In the midst of heavy job losses, outsourcing, busted budgets, and other dismal economic trends, leaders across the Great Lakes have reached a consensus about the need to redefine the region’s identity and purpose in the global marketplace. Yet none of the 15 candidates vying for governor in the region's 2006 election have seized on the Great Lakes restoration issue as a strategic opportunity to achieve economic success.
The Strategy to Restore and Protect the Great Lakes, adopted in December 2005 by a coalition of federal agencies, mayors, business leaders, and tribes, calls for new policies and a $20 billion-plus investment to improve environmental cleanliness and sensitivity. But the massive public works project also has the potential to stimulate the economy. It would put tens of thousands of people to work today, quicken the pace of urban revitalization, generate new business opportunities, spur the jobs of the future, and dramatically enhance the region’s ability to compete in the global knowledge economy.
The trouble is that Congress is reluctant to fund the initiative. And candidates for governor so far aren't talking about or pushing the issue. They express a universal theme about the need to lure talented workers, attract high tech companies, generate good paying jobs, and strengthen competitiveness. But not one publicly promotes the power of rehabbing the globally unique Great Lakes ecosystem as a reasonable means to kickoff that entirely necessary 21st century development strategy.
Illinois
Incumbent Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D)
Judy Barr Topinka (R)
Michigan
Incumbent Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D)
Dick DeVos (R)
Minnesota
Incumbent Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R)
Mike Hatch (D)
New York
Eliot Spitzer (D)
Tom Suozzi (D)
John Faso (R)
Ohio
Ken Blackwell (R)
Ted Strickland (D)
Pennsylvania
Incumbent Gov. Ed Rendell (D)
Lynn Swann (R)
Wisconsin
Incumbet Gov. Jim Doyle (D)
Mark Green (R)
