And yet there it is, in black and white.  An article about DeVos's current work with a manufacturing company in Holland, Michigan (over here on the West side of the State).  It turns out that Dick DeVos is actually one heck of a successful job maker here in Michigan and prides himself on building a culture of shared success.  And, well, we wouldn't want THAT in the Governor's office, would we?

We were touring the plant that DeVos bought 18 years ago when it sold only closet-organizer systems, nearly all in one color -- white. Today Windquest and its 130 employees -- up from 60 in 2001 -- make organizers for kitchen pantries, garages, laundry rooms or offices, using many colors and materials from sturdy plastic to luxurious-looking cherry or maple woods.

Delivery times for custom orders have shrunk from 2 1/2 weeks to three days.

Every worker on the two production shifts is trained to do multiple tasks. Shift lengths are adjusted to suit rapid changes in order volume. "We might be six hours one day, 10 hours the next," said Eric Wolff, the firm's president and chief operating officer.

"The old manufacturing world, with 14 layers of pay, long lead times, inflexibility, us-versus-them attitudes -- those days are gone," said DeVos...

Success, as DeVos is fond of repeating, is all about culture.

It can be the culture of a city or a region, which is why the DeVos family and other business leaders banded together a few years back under the name Grand Action to build a new arena and convention center, and to persuade Michigan State University to put its medical school in Grand Rapids.

Culture is equally important in the workplace. At Windquest, while much is shared with workers, much is also expected.

The sharing the author is talking about is multi-fold.  Every three months the company stops production for an hour or two, gathers up the entire workforce and gives them a detailed report on the recent performance of the business.  On the factory floor, on the sales floor, in the board room.  You name it.  Every employee hears the details.

And then there are the bonuses.  Each worker is given an annual bonus based on company sales.  Make a better product and sell it more often, get a bigger bonus.  That's on top of the highly competitive compensation package.  

If these sorts of ideas seem like common sense it's because they are.  If they seem entirely absent from the current crop of "leadership" in Lansing, well, again, it's because they are.  

In a Presidential election year when the buzzword on the lips of Democrats everywhere is "change," workers in Michigan unemployment lines are left literally out in the cold, wondering, where was the change two years ago?  But hey... if Obama gets his way and we toss out legal primary election results because he doesn't like the way they turned out maybe we could overturn the 06 gubernatorial election too!