She responded that she'd never made that pledge.

He told her that there was a clip of her saying precisely that during her second televised debate last fall with Dick DeVos. She claimed to have reviewed the clip and was quite certain that she never made that pledge. So Frank played the following clip:

Her response: "That was the the... and... I was responding to the sales tax."

Frank: "He pretty clearly said a tax on services."

Granholm: "Yeah, I know he did, but be clear, I have not been opposed to spreading the sales tax on services."

...

Frank: "What we heard as residents was you're not going to raise our taxes when we voted for you (nervous laughter)."

Granholm: "Frank, you know, the circumstances are, that I was not going to slash public education or health care either."

Wow. An admission that she lied!

Frank then took her to task on her pledge that there would be no more no-bid contracts and her insistance that her $116+ million contract to one of her high-dollar campaign donors was OK even though it was a no-bid contract.

Her response? It was Engler's fault.

She's moving forward on a $116+ million construction project in 2007, five years after Engler left office, but it's HIS FAULT?!

Said Frank: John Engler cut a deal with Joel Ferguson, your campaign contributor on this property that's on a flood plain with no parking and no helipad?

Granholm: Exactly right. Exactly right.

Frank: (Laughter)

What? No! Not right! Show me the signed contracts from 2002 or earlier, Madame Governor! Show me the appropriations bills making the provisions from 2002 or earlier, Madame Governor! They don't exist! How can this woman say that with a straight face? I think Juli put it best a few weeks ago:

After listening to that performance I'd have called Liz Boyd and started making threats too. What an embarrassment.

Update [2007-10-4 10:53:53 by Nick]:Click HERE to listen to the complete interview with the Governor!

Update [2007-10-4 10:20:45 by Nick]:Frank's decided to play the interview. Tune into WJR or check them out on the web now to hear it live and we'll see what all the fuss is about.

Interesting morning radio on Detroit's blowtorch WJR 760.  

Turns out Governor Granholm recorded an interview with Frank Beckmann earlier this morning and he was going to broadcast it today.  Well, she didn't like the way the taping went and contacted Frank asking him to hold the tape, demanding he not broadcast it.  And it looks like her request came with "implications."  It's been implied that if he doesn't hold the tape the Governor will refuse to make another appearance on his program ever again.

Frank Beckmann asks tough questions and doesn't take a lot of BS but he's absolutely 100% a gentleman.  He's agreed to the Governor's demands to this point and is holding the tape.  Not out of fear but because she asked.

Callers are beseiging the station right now demanding he play it, insisting that the Governor works for taxpayers and has a responsibility to answer tough questions.  That she can't just squash an interview that didn't go the way she wanted it to go.

And they're right.  I hope Mr. Beckmann decides to let the Governor's words speak for themselves.  He should play the interview uncut and unabridged.  

More than that, the Governor should apologize to Mr. Beckmann, to WJR and to every resident of the state of Michigan for her attempts to censor the free press and for making implications (read: threats) for failure to comply.

You can listen live to WJR HERE.