Governor Jennifer Granholm: E

This is a no-brainer for me.  In four short months, Granholm has managed to break nearly every campaign promise she made in her re-election bid.  She said she would not tolerate a bureaucracy that would let prisoners out of prison, yet that was exactly what she first proposed to do in the face of Michigan's budget problems.  She said that she wouldn't support a tax on services, yet all of the major spending in her proposed budget was dependent upon the very taxed she pledged to oppose.  She said that there would be a health care plan in place for the uninsured by April of 2007...it didn't happen.  Need I go on?

When it comes to dealing specifically with the budget, Granholm get her lowest marks.  Nobody in Lansing is obligated to do more, but has managed to do less than the governor.  After having her first executive order dropped by the senate, Granholm simply took her ball and went to Germany while lamenting the legislature for not doing her job for her.  Only after Standard & Poors put the state's credit rating on warning again did Granholm "take action".  And by taking action, I mean pulling a cheap political stunt in a pathetic attempt to undermine Senate Majority Leader Bishop and skipping out on a budget talks and a Michigan Municipal League conference to dine at the Olive Garden.  It's no wonder we're still not looking at a real solution to the budget almost four months after everyone took office.

House Speaker Andy Dillon: D+

I know a lot of you think this should probably be lower, but there are some legitimate excuses that can be made for Mr. Dillon.  The most obvious is the fact that he's only been speaker for three in a half months and he's dealing with a caucus that is hoplessly divided on nearly every issue as well as a lame-duck governor that seems more concerned with her image than with helping him maintain his majority in the house.  And the speaker has shown that his heart and his mind can, at times, be in the right place when he desperately attempted to convice Comerica to keep their headquarters here in Michigan (at least someone gave it a shot).

But that's about all you can say for Dillon, and there's a lot more that you can say against him.  The whole iPod fiasco is probably the most obvious of his short-comings and his inability to deal with the problem once it became a problem.  When members of your caucus are admitting that it "spiraled out of control" in the media, that means you have an inability to effectively communicate what it is you actually want to say.  Nolan Finley and the Detroit News editorial board covered it best.  If House Democrats genuinely never wanted to propose a "plan" to give an iPod to every student in Michigan, it was probably a bad idea to have Rep. Gillard address a press conference, holding an iPod and say "we want to put one of these in the hands of every student in Michigan".  YIKES!

But that's not all.  Dillon's short comings have been far greater than just the iPod dealing.  The plan of hiking utility taxes while simultaneously assaulting PA 141, did nothing short of blow up right in his face.  Other plans coming from his caucus such as raising the income tax and hiking tipping fees by 3,500% are likely to meet the same fate.  But you have to give him higher grades than the governor, because hey, at least he's trying.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop: A-

To me, nobody has impressed like Mike Bishop has when it comes to dealing with the budget mess in Lansing.  The only reason he drops to an A- is because he allowed the Senate to go on spring break (even though it probably helped, see MIRS 4/13/07).  Going on spring break wasn't a huge deal, but at the same time Bishop's been in the game long enough to know that he and his caucus would be taking some shots for it in the media.  But despite this, Bishop has more than enough feathers to put in his cap.

First, he has had every reason so fail.  This is his first time in this position, his Republicans are now out-numbered in Lansing and he was only elected to his post by a very narrow margin in the caucus.  But despite these challenges, Bishop was able to negotiate with the governor and in the 1st round score a victory as was almost unanimously agreed by the captiol press corp (see Off the Record, 3/23/07).  Bishop also was the only leader in the budget debate to both say and ACT with urgency in fixing the budget crisis.  Until this week, he was the only person who was able to get a balanced budget plan through a chamber of the legislature without calling for a major tax hike.  Seemingly everything he has done up until this point is realistic and makes sense.  Bishop's off to a great start, but we'll see how well he closes it out.