1987 NGA Annual Meeting
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CR318510 0 COX/sjg 1 1 NATIONAL GOVERNORS' ASSOCIATION 2 79TH ANNUAL MEETING 3 4 Bay Room Grand Traverse Resort Traverse City, Michigan 5 6 Sunday, July 26, 1987 7 The meeting convened at 1:15 p.m., Governor Bill 8 Clinton, chairman, presiding. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 I 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 CR31851.0 COX/sjg 1 1 NATIONAL GOVERNORS' ASSOCIATION 2 79TH ANNUAL MEETING 3 4 Bay Room Grand Traverse Resort Traverse City, Michigan 5 6 Sunday, July 26, 1987 7 The meeting convened at 1:15 p.m., Governor Bill 8 Clinton, chairman, presiding. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 31851. 0 cox 2 1 PRO C E E DIN G S 2 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: Ladies and gentlemen, I now 3 call to order the 79th annual meeting of the National 4 Governors Association. I need a motion now from my vice 5 chair, Governor Sununu, for the adoption of the rules of 6 procedure. 7 GOVERNOR SUNUNU: Chairman, I move that adoption. 8 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: Is there a second? 9 GOVERNOR DI PRETE: Second. 10 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: Second from Governor DiPrete. 11 All in favor? 12 (Chorus of ayes.) 13 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: Opposed? 14 (No response.) 15 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: We can now begin. 16 I would like to announce at this time that any 17 governor intending to offer a motion of suspension of the 18 rules for the purpose of introducing a policy statement for 19 consideration at Tuesday'S plenary session must do so in 20 writing by close of business tomorrow. If governors have 21 substantial amendments it would be appreciated if they were 22 also made in writing. Please give copies of all suspensions 23 and all amendments to Jim Martin of our staff. 24 Before we begin our formal business, ladies and 25 gentlemen, I would like to ask, on behalf of all of the ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 31851.0 cox 3 1 governors, if we could observe a brief moment of silence in 2 memory of the distinguished Secretary of Commerce, 3 Mr. Baldridge, who had an unfortunate accident and passed 4 away yesterday. If we could just bow our heads for a moment 5 of silence. 6 (Moment of silence.) 7 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: Thank you very much. 8 At this time I would like to announce the members 9 of the nominating committee for next year's executive 10 committee. They are Governor Moore, chairman; Governors 11 Harris, Bryan, Martin and Branstad. 12 Now I would like to calIon our distinguished 13 host, Governor Blanchard, to formally welcome us to the state 14 of Michigan. 15 Governor Blanchard. 16 (Applause.) 17 GOVERNOR BLANCHARD: Thank you very much, Governor 18 Clinton. Welcome to all of you, one and all. 19 Before I give you the official welcome, I would 20 like to indicate that another tragedy occurred yesterday here 21 when one of Michigan's finest, a state trooper of 20 years, 22 was killed right in Traverse City in a hit and run accident. 23 His name is James Boland. He leaves behind a family and I 24 would like to recommend a moment of silence in his memory and 25 sympathy and love for the family of James Boland. ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 31851.0 cox 4 1 (Moment of silence.) 2 GOVERNOR BLANCHARD: Now I hope from this point 3 forward, on a more optimistic note and productive note, let 4 me welcome you all to the great state of Michigan. 5 Governors, their families, distinguished guests, those who 6 will be testifying and advising us on policies, friends from 7 Washington, California, Maine, friends of the news corps and 8 those who are part of the political community of America. We 9 are delighted you are here. 10 You can see, without my explanation, why we are 11 the Great Lakes state. You may not know, however, that the 12 Great Lakes represent 95 percent of the surface fresh water 13 of America. 20 percent of the surface fresh water on the 14 face of the earth. You have known of Michigan as a great 15 manufacturing state and a state with great urban centers, but 16 you probably hadn't seen this side until this weekend. 17 But there are other sides to our state as well. 18 It's a major agricultural state. It is a citadel of thriving 19 small businesses. We have more state-owned forest land than 20 any state in the nation, and more shoreline than any state in 21 the nation, except Alaska. We have great universities, great 22 institutions which serve people, and that means that we have 23 all the ingredients that you have in your states, as well. 24 The potential as well as the problems, great resources and 25 ideas and systems in leadership, but also challenges, whether ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 31851. 0 cox 5 1 it's the black child in Detroit who grows up without hope or 2 opportunity through no fault of his or her own, or the 3 challenges of education, or the laid off auto worker in 4 Flint, or the working mother in Grand Rapids, or the 5 struggling farmer in mid-Michigan or the miner in Marquette. 6 Like you, we have many faces, we have many faces. 7 But we have the resources if we work together, and 8 if we provide the kind of leadership that I am proud to say 9 the nation's 50 governors have done. Governors of both 10 parties who believe that government can be a force for good, 11 that we can innovate, that we can solve problems, that we can 12 deal with the challenges without becoming obsessed with 13 ideology. In that spirit, in that spirit, we will go forward 14 in these next few days, I am sure, to have a productive 15 session. In the meantime, I would like to give you again a 16 very special Michigan welcome. We hope you will enjoy your 17 stay and we hope you will come back real soon. Thank you. 18 (Applause. ) 19 CHAIRMAN CLINTON: Thank you very much, Governor 20 Blanchard. In this year in which you have given me the 21 opportunity to serve as chairman of the National Governors 22 Association, I have asked all of you to work with me on 23 determining how we could do better to make America work. 24 Today we deal with one-half of the great project we have 25 undertaken together, the task force on jobs, growth and ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 31851.0 cox 6 1 competitiveness, cochaired by Governors Dukakis, Baliles and 2 Branstad. The purpose of this work, which is embodied in 3 their report, which you have before you, was to develop 1 4 strategies and actions that state government can implement to 5 make our country more productive in the new international 6 economy, and especially to implement strategies in the 7 depressed areas of our country, which will generate more jobs 8 and more rapid economic transformation. 9 The task force talked with farmers in Iowa, 10 production workers in Ohio, scientists in New Jersey, 11 researched and analyzed the problems and the potential 12 solutions. This report indicates that there is a new 13 economic reality, with an optimism that the governors and 14 state government are doing much and can do more to lead our 15 people and our economy to new heights in the 1990s. 16 I released this report yesterday, along with 17 Governors Sununu, Governor Baliles and Governor Castle 18 speaking on behalf of the task forces, both the jobs, growth 19 and competitiveness report, and the barriers report. I am 20 pleased to see that it received prominent coverage in many of 21 the major papers in our country today. I have to tell you 22 that even though we don't have some of the interesting angles 23 of that important event, I think that what we are doing here 24 is probably more important to the future of this country than 25 what is going on in the Iran/Contra hearings. I hope all of ACE-FEDERAL REPORTERS, INC. 202-347-3700 Nationwide Coverage 800-336-6646 31851.0 cox 7 1 you believe that, too. 2 We have today, to open our conference, a 3 distinguished American who believed that government and 4 business and labor could work together before it was popular 5 to believe it, who believed that America could compete and 6 win again, before it was evident to everyone else, and I want 7 to ask his governor, Governor Blanchard, to come back to the 8 platform to formally introduce to you the chairman of the 9 Chrysler Corporation, Lee Iacocca. Governor Blanchard. 10 GOVERNOR BLANCHARD: Thank you very much, Governor 11 Clinton. 12 We governors know that leadership counts. We see 13 it in state capitals, we see it in Washington, we see it in 14 the private sector, business, labor, universities, all around 15 our country. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the 16 life story of the man I am about to introduce.