The Newsletter of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy www.mackinac.org FALL 2010 Center Upends State Incentive for Suspicious Film Studio Deal n her 2010 State of the State address last February, She could not have known that four months later, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm dramatically a firestorm fueled by Mackinac Center findings would I listed the new business endeavors in the lead to an attorney general investigation, a felony state she saw as instrumental to the charge, a lawsuit, the resignation of a key Lansing state’s economic recovery. Her speech staffer and possibly the loss of a state senate bid. read like an economic victory lap for the Mackinac Center Fiscal Policy Director Michael administration. D. LaFaive and Communications Specialist Kathy Many of the new projects highlighted had Hoekstra were tipped off that the Hangar42, being been offered generous state tax breaks from refurbished at a former Lear plant in Walker, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Mich., may not have been worth the $45 million and Michigan Film Office. Among other projects, it reportedly sold for. Digging into the deal’s inner Granholm referenced “Hangar42,” a new film studio in workings, they learned that the building had sat Kent County. In doing so, she drew Mackinac Center on the market for months while listed for under analysts’ attention to a large state incentive deal. see “Film Studio” Page 6 Exploiting a Window of Opportunity t’s not every day that a signature idea of a think tank becomes the title of a best-selling novel. So whenI we got wind earlier this year that radio and television talk show host Glenn Beck was working on a political thriller with the Overton Window as its main plot element, we knew we had a unique window of opportunity. Contents The Overton Window of Political Possibility 2 President’s Message is a theory of change developed in the 1990s by 3 Granholm Role in Day Care the Mackinac Center’s late vice president, Joseph Unionization Exposed Overton. The “window” represents the narrow “The theory explains how think tanks like 3 Analyst Debunks MSU range of policy options acceptable to policymakers ours promote ideas that shape the environment Consolidation Study at any point in time. Contending ideas, Overton in which lawmakers act,” Lehman would 4 MichCapCon: Breaking and observed, shift the window toward, or away from, explain. “Today’s unacceptable ideas become Making News liberty. His point was to show how think tanks can acceptable. Yesterday’s acceptable policies become 7 Media Impact influence public policy. unacceptable. You change ideas to shift the 7 Debate Workshop After Overton died, Mackinac Center Overton Window of Political Possibility. Shift the Essay Winners colleagues renamed his theory “The Overton window, and you change policy.” 8 Passion and Mettle Window.” Joe Lehman, then-executive vice The fact that a media giant’s best-selling novel 8 Freedom’s ‘Hometown president of the Mackinac Center and a long-time would bear the title “The Overton Window” Connection’! colleague and friend of Overton’s, taught and seemed the very embodiment of Overton’s theory 10 Free Market Fundamentals presented the theory to hundreds of participants on the power of ideas. In the book, a concept 11 Free-Market Library of the Center’s Leadership Conferences and at birthed at “a think tank in the Midwest,” as Beck’s 12 Education Transparency workshops around the country. see “Window of Opportunity" Page 9 “GREAT segment. One of the most intelligent conversations I’ve heard on talk radio.” Genevieve Wood, broadcaster, media commentator and vice president of Leadership for America Operations at the Heritage Foundation, regarding Mackinac Center President Joe Lehman’s discussion of the Overton Window on the Glenn Beck Program. www.mackinac.org Fall 2010 1 Mackinac Center IMPACT President’S Message Board of Directors D. Joseph Olson, Chairman Phil F. Jenkins Retired Senior Vice President Chairman, Sweepster Inc. The Real Work Is After the Election and General Counsel, R. Douglas Kinnan Amerisure Companies Senior Vice President and CFO, eople sometimes ask if the Mackinac Center gets busier Joseph G. Lehman, President Amerisure Insurance Mackinac Center for Public Policy Edward C. Levy Jr. around election time. My answer is: “Not really. The real Joseph J. Fitzsimmons President, Edw. C. Levy Co. P Retired President, Rodney M. Lockwood Jr. University Microfilms work is keeping the rascals accountable after they get elected.” President, Lockwood The Mackinac Center has two main functions. First, Dulce M. Fuller Construction Company, Inc. Owner, Woodward and Maple Joseph P. Maguire we analyze public policy and recommend new policies Hon. Paul V. Gadola President, Retired U.S. District Court Judge Wolverine Development consistent with free-market principles. We do this because Corporation Kent B. Herrick Joseph G. overwhelming evidence indicates such policies are the President and CEO, Thermogy Richard D. McLellan Attorney, McLellan Law Offices Lehman Richard G. Haworth President most likely to foster a free, virtuous and prosperous society. Chairman Emeritus, Lawrence W. Reed Haworth, Inc. President Emeritus, Second, we get the word out. We do this because the Mackinac Center for Public Policy world’s best studies and reports would be worthless sitting on a shelf col- Board of Scholars lecting dust. We educate and inform as many of the most influential people Dr. Donald Alexander Dr. Dale Matcheck we can, including lawmakers, journalists and tens of thousands of residents Western Michigan University Northwood University who are the most civically engaged and interested in free-market ideas. Dr. William Allen Dr. Paul McCracken Michigan State University University of Michigan (ret.) Both functions fill gaping voids. We can’t rely on our public universi- Dr. Thomas Bertonneau Charles Meiser Writer and Independent Scholar ties or government itself to recommend much in the way of limiting gov- Lake Superior Dr. Brad Birzer State University (ret.) ernment’s size and power, so we do it. Since the legacy news media has Hillsdale College Glenn Moots Dr. Peter Boettke Northwood University a proclivity to promote policy ideas that require ever more government, George Mason University Dr. George Nastas III we have essentially become our own media outlet by publishing jour- Dr. Theodore Bolema Marketing Consultants Anderson Economic Group Dr. John Pafford nals, newspapers and video reports; conducting seminars for students, Dr. Stephen Colarelli Northwood University teachers and policymakers; and creating unique databases of public Central Michigan University Dr. Mark Perry Andrew Coulson University of Michigan - Flint documents, including legislative voting records, school spending, school Cato Institute Gregory Rehmke Robert Crowner Economic Thinking/ performance data and public employee union contracts. Eastern Michigan University (ret.) E Pluribus Unum Films We even find real-life stories that illustrate the government failures Dr. Richard Cutler Dr. Steve Safranek University of Michigan (ret.) Ave Maria School of Law our studies predict, just like the investigative reporters that newspapers Dr. Jefferson Edgens Louis Schimmel Jr. Mackinac Center for Public Policy once had on staff. Morehead State University Dr. David Felbeck Dr. Howard Schwartz There is no shortage of candidates’ rhetorical fealty to free-market University of Michigan (ret.) Oakland University Dr. Burton Folsom James Sheehan principles before elections, but there is a scarcity of free-market action Hillsdale College Deutsche Bank Securities after elections. Even liberal President Barack Obama sold his massive Dr. Wayland Gardner Rev. Robert Sirico Western Michigan University (ret.) Acton Institute for the takeover of health care by claiming it would reduce health costs and Study of Religion and Liberty John Grether Northwood University Dr. Bradley Smith not force anyone to leave a health plan they liked. Neither claim is true. Capital University Law School Dr. Michael Heberling Conservatives are likewise guilty of overpromising and under-delivering Baker College Dr. John Taylor Grand Valley State University when they campaign as free-marketers but then won’t restrain spending Dr. Ormand Hook Mecosta-Osceola Intermediate Dr. Richard K. Vedder or stand up to unions and other big-government promoters. School District Ohio University Robert Hunter Prof. Harry Veryser Jr. Keeping promises isn’t automatic for most lawmakers. They need to Mackinac Center for Public Policy University of Detroit Mercy be kept in line by their constituents — and that’s where the Mackinac Prof. Harry Hutchison John Walter Jr. Mason School of Law Dow Corning Corporation (ret.) Center’s information and educational outreach comes in. Dr. David Janda Dr. William Wilson Institute for Preventative Economic Consultant One legislator complained that when we published his voting record along- Sports Medicine Mike Winther side our analysis of the policy he supported, constituents demanded he explain Annette Kirk Institute for Principle Studies Russell Kirk Center for Dr. Gary Wolfram his vote. I replied that we were doing him a favor – how else would he have the Cultural Renewal Hillsdale College David Littmann opportunity to explain if no one told the folks back home how he voted? Mackinac Center for Public Policy A lawmaker’s chief of staff lamented that we could cost his boss re- election by publishing his voting record. I replied that getting his boss re-elected wasn’t our job, but it was our job to provide the free-market perspective along with a record of legislative actions. When I ran into two Republican legislators recently, I asked what they liked best about the Mackinac Center. They told me we “keep them hon- est” and provide “accountability.” One added that sometimes Republicans don’t even introduce “bad bills,” because they know the Mackinac Center will “come down on them.” Of course, it isn’t so much the Mackinac Center who “comes down on them,” it’s engaged residents armed with our policy research, Michigan- Votes.org voting records and Michigan Capitol Confidential news and 140 West Main Street, P.O.