Dick DeVos: the choice for business
by Larry Meyer
MRA Chairman and CEO

The election may be six months away, and the ads for the governor’s race have not yet taken over the airways, but for the retail industry it’s not too early to announce our firm support of Dick DeVos in his bid for the state’s top office.

At the recent MRA Board of Directors meeting, we reached consensus on the decision to officially endorse Mr. DeVos.

I couldn’t be more pleased. The reasons are not partisan; they’re more about looking at the current administration’s record on issues affecting our industry and listening to DeVos’s approach to running the state.

First, DeVos wrote me a letter earlier this spring asking about the retail industry’s concerns and the issues we face. In response to his outreach, we organized a meeting with him for our Association leadership and retailers of all types who have shown interest in political issues.

In my experience, it was the most diverse group of retailers to meet for such a purpose. The attendees represented most areas of the state, several different retail categories and both major and small independent stores.

We listened to his comments, engaged him in conversation and got a sense of his approach to the problems plaguing our state. And for a group with that kind of diversity to feel that good about a candidate was remarkable.

What may have impressed them was the underlying concern he showed about the poor economic situation that amounts to what some are calling a “single-state recession.”

It’s not that the current administration isn’t aware of the problems or is completely ignoring them. But on issues of concern to retailers, we have seen little progress in the past three years and, frankly, little attempt to build a working relationship.

We aren’t a partisan organization and this wasn’t a partisan decision. You may recall that we endorsed Jim Blanchard over John Engler in 1990. In fact, MRA has had a good working relationship with every administration, both Democratic and Republican, since I’ve been here—until this one.

The Granholm administration has chosen to focus on the manufacturing industry, the labor unions and bringing high-tech firms to the state—all with good reason, given the situation in Michigan. But that focus should not be to the exclusion of other important industries such as retail, which employs one in five people in our state.

As part of our endorsement decision process, we invited Governor Granholm to speak with us as well, but scheduling conflicts prevented it. Of course, scheduling a meeting with a busy, on-the-job governor is a greater challenge than with a campaigning challenger.

But her team might have tried harder—offering other possible dates, for example—if they saw our industry as important and relevant. It’s all a matter of choices.

We understand manufacturing is important in Michigan, but we’re here to look after the interests of the retail industry, and there’s been a decided lack of attention from this administration.

In a future column I’ll address some of the specific issues that lie behind our endorsement. For now, I’ll leave it at my impression, based on years of working with and within government.

Mr. DeVos, as a successful businessman, appears to recognize the importance of retail and of all businesses, large and small, to Michigan’s economy. It’s good to know we have a real choice this November.