* Find ways of using state resources to assist private schools

    * Make it more difficult for public schools to maintain financial solvency

    * Support legislation that would weaken affirmative action

    * Support so-called right to work legislation to weaken Unions

    * Place barriers before Unions regarding political donations

    * Privatize more state government functions and eliminate other functions

    * Advocate denial of benefits for same sex partners if they are public sector workers

    * Placement of Right wing social issues in the school curriculum, such as creationism, in order to get public schools to start teaching some religious themes.

    * Support another voucher campaign initiated from a GOP controlled legislature, using the Detroit school crisis as a pretext

    * Cut taxes in such a way as to primarily benefit the highest income strata

    * Cut programs because tax cuts reduced revenues

    * Reduce wages and benefits for public employees

    * Reduce wages and benefits for school teachers and non-instructional staff

    * Big cuts to revenue sharing to cities or tie it to municipal privatization schemes
    * Efforts to strip Detroit of its assets, including the Detroit Water and
      Sewerage Department

    * Take over and/or restructure the Detroit schools to undermine the authority of Detroit voters. At the time of the takeover of the Detroit schools, DeVos called it a "failed' district, when in fact the Detroit student scores were in the mid-range of districts across the state and it had a $97 million surplus. It was the takeover that looted and damaged the district.

    * Start campaigning for President

Michigan is facing the election of a candidate to the governorship that has run a business that has been repeatedly characterized as fraudulent and deceptive, whose business skills are called successful when 99% of its sales make little or no income.

He will not detail his plans or commitments as governor. Therefore we can only look at his twenty year history, look at his family network, where he donates his money, his associations and his public statements over the years.

Voters that have had misgivings about the current Governor could create a repeat of the 1990 election, when Jim Blanchard alienated Detroit leaders and voters, reducing voter turnout. That made the difference that elected John Engler, whose 12 year reign did more to hurt Detroit than any shortcomings of any of his opponents. Dick DeVos is more extreme, more determined and less compromising than John Engler. Neither Detroit leaders nor voters should be ambivalent about what needs to be done.