Blanchard on Milliken: Former Michigan Governor was ‘Last of the Moderate Republicans’
With the current era of partisan government so bitterly divisive, some officials are citing Michigan’s longest-serving governor, who died last week, as an example of what politics should be.
Michigan State Capitol building.
Former Michigan Gov. William Milliken died last week at the age of 97.
Milliken called himself a moderate Republican.
But those who knew him say Milliken felt cementing a prosperous future for the state meant working hand-in-hand with officials in the Democratic bastion of Detroit.
Milliken’s successor was a Democrat, former Gov. Jim Blanchard.
He tells WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter party politics never stood in the way of Milliken trying to help Michigan, Detroit or even a fellow government official.
