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Richard Helppie
Hello. Welcome to The Common Bridge. This is your host, Rich Helppie, with our guest today, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Michigan, Mr. Garlin Gilchrist. The lieutenant governor has announced his candidacy for the governorship of the great state of Michigan. Now I know many people in my audience are indeed voters and residents of the state of Michigan, but Michigan - whether you are a national listener or one of our international audience - is very, very pivotal. Michigan has always been a leader in industry. Michigan's been a leader in labor; the birthplace and the home of the United Auto Workers. Michigan sits on an international border with our very large trading partner, Canada, and most of the trade goes through three Michigan ports. Michigan has been a swing state with national implications. And so today with us from the city of Detroit, our lieutenant governor, Mr. Garlin Gilchrist. Lieutenant Governor, welcome to The Common Bridge.
Garlin Gilchrist
Thank you for having me, Rich. I'm really glad to be with you and your listeners.
Richard Helppie
First of all, since this is Monday, the 16th, that we're recording this, Happy Father's Day. I hope that you enjoyed a great Father's Day.
Garlin Gilchrist
I did. My oldest daughter is a bit of an artist and so she actually painted a family portrait, which absolutely melted me when she gave it to me that morning. And her and the kids made me a sandwich for breakfast. It was great. (Rich Helppie: That's a wonderful time.) Happy Father's Day to you too, Rich.
Richard Helppie
Thank you very much, yes, and I got to see the kids and the grandkids, and the dog gave me a really nice mug too, which I am really happy with that. [Laughter.] Lieutenant Governor, you bring to the governorship and to the leadership some really excellent, unique credentials. I looked you up a little bit. You and I have never met, but you have degrees from the University of Michigan in engineering, computer sciences. You know how to get stuff done. You work for Microsoft. You've done a couple of company launches. What the heck are you doing in politics with a background like that?
Garlin Gilchrist
Well, Rich, I think that, look, being an engineer, you learn to be a problem solver. You learn to understand systems, to fix systems that are broken, to build solutions to the problems that are presented that you seek out. And frankly, I think the public sector, the government, is a system that needs to work for people. Engineers learn how to make systems work for people to be effective and to reach our goals that we set and that we share. So it's interesting, I certainly didn't start my career believing that I would be in the public sector at all, let alone being an elected official serving alongside Governor Gretchen Whitmer. But it's really been a pride, because I've been able to work with every community in Michigan. I've been to all 83 counties in Michigan three or more times, listening to people, understanding what's important to them and the problems that they see and they want solved. And so I think when you have a problem, you get an engineer to solve it, engineer to fix it, or to build something alongside you, and so that is really the way I see the world, which is unique. I mean, there's nobody else in the country that has my background, the state elected official. I think it gives me a perspective to let Michiganders know that I can get things done the way that a few other people can.
Richard Helppie
I think that states why you want to be the governor of the state, that things could be working a lot better, and Michigan does have some great assets. What do you see as the best assets that Michigan has and how would you make use of these to realize a better future for those of us here in the Wolverine state?
Garlin Gilchrist
I want to be the governor of Michigan because I want everyone to feel, know and experience this being the best place to have an idea, a place where people can stay here and succeed and see a path for their future. And if you're not yet in Michigan, you can come here and you can grow, you can make something that matters going forward. We have tremendous assets, our people being first amongst them. We have incredibly talented and diverse people from all different sectors and backgrounds and experiences who have always been able to find a way to do things that matter in the world. We have the most engineering talent in Southeast Michigan, for example, of any place else in the country. We have builders, we have thinkers, we have artists. Our creative economy is growing. I'm really proud of that. Michigan also is blessed to steward some of the most amazing natural resources on the planet. Twenty one percent of the fresh water on the world touches the state of Michigan, and we have a great responsibility and opportunity with that stewardship to make sure that we can leverage, not only its beauty, but also its potential, building on the fact that we have the second most diverse agricultural economy in the country, and it's the second biggest sector of our economy here in the state of Michigan. We need to make sure we continue to be excellent and pursue new opportunities in agricultural technology, precision agriculture, just to grow that. And so I just feel like we have lots of assets in Michigan, all across both peninsulas and across all 83 of our counties. As governor, my job is to understand people in all those communities and understand what they want to see, what they want to build, who they want to be, and then make sure this the best way we should do it.
Richard Helppie
What are the top few priorities that the next governor absolutely needs to concentrate on?
Garlin Gilchrist
Grounded in those conversations I have with Michiganders, it's been enlightening how consistent they've been. Again, whether it's in a small community with just a few people or in a bigger city with hundreds and hundreds of people, I hear about issues like housing, healthcare - particularly mental health services and their availability - education, our outcomes for our kids, the future of our economy. What is a person's place in it today and where is it going tomorrow? And where does Michigan and Michiganders fit in that economy? During my time as lieutenant governor, I've worked to make progress on solving the challenges that exist in all of these areas. I led the investment - after hearing from Michiganders about a lack of affordable and available housing in different communities - actually led the investment in our state's Community Development Fund. It's a housing trust fund that we've had in Michigan for decades, but it never had money in it, except for a brief blip in 2011-2012, never had money in it. After hearing about this time and time again and place after place, I hope to drive a $250 million initial investment in that fund. Now we invest $50 million in an ongoing way every single year that now has brought tens of thousands of new housing units online, just in the last four years, at a rate that we've never seen new homes built and brought online in the history of our state. That's again, seeing a problem, hearing about it, and then jumping in, finding a tool on the shelf and solving it. Because nothing frustrates an engineer more than a tool that's effective but that is not being utilized. I dove in there to get that done, and I've done that on issues like housing, on healthcare, particularly mental health services. I worked with Senator Debbie Stabenow actually, in her last year in office, to stand up something called the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic Program, CCBHC. I was one of her crowning achievements as a United States Senator, to get this mental health services pipeline on online. And for me to bring it to Michigan meant that now we have providers that have gone through the certification process, have increased their capacity as much as 40% to serve more patients, more children and more adults who need someone to talk with and to support them at their time of need, even before they get to crisis. It serves them regardless of their ability to pay, regardless whether or not they have insurance. It just meets Michiganders where they are. We've opened up 40 of these clinics across the state of Michigan in the last two years. This is a game changer for where people have before not been able to get the help they needed, and instead were coming in contact with the justice system or self-medicating through addiction or just struggling. But we want Michiganders to succeed, not struggle, and this is one of the help supports to do it.
Richard Helppie
We've had Kevin Fisher of NAMI on the show talking about mental health, Judge Milton Mack on a couple of times talking about mental health, and Dr Hong from the University of Michigan. It's really interesting, everybody sees the problem the same way, and we often see the solution looking very similar, yet we're frustrated by the inaction that hasn't gotten us a solution so it's good to hear about these new 40 clinics. Lieutenant Governor, when you think about next year when Michiganders go to the polls to elect a new governor—our current governor being term limited out - there will be children born in 2026, they'll graduate high school in 2044. What type of future should they expect? And what should our priorities be today for that child?
Garlin Gilchrist
First of all, that's definitely something that makes me feel old. [Laughter.] [inaudible] in high school in 2024. I have three children: my baby girl is a rising first grader, my 11 year old twins are rising seventh graders. All of my children attend Detroit public schools. I share that because this question of the future and the present that we're building for our children is not a theoretical exercise for me as a parent. This is very current, clear, present, urgent, and so I think about this literally all the day as a father, let alone as lieutenant governor of Michigan. What I want those children and their families to expect is that the state of Michigan will present them with a set of options and opportunities. We cannot predict what a child will be interested in. We cannot predict what they will ultimately pursue. What we can do is give them a really strong foundation, starting with childcare that is available and affordable and flexible and meets their their parents' needs, that there are amazing childcare professionals available to them so they can be positioned to be early readers. They can know that there are other adults in their life, in their community that love and support them and care for them, that lay this foundation for them to enter into into pre-K universally across the state of Michigan. Regardless what community you live in and regardless your income status, you can go and get a very enriching pre-K experience. Going into school, you'll be met and have education professionals in front of you who care about you and support you, who know what you need to take your next step along your journey. I mean, this is about making sure we're laying that foundation. Those kids can also expect a future where they are exposed to the many things that Michigan has to offer and that the economy has to offer going forward. I became an engineer in part because my grandma bought me a computer when I was five and because I was exposed to engineering when I was in the seventh grade. We want to create these exposure experiences for young people, everything that is Michigan. As a kid, I never went to a state park, for example. But now we have a program called Nature Awaits that takes every fourth grader to state parks for free during their fourth grade year in school. As a kid, I never saw different parts of Michigan. Well, this program also will help to introduce kids to parts of Michigan I never saw, because as a kid in Detroit and in the suburbs, I'd never been to West Michigan. I'd never seen Lake Michigan. But we can expose young people to that so they can get a sense of the fullness of Michigan, this amazing, big, beautiful state that's the biggest state east of Mississippi River. They can expect that when they come of age, as they think about what they want to do and what they want to pursue, that they'll see Michigan as the best place to pursue it. Michigan can be the potential answer to the question of, what do I want to do and where do I want to go? They'll be to go to one of our amazing universities that we're continuing to support. They'll be able to see a path to start a business or to work at an amazing Michigan company or company with a presence in Michigan, regardless of industry so they don't have to be confronted with the choice that I had in 2005 when I graduated from University of Michigan with two degrees in engineering. Degrees in engineering and wanted to be a software developer and felt like I needed to go west to do that. Now they'll see growing startup and technology driven economies, a creative economy that supports artists, and all those adjacent to the creative economy doing amazing things, a growing agricultural sector that sees diversifying crops and sees that agricultural technology - this intersection of Ag and tech - that we can continue to lead on as a state of Michigan. The clean energy economy, whether it's in our water, in our resource management, to how we create the clean energy generation and transmission jobs of the present and future that we can build on the success we've had as the number one state for clean energy sector job growth in the country for the last three years. They can see a path for those things in the state of Michigan.
Richard Helppie
How do we get them excited about staying here? We've talked to many people around the state of Michigan, we keep hearing about the out migration, that young people are going to Chicago and Boston. We hear about retirees going to Florida. Have we done everything we can with bringing good immigrant populations in? How do we get that excitement where people want to be here?
Garlin Gilchrist
People are excited about opportunity. People go where they feel like opportunity is the next step they want to take, that it's possible there. Look, I left the state of Michigan for nine years after I graduated from college, and I felt terrible, I felt guilty, I felt ashamed, because this is the place that made me who I am, and I felt like I was leaving to be who I wanted to be. That does not need to be true. We also need to, therefore, resource those opportunities. That is why I created things like the Michigan Innovation Fund for people who wanted to be startup entrepreneurs like I was. My idea for my first business was called Detroitintern.com, it was literally a job and internship website to prevent people like me from moving to Seattle like I did. I tried to raise money for that business, 2005 and 2006, in the state of Michigan and struggled to do so. But now we have resources from the state. The state will be your partner to build an amazing technology business that can scale here in Michigan. So I think that people... we need to make sure we are making clear what the opportunities are, and that there are a wide range of them. I think maybe in these past years, people saw limited opportunities across a number of sectors. I told my mother, who was a GM retiree, that I wanted to work at a software company, not a car company, and in 2005, I didn't feel like there were enough software companies for me to do that. That doesn't have to be true going forward. We can build those things and build those sectors of the economy in different parts of our state so people know that they have options, and those options have a pathway to success and growth and opportunity. Frankly, I think having a governor who's had that experience, who was confronted with that kind of choice early in life, I can speak to what it feels like, but I also can speak to what it feels like to make the choice to build something and grow something in the state of Michigan.
Richard Helppie
I shared that as a young computer programmer. I found a great job in Texas and was reassigned back to Michigan for a six month tour in 1978 that is still going on. Never left after that. Let's talk about some of the political climate. How do you think Governor Whitmer's legacy - however you want to look at it, her term, her performance - are going to play into next year's race?
Garlin Gilchrist
With Governor Whitmer and I, we think we've laid a strong foundation for the future of the state of Michigan. We have done things like bring our per student spending and education up to the highest level ever in the history of state of Michigan, have done so with every single budget that we passed since we've been in office. That foundation is important, especially the fact that in the last few years, we actually brought equalization to how our schools are funded. The thing that people didn't think was going to be possible after Proposal A in the mid 90s really introduced this huge disparity between districts where people are pretty wealthy, and districts where people are living with or fighting persistent poverty. We actually brought that equalization in and actually added on top of that the some research backed investments in equity that says that where children are fighting poverty, we need to invest more in their education, not less, and more in their resources, not less. That's an important foundation, and now we're going to grow and build on that, and that's government. We need to build on that as far as making sure that we're accelerating the improvement of our outcomes for our young people. We can certainly talk more about that.
Richard Helppie
I do want to get into some policy areas, including education. But as we're in this looking at the political situation, President Trump brought policy change in just about every area. He's obviously a polarizing figure, but his successes and his policy headwinds and his approval ratings, where might they fit in to Michigan's choice for governor next year?
Garlin Gilchrist
I think President Trump's policy choices thus far have been incredibly destructive for the people of Michigan. The things that are on the table, these cuts to Medicaid that will kill Michiganders faster—whether it's our elders who are in elder care, like my grandma was for the last ten years of her life, whether it's the pregnant women and children who are the main people who are getting their health care services from Medicaid - these folks will get sicker and will die faster as a result of this potential custom Medicaid from this legislation being debated in the United States Senate right now. We've seen people laid off because of the calamity and chaos and the up and down of the tariff policy or lack thereof. You can't call it a policy if it's not consistent. And so I think that these have made really clear what it looks like to have chaotic, misguided, misdirected and not competent leadership at the federal level, and it amplifies the importance of having leadership with strength and integrity and competence at the state level.
Richard Helppie
Yeah, and look, Medicaid will be resolved. I actually wrote a column about this. There's no policy dispute about caring for elderly or impoverished people, but the Affordable Care Act did put in a provision that able bodied people with no dependents, earning 400% of the poverty level could be eligible for Medicaid. That's what's on the table right now. Is that a policy that, as governor, you would support? That able bodied people making 400% of the poverty rate with no dependents, they should get on Medicaid or they should be left to seek their own insurance?
Garlin Gilchrist
I want everybody to have insurance, and so Medicaid being a backstop has led to more Michiganders being insured than we've ever had, I think that's a good thing for Michiganders’ health outcomes. I think that we should continue to find ways to do it. For example, I don't know that kicking 180,000 people off in John James congressional district - that's a vote that he took - is something that's going to lead to better health outcomes for Michiganders. The questions on health care policy should be how do we make sure that people are getting healthier? How are we increasing improving health outcomes? And I don't see this bill doing anything to improve health outcomes for Michiganders or Americans.
Richard Helppie
Well, we've got a lot to talk about on healthcare, and perhaps post primary we can go into that. I've had a lot to say about that. Our financing system could not be done any worse, it's not even a system, it's methods. How about the Senate race that's going on with Gary Peters’ retirement, that should be hotly contested. Is that going to have any impact on the governor race?
Garlin Gilchrist
What it presents is an unprecedented election year in the history of the state of Michigan. We have not seen a year where we had both a governor seat and a United States Senate seat open at the same time, and so I think there will be perhaps more interest than there ever has been in this election, this gubernatorial year election. I think that we could see record voter turnout, both in the primaries, on both the Republican and Democratic side, as well as the general election. I think that's a good thing. I think more people voting is good. I want to see more people participate in this aspect of the democratic process and in the lead up to it and to be engaged afterwards. I think that we're just going to see more people and more eyes and more interests and therefore, it's going to take people who have the best understanding of the communities of Michigan to be able to be successful. That's why I think I'm positioned to do that, given my relationships I've built all over the state.
Richard Helppie
You mentioned the primaries but there's another thing creeping into our political world now, and right here in our state of Michigan; that's the rise of the Independent candidate. The No Labels group, just as an example, they didn't get a candidate to the presidential ticket, but Mike Duggan, I guess, very popular and successful mayor in the city of Detroit, running not as a Democrat and not as a Republican, but running as an Independent. Any thoughts about how that element, that Independent element, might play out when we go to the polls next year?
Garlin Gilchrist
Look, I'm focused on Michiganders in the Democratic primary, not political punditry about any Independent candidate. What I'll say is this, what Michiganders, I think, are hungry for, based on the conversations that I've had with them in the last six and a half years, is they want somebody who's focused on solutions that they can trust. Trust is an important currency, I think, in humanity, let alone in this realm, and it's something that has been at a premium, frankly, in these last several years. They want someone who they can look to, they can rely on, they can depend on, and they know is going to have their interests and not selfish interests. I think that ultimately, those should be true regardless of what party somebody is affiliated with. And for me, that's the kind of lieutenant governor I've been, and the kind of governor I'll be.
Richard Helppie
I know that speaking as one Michigan voter, I'd sure like to be going to the polls with a preference and also with the confidence that if the person I choose doesn't get there, that we have a good governor. We need good people in public service. (Garlin Gilchrist: That's right.) and I like what you're saying about disclosure. Let's get out and talk about things. Lieutenant Governor, we've talked about housing, you mentioned education, the funding and now let's get to the outcomes. Healthcare, obviously, three big items, some other things that are out there, taxation and affordability. I know there are people coming to the race saying that state income tax that could be a problem and maybe looking at the 11 states that have eliminated it. Is that a pathway toward a better Michigan? What other things for that young family that is struggling to put a life together; that they want to own a home, they want to be able to save for college, they want to be able to have a vacation and eat good food. When you're thinking about the economy in general and you're thinking about taxation and thinking about affordability, as you look forward to a potential term in office as governor, what might you be doing from that office?
Garlin Gilchrist
First off, we need to make sure that people across state of Michigan are making more money, I want people to make more money, have higher wages. I want us to be creating and growing the kinds of jobs that are positioning people for the kind of lives that they want, would be excited about, where they're not struggling and they can afford prices. We also have to make sure that these prices are... doing everything we can at the state level, at least, to make sure people can handle this inflation. I am concerned potentially about some of the more medium term effects of this kind of inflation, back and forth all over the place, that we've seen, and what that'll mean for prices as the year goes on. We're going to be watching that, of course, very closely, but I think that more money in people's pocket is what they want. And so how can we make sure that the kinds of jobs that are going to put more money in people's pockets are flowing to the state of Michigan? The kinds of industries where those jobs are going to be prevalent and growing that; that Michigan is the best place to grow those industries. It's going to be interesting, I mean, important, for us to make the things that matter going forward. I also think that we have to make sure that everybody is chipping in to invest in Michigan's future, and so that means that we all have a role to play in a fair share. Pay to make sure Michigan can be its best, that our schools can be our strongest, that our infrastructure can be as solid as possible, and that, again, we are creating the space and opportunity for Michigan's growth to go in all the directions where Michiganders have interests. That's going to be really important.
Richard Helppie
This is a great place to be, a great place for business. The late L. Brook Patterson and Oakland County Executive, at one point said, what are the top ten industries in the world? Who are the top ten companies in every industry? They went and paid a visit and said, you need to have a presence in Oakland County. Some places started with two and three, and now they employ hundreds and perhaps thousands. I think bringing the story of what's available here can work with the right leadership so I applaud the direction that you're heading there. Nationally, we've had some interesting events. We've had immigration we've had... what? I don't know how you want to characterize it, but let's just call it... situations in California, sanctuary cities, sanctuary states. How's Michigan different from California? We haven't seemed to have any measure of the same level of upset and social distress.
Garlin Gilchrist
Michigan's different than California a lot of ways. But look, one of the things that I am proud of Michiganders, we've always been a state of people who have very clear values and people who are willing to communicate those values. What we saw this past weekend was people demonstrate peacefully across the state of Michigan. And we saw - I think there were like 70 events in different communities across Michigan in both peninsulas - folks spoke out against what they felt was important, and they articulated their values. I think that this was a demonstration of using people's first amendment rights and then not having those rights trampled upon by a president or anybody else. So I'm proud of how Michiganders participate in our democracy and our democratic processes and live out our values. I think that that's not something, frankly, that we should ever be afraid of; people exercising their first amendment rights peacefully.
Richard Helppie
You have three daughters. (Garlin Gilchrist: I've got two daughters and one son.) Two daughters and a son, excuse me, and I've raised daughters. When my oldest sister was in high school, she was a great athlete, but there wasn't a girls swimming team, there wasn't a girls softball team, there were no girl's track teams, et cetera. Ten years later, when my youngest sister graduated high school, there was a girls tennis team, girls track team, I don't know if they had a softball team yet. She was also a good athlete, but just two examples here. Title IX was designed to provide opportunity for women and girls in education and equality. Title IX was modified by the Biden administration, and has since been reverted back under the Trump administration. How should we be thinking about that at the state level vis a vis Title IX?
Garlin Gilchrist
You mentioned my girls. They actually just had their first dance recitals this weekend the day before Father's Day. It was a great Father's Day present to see my girls perform alongside these amazing girls and young women who are participating in that. Look, I am always going to be in support of providing opportunity for people to get exposed to amazing life experiences as children. I played team sports as a kid, I was a basketball player growing up - I'm six-eight standing tall from Michigan - but the lessons that I learned in team sports were invaluable. I think about them every day, like the accountability that comes with being a teammate, understanding how to be a good winner and a good loser, understanding what it means to take care of your responsibilities and play your role on a team. I think that girls and young women should have full access to that and be able to have it fairly. I believe that there's been tremendous progress made because of Title IX, my wife was an athlete, playing volleyball and basketball and things like that. So I don't think anyone who's participated in team sports can say that they didn't get anything good out of it. I think our society is better because of that participation and understanding teamwork. How to work together is, I think, an essential thing.
Richard Helppie
Again, the assault on Title IX has been that it said anybody that declares themselves a female can get all those rights and into those protected spaces. Is that a state level issue, or is that for the feds?
Garlin Gilchrist
I think where we've seen this handled the best is at the local level, and those districts have handled it appropriately in Michigan. I think that I would expect that to continue.
Richard Helppie
We have a proud history of labor relationships in the state. There have been some amazing lifestyle support for unionization. I grew up in a blue collar area. I saw what could happen when people had good paying jobs, jobs with healthcare and good retirement. We also find ourselves, as a state, competing with 49 other states and with places around the world. When you look at that balance, there is one between strict union requirements like card check on one side, and right to work on the other. What are your thoughts about that as a problem solver, business person and potential next governor of the state of Michigan?
Garlin Gilchrist
What I've seen is that union labor in Michigan has been a model of excellence for generations. Certainly my family members, who are members of different unions, can attest to that, and build some of the most amazing things this country has ever built. We should be proud of that, in Michigan, people stood up and exercised their their first amendment rights to be able to declare that they should be respected and protected at work. That is an unambiguously good thing for not only them as individuals and for our communities, but also for those businesses and companies that know they have a high quality workforce that is productive and is excited and is focused on getting good things done and creating value. These businesses and unions work together to create value. These are relationships that are really important. I think they should continue to build on that history and be inspired by it going forward. I think we've seen labor willing to be at the table and businesses at the table; when they make deals that work for one another I think that's a good thing. I think too, that here in Michigan, we want to make sure that people have choices. People do have choices and you've seen different companies work with their employees in different kinds of ways, and all that flexibility is available to you in Michigan to do whatever you need to do to make it work. We just want to make sure that our people in Michigan are respected and protected at the workplace, so whatever method folks chose to pursue that is one that we're good with.
Richard Helppie
As we move toward our close here, any other policy areas that we haven't covered that you'd like the listeners, readers and the viewers of The Common Bridge to hear about from you?
Garlin Gilchrist
I mean, I think that we do need to have a big conversation in Michigan, and frankly, in America, just about some of the anxieties that people feel about the future, the economy. In my conversations all across Michigan, people want to know where they fit in today and where they're going to fit in tomorrow, where their kids and communities are going to fit into the economy going forward. What does artificial intelligence mean for our state or for the particular sector or industry that they are a part of? Frankly, I think that's one of the reasons why - as a software developer, software engineer, as someone who understands this technology better than anybody else serving in public office here at the state of Michigan - I think it's important we have leaders that are not intimidated by that, who know that we need to approach technological change. But the level of confidence that says that we can make sure this technology does what we need it to do, and directed towards solving our problems and addressing our priorities; that it's not about what this stuff can do, it's about what we can make sure that it does so that Michiganders can benefit and move forward. And as the industries evolve, that we find a place for people in the future of those industries, whatever that may look like. There's not a one size fits all approach to that, but there is an approach that says that we're going to make sure that we put people first and put Michiganders first. I know that a lot of people are worried about that, and so I think about it pretty much every day with my unique perspective here as a leader in Michigan. I know that we can create the kinds of companies and the kinds of systems where Michigan can be a leader and not a follower in this area.
Richard Helppie
One of the things that I always puzzle about; is it possible that in our political climate and the associated media environment, can factions unite around common goals? That's what our mission is at The Common Bridge. Let's get people to talk. I found at the individual level, it's not that difficult but gosh, at a society level, leading ten million people in the state of Michigan, that's hard. Is it possible to get people to unite around common goals, common good?
Garlin Gilchrist
Absolutely. I'll give you examples from my service as lieutenant governor. I worked on... remember, when I got elected, Trump was the president. We had a completely Republican controlled state legislature, and I was able to work with that legislature to pass some pretty important things, some significant reforms to our criminal justice system, for example. Then things like ending driver responsibility fees and making sure that we had guidelines for people to come home from prison because they didn't have enough money, not because they even committed a crime, creating the automatic criminal record expungement program, which I heard about all over Michigan. People who just wanted to get a job, wanted to get an apartment, wanted to go back to school, but they had a mistake on their record from 20 years ago, and they couldn't afford the lawyer or the time to go through the process to clear it up. So I instead jumped in on a bipartisan basis, created the Clean Slate program, which is an automatic criminal record expungement program, something that both Democrats and Republicans told me was impossible. But as a software and a data person, I knew that we could connect those disconnected 81 county jail systems - that don't talk to each other - with our court data to be able to figure out what was a person's set of offenses, these non-assaultive things that were eligible to be cleared. And rather than them have to spend extra money and wait extra time to get back into the economy, we should actually make that stuff go away, because the law says that they should be cleared for it; making a system work for people so they can participate in the economy. Take jobs; with all these job openings all over the country, I mean, all over the state, in all these different sectors, positioned to be able to be reunited with their families, go back to school, get a house, get an apartment. Now, once we lit that program up two years ago, now more than 330,000 people have access to full civic and economic life and participation. This is about positioning Michiganders to be successful so they know that this is a state where they can stay and succeed. That program is something that's implemented on a bipartisan basis. The things that I do are about finding and molding consensus, building solutions that work for Michiganders. So absolutely, we can find that kind of common ground to build those things that work.
Richard Helppie
I like the tone. There's always hope. We all made mistakes, can we move past them and get to a better future. Lieutenant Governor, I really enjoyed a chance to talk with you. Is there anything that we haven't discussed? Or any closing comment for the listeners, readers and viewers of The Common Bridge?
Garlin Gilchrist
Rich, thank you for having me. Look, I am so excited about Michigan's future and what's possible, what our people are capable of and hungry for. I know there are a lot of problems, there are a lot of challenges that people face, but there are solutions. Problems are just solutions that haven't revealed themselves yet. It is up to us to go forward and make the right things happen. I believe in Michiganders, I believe in our potential, I believe in our future. I have a vision for the future that's big enough to include everyone from every community. There are some whose vision is so small they have to exclude people. That's not what their best version of Michigan is. I'm asking folks to join me, to be part of building that vision and making it happen with me as the next governor. They can go to garlingilchrist.com.
Richard Helppie
We've been talking today with Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist of the great state of Michigan. He is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor in the great state of Michigan. Please follow Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist on his website. Lieutenant Governor, it's been a joy and a privilege to have you on our show today. With our guest, this is your host, Rich Helppie, signing off on The Common Bridge.
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