Archer says he won’t run for governor
By Chad Halcom
Crain's Detroit Business
Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer announced Thursday he will not make a bid to run for governor in 2010, after months of gauging interest from voters and the business community.
Archer, 66, was viewed as a possible contender for the job after Gov. Jennifer Granholm leaves the post due to term limits.
But he told a small crowd of supporters and the media at the Detroit Regional Chamber offices that a two-year campaign would force him to abandon other career pursuits and time with his family.
“I would have to marry the state,” he said about forgoing the gubernatorial race. “The state is worth marrying, but I was not (personally) ready to make that decision.”
Archer is board chairman of Detroit-based Dickinson Wright P.L.L.C., and a former president of the American Bar Association. He was also Detroit Regional Chamber president in 2006-07, and mayor from 1994 to 2001.
Archer said the duties of mayor often had him working 16 to 18 hour days and the governor’s position could only be more demanding, particularly adding in travel time to its various commitments.
But he added that state government has lacked leadership in recent years and that its recent change of tax structure from the Single Business Tax to the Michigan Business Tax had “hurt small business, and had unintended consequences for larger businesses.”
What Lansing lacks is a strong sense of leadership and it has a real need to use the bully pulpit in politics, he said.
“The job grants the opportunity to get the public involved in their government, and when the bully pulpit isn’t used then the legislature feels free to act however they want, or how they are lobbied.”
He also fended off speculation that he has expectations of a federal appointment with the Obama administration in January.
Granholm could possibly vacate her post early if selected by Obama for a cabinet position, and Lt. Gov. John Cherry is expected to run for the office in 2010.
Flint Mayor Don Williamson already has announced his gubernatorial candidacy, and
ex-Michigan State University head football coach George Perles also expects to run, both as Democrats.
From the GOP, possible candidates include State Attorney General Mike Cox, who has formed an exploratory committee; U.S. Rep. Candice Miller; and David Brandon, chairman and CEO of Ann Arbor-based Domino’s Pizza Inc.
Archer also said not joining the gubernatorial fray means he also passes up on the bully pulpit himself, a decision that did not come easy.
“As a recovering former politician, I still do sometimes get the notion,” he said.
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