MPC 2024: Whitmer focused on finalizing budget, tackling mental health crisis

The Mackinac Policy Conference always comes at a time when the Michigan Legislature is negotiating the state budget, and the negotiations are far from over.

But Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she is focused on moving toward getting the budget completed. Whitmer joined Stephen Henderson for a conversation during a special edition of Created Equal, broadcasted live from Mackinac Island, to share more about what she’d like to accomplish at this year’s conference and what her immediate goals for the state are.

“[The budget] is a reflection of the values and the things that we need to get done as a state, and I think there are a lot of people here who have a big stake in that and so harnessing all that energy to make sure that we get it done on time and that it’s another good budget that’s balanced and bipartisan,” said Whitmer.

Henderson was also joined on Thursday by U.S. Representatives Elissa Slotkin and Dan Kildee to discuss their goals for this year’s conference, as well as Rip Rapson, president and CEO of The Kresge Foundation, and Wendy Jackson, managing director for the Detroit Program at Kresge, to talk about the organization’s 100th anniversary.

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Guests:

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin is a Democrat representing Michigan’s 7th congressional district running for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat. She says she was ready and willing to take part in the U.S. Senate debate scheduled to take place on Mackinac Island during the conference, and was disappointed that it was canceled due to other candidates’ unwillingness to take part.

“So I signed up for this debate in April, and actually had my like debate binder and we had mock debates going on and practices and the whole thing,” she said. “…But Mr. Rogers and Mr. Amash refused to participate.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee is a Democrat representing Michigan’s 8th congressional district who has served six terms in the House and will not be seeking reelection this year. He says his decision to retire from Congress was not a surprise to those who are close to him.

“When I ran 12 years ago, my wife and I had a very explicit conversation — this is something we’ll do for a season. You know, and we thought about 10 or 12 years, and as it turns out, it’ll be 12 when I’m done,” he said. “I never had it in my head to work the rest of my productive work life as a member of Congress.”

Gretchen Whitmer is the governor of the state of Michigan. She says improving mental health services and support for Michiganders struggling with substance abuse is a major goal of the current Legislature, which just passed a new mental health parity law that requires insurance coverage for mental health and substance use disorder treatments at the same level as physical health services.

“I think that that it represents a real commitment to addressing and making progress in terms of addressing the mental health crisis, substance abuse, addiction — we know that this and mental health often go hand in hand, and if you’re treating one but not the other, you’re not actually helping people resolve, you know, the issues that they’re confronting. So there’s a lot of work to do in this space,” she said.

Rip Rapson is president and CEO of The Kresge Foundation. He says while Kresge began as sort of a “pocketbook philanthropy” organization, it’s goals have evolved over the years.

“About 20 years ago, we decided that we had really made our mark as much as we could in that space and pivoted to trying to focus much more on cities and what it meant to build opportunity structures in cities across America, and particularly in our hometown of Detroit,” he said.

Wendy Jackson is the managing director for the Detroit Program at the Kresge Foundation. She says a lot of the organization’s arts and culture work “has really, I think, been a signature part of our efforts in Detroit.”

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.