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](https://wdet.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/State_Capitol_September_2018-scaled-e1706554475369-2048x1154.jpg)
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.