LANSING – Michigan’s longest-serving governor joined with the man he hopes will be Michigan’s next governor and said Rick Snyder would be an “outstanding governor of Michigan.” And among the reasons Snyder will be a good leader for the state is he will work with Detroit, help protect the environment and listen to both sides of the political aisle.

At a press conference in Detroit, former Governor William Milliken said in two weeks, Snyder, just after the November 2 election, would begin his path towards leading the state.

And he recalled his relations with former Detroit Mayor Coleman Young (with whom he said he did not initially get along when he was lieutenant governor and Young was a senator) and the importance of Detroit to the state’s future, to say he expected Snyder will have a good relationship with Mayor Dave Bing.

“Wherever he has gone throughout Michigan he has said the success of the City of Detroit and the success of the state of Michigan are one and the same thing,” Milliken said.

And Snyder also said that it was critical for Detroit to be on the path to greatness again, and that that would have a major impact on helping keep the state’s young people in Michigan.

Milliken also said he was confident Snyder would show a commitment to the state’s environment. Milliken’s administration, from 1969 to 1983, was noted for the environmental protection laws enacted, and he said Snyder would be “a great defender of the environment of all of Michigan.”

Asked how Snyder would deal with bringing the Legislature together to deal with the ongoing fiscal difficulties, Milliken said he was sure Snyder would meet and work with all the members of the Legislature to win agreement.

“I think we’ll be surprised at (how) quickly he adapts,” Milliken said, even though Snyder has no experience in elective office. Whatever disadvantage that would create would not last long, Milliken said.

As he introduced Milliken, Snyder said that his first campaign was making phone calls when he was 16 for Milliken in the 1974 campaign. Milliken ran against, and beat, now U.S. Rep. Sander Levin for the second time in that campaign.

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