John Engler: Mackinac Timeline

Mackinac Timeline

The Cornerstone Foundation's board of directors including John Engler, then speaker of the state Senate; D. Joseph Olson, insurance company executive and lobbyist and Richard McLellan, a lawyer, lobbyist and Engler confidant launch the Cornerstone Foundation, a new think tank that will become the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
The Mackinac Center releases its first study, a report suggesting privatization of the Accident Fund, a quasi- public agency that issues low-cost workers compensation insurance.
Internal Revenue Service records reveal that insurance companies were among the year's major contributors to the think tank.

The Mackinac Center releases a position paper titled "Product Liability Reform: Better Late Than Never."
Engler leaves Cornerstone board to run for governor.
"We want to come out next spring in time to figure prominently in the gubernatorial election," a June fund- raising memo issued by Reed declares.
Dow Chemical, with a $15,000 donation, was the center's single largest contributor in '88.

In January, the center releases its first study of the new year, "Tort Law and the Products Liability Insurance Crisis." In coming years, Dow will take the lead in pushing for changes in liability law.
Engler announces he will run for governor.
The center ends the year with a study titled "Auto Insurance in Michigan: Regulation, No-Fault, and Affordability," which contends the state's high rates aren't the result of "price gouging."
McLellan and Olson each give $3,400 (the maximum allowed) to the Engler campaign

The Mackinac Center begins the year with two studies that attack programs instituted by incumbent Gov. Jim Blanchard, Engler's opponent in November.
Engler makes a major campaign speech on Mackinac Island, promising to bring about liability reform and privatize the Accident Fund.
Engler scores an upset victory over Blanchard.
Within a week of the election, the Mackinac Center issues a "road map" outlining a 20-point program for the new governor. Along with trucking deregulation, tax reform, welfare cutbacks and prison privatization, the center again urges liability reform and sale of the Accident Fund.
Dick DeVos, son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, joins Mackinac's board of directors.

Richard McLellan heads transition team for Michigan's new governor.
In September, the Center releases its first study calling for school choice.
IRS documents show that Citizens Insurance was the center's single largest contributor while the think tank struggled to get off the ground, donating a total of $110,000 between 1988 and 1991.
The center lauds Engler's plans to cut property taxes in Michigan. Four years later, a study by Public Sector Consultants claims wealthy homeowners were the beneficiaries of the cuts, while lower-income families saw their tax burdens increase.

The center issues a report titled "Keeping The Engler Revolution On Track." It gives the governor a "B," saying there is much left to accomplish.
In an opinion piece criticizing the various ways in which state government competes with the private sector, Mackinac President Lawrence Reed laments the fact that there are state-run campgrounds.
Another opinion piece by Reed reiterates the call to sell the Accident Fund.
The center releases a detailed 16-point plan to reform welfare in the state. Engler's own welfare plan, announced later in the year, contains 11 of the Mackinac Center's proposals.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Dow Corning falsified documents submitted to the Food and Drug Administration about the manufacture of silicone breast implants.
Mackinac's single largest contribution of the year is a $30,000 check from the Prince Foundation, a nonprofit primarily devoted to supporting Christian causes.
As presidential candidate Bill Clinton advocates a national health care program vehemently opposed by the insurance industry, the Mackinac Center releases a major study titled "Twenty Myths About National Health Insurance."

A January study gives Engler an "A-" for his performance during his first two years in office. Fifteen of the 20 points outlined by the Center in November 1990 have been partially or fully enacted.
School choice is the major topic of the year. While Engler makes his administrative push, the center releases two studies and seven opinion pieces either supporting charter schools or attacking the Michigan Education Association.
The Prince Foundation, along with supporting Christian causes and groups seeking education change, gives $70,000 to the Mackinac Center.
Dykema Gosset, the law firm where Richard McLellan is a partner, is awarded a $250,000 contract to guide the privatization of the Accident Fund.

An Engler fundraiser targeting the insurance industry and co-hosted by McLellan is canceled when the press learns that the event is being held at the home of the state's insurance commissioner.
With Engler facing re-election in November and anti-tax advocates irate over an Engler tax increase, Lawrence Reed comes to the administration's defense, in March telling the Detroit News "it's difficult for me to imagine that taxpayer groups would find the likely Democratic nominee friendlier than the governor."
The Accident Fund is sold to Blue Cross/Blue Shield. A Mackinac Center publicity catalog later boasts that its 1987 report "is a major reason why the Engler administration" pushed the issue.
The center issues an opinion piece titled "Drug Companies: The Health Care Bogeymen."
The Upjohn Foundation contributes $10,000 to the Mackinac Center.
Dow Corning and Dow Chemical contribute a total of $25,000 to the center.
The single largest contributor for 1994 is the Rodney Fund, which donates $71,000. The president of the fund, James Rodney, is an executive at plastics manufacturer Detroit Forming Inc. Center President Reed is also on the fund's board.
Following Engler's re-election, the center issues an eight- point agenda for the next four years. Along with measures that will reduce the power of teachers' unions and unions in general, the plan calls upon Engler to "abolish the state Department of Education."

Insurance executive and lobbyist D. Joseph Olson, who has chaired the Mackinac Center's board of directors since its beginning, is appointed by Engler to regulate the state's insurance industry.
In one of its first major breaks with Engler administration policies, the Mackinac Center criticizes the Michigan Economic Growth Authority's (MEGA) use of tax credits to keep businesses in Michigan. "MEGA is an aberration from four years of remarkable performance (by Engler)," chastises Reed.
The state legislature passes major tort reform legislation and Engler signs it into law.
With its base of support having diversified and broadened over the years, the Mackinac Center's budget hits $1 million.

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