James Blanchard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James "Jim" Blanchard

45^th Governor of Michigan
In office January 1, 1983 – January 1, 1991
Lieutenant(s)	Martha Wright Griffiths
Preceded by	William Milliken
Succeeded by	John Engler

Born	August 8, 1942 Detroit, Michigan
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Paula Blanchard (divorced) Janet Blanchard
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Unitarian

James Johnston Blanchard (b. August 8, 1942, Detroit, Michigan) is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. A Democrat, Blanchard has served in the United States House of Representatives, as Governor of Michigan, and as United States Ambassador to Canada.

Blanchard attended the public schools in Ferndale. He received a B.A. from Michigan State University in 1964 and an MBA from the same school in 1965. He received a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1968 and was admitted to the Michigan bar in the same year. He commenced practice in Lansing and served as legal advisor to the Michigan Secretary of State, 1968-1969. He was Assistant Attorney General of Michigan, 1969-1974, administrative assistant to the attorney general, 1970-1971, and assistant deputy attorney general, 1971-1972.

Blanchard was elected as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives from Michigan's 18th District for the Ninety-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1975 to January 3, 1983. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1982 but was elected Governor of Michigan, defeating Republican Richard Headlee, a Farmington Hills insurance company executive.^[1] Blanchard served two terms as governor (1983-1991) until his defeat by Republican state senator John Engler in 1990.

Blanchard became embroiled in a bitter partisan dispute over an appointment to the Michigan Supreme Court. On December 9, 1982, outgoing Republican Governor William Milliken appointed Dorothy Comstock Riley to the Michigan Supreme Court to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Blair Moody on November 26.

Since Milliken was leaving office in less than a month, the governor-elect Blanchard argued he should have made the appointment to replace Moody rather than Milliken. Further complicating the matter, Riley had run for election to the Supreme Court in the 1982 general election and had been defeated. In February 1983, the other Supreme Court Justices voted 4-2 to remove Riley from the court. Blanchard replaced her with U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Boyle. However, Riley won election to the Supreme Court in 1984.

After losing the gubernatorial election to John Engler in 1990, he became "of counsel" to the Southfield, Michigan law firm of Kramer Mellen.

President Bill Clinton appointed him Ambassador to Canada, a position he held from 1993 to 1996. In 2002 Blanchard again ran for governor but lost his primary bid to Jennifer Granholm. As of 2004, he is a partner in the Washington D.C. law firm of Piper Rudnick and resides in Pleasant Ridge.

[edit] References

^ Associated Press. "Richard Headlee, anti-tax advocate, dead at age 74", The Macomb Daily, 2004-11-10. Retrieved on 2006-10-12.

Preceded by: Robert J. Huber	United States Representative for the 18th Congressional District of Michigan 1975–1983	Succeeded by: William S. Broomfield
Preceded by: William Milliken	Governor of Michigan 1983–1991	Succeeded by: John Engler
Preceded by: Peter Teeley	Ambassador to Canada 1993–1996	Succeeded by: George D. Giffen