By John Lindstrom
Publisher
Posted: November 9, 2018 1:53 PM

Governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer is the star now. She has a big profile in The New York Times, a photo of her victory celebration tops a Brookings Institution story about a slow shift of white voters back to Democrats. Nationally the whole political world wants to get to know her, as she was not one of the flashy names who drew lots of attention and, yet, failed to win (like someone in Texas, for example.)

In Michigan, Ms. Whitmer has been known among the political cognoscenti but until she took the podium at the Women's March on the Capitol on January 21, 2017, the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration, her overall state profile was not well known. And, of course, she had to defeat a flashy name in the primary, which she did handily, in Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.

Ms. Whitmer first ran for the Legislature in 2000, where at a campaign event this reporter and she were first formally introduced. She was confident but, as one might expect for a first-time candidate, still a little tense and tentative.

But in the coffee shop where the 2000 event was being held – the start of a final campaign push before the election – after being introduced to her, this reporter remembered when he first encountered Ms. Whitmer. She was in elementary school at the time.

Anyone living and working in the capital area will stumble on politicians and state officials frequently, at markets, sporting events, movie theatres (the number of times I ran into former Governor John Engler at Celebration Cinema with a large popcorn and various friends in tow cannot be counted) and the like. It isn't quite like folks living and working in Los Angeles bumping into movie stars but close enough.

My initial encounter with Ms. Whitmer occurred because of her father, Richard Whitmer, former CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

In the late 1970s, Blue Cross was a major issue in the state. It wanted more autonomy, then-Attorney General Frank Kelley was after it on rates, the Legislature was being pushed to rewrite its operating statute. And the Blues also had the blues in part because of their then-CEO John McCabe. Mr. McCabe was gaining a profile for complaining about his salary and for wanting to push BCBSM more into the private market.

For reporters, BCBSM was a monolith to cover. They let little out, finding sources was always a tough task and they were locked on a message that would not admit any divergence.

Mr. Whitmer was a relatively new, high-ranking executive with BCBSM. He was the new public face as the insurance giant attempted to keep Mr. McCabe out of the spotlight. And he was booked to appear on the public TV show "Off the Record."

And this reporter was booked to be on the reporters' panel.

I'm not sure what Mr. Whitmer expected when he sat in the guest's chair, but what he got was a thoroughly tough questioning about BCBSM, how it was operating and whether its rate requests were justified. Once or twice Mr. Whitmer seemed stumped for an answer. And by the end of it all, he was sweating.

When the program ended, Mr. Whitmer walked out of the studio ahead of me and stopped by the control room door. The door opened, Mr. Whitmer smiled, said something like, "Was it fun?"

And out walked two little girls, one of whom will be sworn in as Michigan's governor on January 1.

"Oh cripes," I said, though probably I said something a touch more profane, "his kids were here watching this."

During the primary season, I asked Ms. Whitmer if she recalled that time. She did not, though she acknowledged it would have had to have been her and her sister watching the taping. The taping could not have ignited any of her interests in politics and government.

Still, in two months this reporter will be able to say he knew the governor way back when.