April 19, 2005

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm tonight will receive the 2005 Best Friend Award from Kids in Danger (KID), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting children by improving children’s product safety.  Governor Granholm is being honored for her work as attorney general, and now as governor, in protecting Michigan’s children.
 
“There is no job more important than making sure our children are protected, and I share KID’s commitment to making sure that happens,” Granholm said.  “It is an honor to receive an award for a cause that is so significant to me as governor and as a mother.”
 
KID is presenting the Governor with the Best Friend Award as a result of her work as attorney general to help pass the Children’s Product Safety Act in 2000.  The Act required the Family Independence Agency, now Human Services, to periodically update and provide licensed child care providers with a list of children’s products that had been recalled by an agency of the federal government or the products’ manufacturer, distributor, or importer.
 
Governor Granholm’s commitment to protecting kids extends beyond her support of the Children’s Public Safety Act.  As attorney general she fought to make sure sexually explicit Abercrombie & Fitch catalogues were not being sold to minors in Michigan, and she fought to stop out-of-state liquor companies from selling and shipping liquor to minors over the Internet.  As governor, she supports legislation that would make it a misdemeanor to sell an adult-rated video game to anyone under 17-years-old.
 
Governor Granholm will be presented with the award tonight at the 5th Annual Best Friend Award Night in Chicago.