Thank you to the Michigan Press Association and to Mike McLaren for the invitation to be here today.

Let me start by putting Mike on the spot.  Mike was quoted in a story I read the other day.  What he said was profound, and it also speaks to the reason why I'm here.  Mike said that the model that has served us well for 390 years is going through significant recalibration.  Mike was talking about the newspaper business.  But it turns out we have something in common.

The model for your industry is changing.  And the model for my industry is changing. 

The economy is forcing us to make tough decisions.  And technology has advanced dramatically in ways that are altering the manner in which all of us do business - whether you're in the newspaper industry or state government.  In short, we all face the same reality:  change or get left behind.  Recalibrate, as Mike put it, or watch the times pass us by.

Now change is a word we've heard a lot recently.  The election was about change.  The economy is in the midst of change.  But when it comes down to it, change isn't really the issue.  Change is going to happen whether we like it or not.  What we need is to manage the change that's happening around us.

Every organization and business in America today is in the process of managing change, questioning the most basic assumptions, and evolving to meet the new demands of this century.  This room is no exception.

Just recently, the News and the Free Press decided to cut newspaper delivery to three days a week and offer an online edition for subscribers.  Times are tough, but this industry is working together to manage this unprecedented period of change.

State government needs to do the same thing.  And let me be perfectly blunt.  Today, we are not equipped to manage the changes that are taking place around us.  We are not equipped to meet the demands of the 21st century.  We are living in 2009 with a government that was built for the 1950s.

Imagine seeing an old 1959 Cadillac Eldorado driving down I-96 on your way home.  It may have been a great car at the time, especially with those vintage fins.  But it doesn't have airbags.  It doesn't have cruise control.  It doesn't have antilock brakes.  It belongs in a museum, not on the road.  That's the kind of government we're driving today.  We're behind the wheel of a government with fins.  We're in the driver's seat of a government built for the 1950s, not the information superhighways of the 21st century. 

I've been in state government for a while.  I know that by nature, government is slow to react to change.  But we don't have a choice.  It's not a question of when we need to change the way we do business.  It's not a question of why.  It's a question of now and a question of how.

Governor Granholm laid the groundwork for these changes in her State of the State address this week.  She outlined several of the steps we will undergo to radically change the shape and size of state government - reducing the number of departments from 18 to 8, reforming our civil service system, and developing public/private partnerships.  But these goals are just the beginning of a larger effort that the governor has asked me to lead to modernize state government.

Now, you might be wondering how a young man such as me would be the one to bring us into the 21st century.  Well, I've seen state government at its best - and I know when it can work better.  And I've seen it respond to challenges - from rethinking Michigan's curriculum to help our students prepare for the new economy, to rethinking the protection and management of the Great Lakes, our most important natural resource. 

Now we need to rethink state government.  And we have a single priority:  How can we best meet the needs of Michigan's citizens?  At its core, government is of the people, by the people, and for the people - so it makes sense that the people should be at the center of this transformation.  That's why we are going to start by asking the people of Michigan what they think the role of state government should be. 

First, we'll reach out to the geographical and institutional leaders across Michigan to help us profile the challenges that Michigan will face in this new century and the tools we will need to have at our disposal. 

Second, we'll organize a series of public hearings, to get down to specifics. 

Throughout this process, we'll use technology to allow everyone to participate, no matter where they live.  We'll do this by Web-casting public meetings and setting up an interactive Website to allow anyone to engage in this conversation about state government - how to modernize it, and how to make it better.  We will build a broad consensus on how to modernize the state of Michigan.  And there's a lot of room for improvement.

There are some tremendously hardworking people in state government.  But there's a lot of old thinking and inefficiency built into our government institutions.  We have 18 state agencies, and each has their own personnel, budget, communications, and lobbying departments.  And at the same time, we have technology at our fingertips that can help us maximize opportunities for integration, collaboration, and to eliminate duplication. 

This is the kind of retooling and rethinking we need to do.  And everything is on the table.  We need to standardize our organizational practices while remaining flexible enough to respond to the changing needs of our constituents.  We need to maximize
technology to increase efficiency, communications, and transparency.  And we need to make government attractive to the next generation of public servants, who are drawn to vibrant workplaces that allow them to unleash their creativity.

It's worth noting that everything we've done until now has set the stage for the next steps we'll take.  We've cut billions from state government and balanced six budgets in a row.
We've streamlined our operations. 

Michigan ranks 46 out of 50 states in terms of the number of state employees per 10,000 residents.  We've been lauded as one of the best-managed states in the nation.  The next step is to lead the nation as the first state to completely overhaul the way it does business through a collaborative process with our citizens.

There's no question that this is a tall order.  There's no question that it will be challenging.  But more than anything, this effort is really about applying old-fashioned common sense to the new challenges we face. 

I remember, on the Cherry Commission, we discovered something astonishing.  Traditionally, in high school, students learn biology before chemistry.  The reason has nothing to do with common sense.  It turns out, last century, they listed the subjects students needed to learn alphabetically, and "biology" came before "chemistry." 

These are the kinds of changes we need to make to government - common sense changes that give our constituents the services and tools they need, the way they need them.  No longer are we going to play by the old rules without asking if they make sense in the first place.

I think this is what our framers had in mind when they vigorously debated whether to use the phrase "best of my ability" or "best of my judgment" in the presidential oath of office.  "Best of my judgment" implies that many voters entrust a single person to make a decision for them.  "Best of my ability" implies something different.  It implies that elected officials have an obligation to make the decision their constituents want.  Ultimately, the framers of our Constitution settled on "best of my ability."

It is up to elected officials to give our constituents what they want and what they need, to the best of our ability.  And right now, what they want is a government that delivers efficient, cost-effective services, that responds to their evolving needs, and that meets the demands of this incredible time of change.

As Lincoln once wrote to Congress, "The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise - with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew."

Today, we have to act in new ways to solve new problems.  We have to build on what we've already accomplished.  We have to enact common sense solutions.  And we have to do all of this to the best of our ability - and with the urgency these times demand.

Thank you.