





Public Sector Consultants’ senior policy fellow Craig Ruff was not happy to read my impressions of the Mackinac Policy Conference. In

, Ruff declared: "What goes on ...on the Island . . . stays on the Island. Boorish, prudish, and self-obsessive 'reporting'."

Well, ok then.

One small point of order, the Mackinac Policy Conference isn’t some screwball comedy starring Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms. It’s an event featuring elected officials at a largely public venue with media in attendance. The conference's mission is to discuss a public policy agenda. The context in which policy decisions take place is important and newsworthy.

Unless Governor Rick Snyder plans to build the

between the Grand Hotel and Fort Mackinac, what happens at Mackinac Island affects the entire state. Even if Craig Ruff finds such topics “boorish.”

As for the supposed prudishness over drinking, please. I used to work in the advertising industry. The Tracy Flick All-Stars were lightweights compared to self-respecting creative professionals. But the cocktail party ethos at Mackinac helps explain the problematic quest to be agreeable during the conference’s official agenda.

Drinking isn’t a problem. It’s that everyone seems more interested getting along with potential drinking buddies than engaging in substantive debate over the issues that matter to Michigan.

You'll note that Ruff doesn't say my impression of the conference was wrong or inaccurate. That it bothered him so betrays the provincial nature of Michigan politics. If I had written something similar about a

or

conference, no one would have some much as raised an eyebrow unless the coverage of inaccurate.

Locally, well, you can almost hear Ruff's playmates doing their best impression of an overfed southern sheriff:

That might be how things go in your big cities, but we comport our ourselves a little different 'round these here parts.

The press’ role at Mackinac, Ruff implies, is to celebrate the conference monologue while leaving behind any critical thinking or observation skills on the main land. That’s a repugnant sentiment.

once declared sunlight to be among the best of disinfectants. Apparently, the leadership class prefers discussing policy in the darkness normally associated with a mushroom farm.

I’m sorry that insiders don’t like reading about these things on their internets. I really am. Of course, if they had done a better job running this state and this state’s largest industry, no one would care if the conference agenda included exchanging twitpics with

.

After a few years of food poisoning, it’s probably a good idea to tour the factory and learn how the sausage is made.

Did I just use two food metaphors in the same post? How terribly gauche.