Capital Ideas: Mia McNeil

Every year the Michigan Political Leadership Program (MPLP) invites 24 people with varying political views from around the state to discuss policy issues as a way to encourage bi-partisanship and leadership in politics.

Mia McNeil, 30, is a Lansing Township resident and a member of the 2009 MPLP class. McNeil, who is a government relations consultant and attorney for Kelley Cawthorne, was accepted to MPLP based on a platform devoted to voter registration issues, but discussed many other hot topics including Arab relations and health care while working with her MPLP colleagues.

McNeil spends a good deal of time working with young people and was the Michigan chair for Rock the Vote while attending Cooley. As an MPLP graduate and government relations consultant, McNeil has plenty of views on the state’s political structure and the relationship between the public and politicians. She also has a few things to say about Michigan, a place she chose to come back to after living in Tennessee and interning for the Baltimore Sun.

Capital Gains: What unexpected challenges did participating in MPLP present?

Mia McNeil: I actually learned that I am more bipartisan than I thought I was. I think that everyone who goes into a political party says they are a die hard fill-in-the-blank, but I think once you are put in a situation where you are forced to listen to other view points and understand why they believe what they do, it forces you to take a second look.

As much as I’d like to consider myself the die-hard liberal, I do have some conservative values.

CG: You work with a lot of students. What perceptions do they have of Michigan politics?

MM: They think that they don’t have a voice. I truthfully don’t believe that until the discussion about taking away the Michigan Promise Scholarship came up, that young people thought they had a say in anything.

I think everyone goes into the process wanting to make a difference, it’s just a matter of figuring out how they can do it. I don’t think we’ve been really giving young people the tools on how to do it. There’s a lot of disenchantment with politics, but a lot of desire to make a difference if they could.

CG: Is there a difference between the way young people view Michigan and the way adults view the state?

MM: I think there is. There is more blaming on the adult aspect because I don’t think you have that wide-eyed bushy tailed ‘I’m going to make a difference’ the older you get. I think as these young people become adults and they become older and senior citizens, I think it’s ‘I’ve done all I can do and no change is happening so that’s it, I’m not going to go out of my way any more.’

People will do that if they have a reason to do it. If they’ve lost their job they’re going to do everything they can to fight for it.If they’ve lost their health care they’re going to become an advocate for health care, but if nothing has personally affected them, they’re not going to try to make any moves or strive to try to fix something.

CG: How would you characterize bipartisanship in the Michigan Capitol right now?

MM: I don’t think it’s all that great. I think there’s still a wall blocking Republicans and Democrats from actually working together for a common cause. I will say the new freshman class of the legislature has made an honest attempt to do things in a bipartisan manner. This year’s freshman class of house members has done a really good job and have even put together the bipartisan caucus, which was a unique idea, and I think it helps when it comes to legislation. It helps us because we’re able to work on an issue and we don’t have to go into saying no, they would never vote for this.

I think bipartisan workmanship has been pretty good this year. We’re in a situation in society where you can’t be an ultra conservative Republican and you can’t be an ultra liberal Democrat. I think people are looking for a legislator who they can meet in the middle.

CG: What perception do your peer groups out of the state have of Michigan?

MM: My condolences.

A lot of them unfortunately — and it’s because they don’t intimately know — think our governor has kind of run the state into the ground.I completely disagree. I think it’s the failure of the executive office and the legislature to work together. I also think it was a lack of being open to new ideas and new strategies. I think everyone wanted to follow that template of this is what we need to do this is how it’s done instead of thinking, ‘what can we do to make this process different then last time.’

Lots of my friends do not want to move here. A lot of my classmates who are in Michigan are trying to move to Chicago because I guess Chicago is supposed to be the new New York. Some have moved over seas, but they generally don’t want to move here.

There are some who see the promise in Michigan, that it’s a low period now but eventually it’s going to to build back up. There’s access to any one of the great lakes, the ability to ski when you want to, really great summers, Mackinac Island…they see all of those things as a benefit.

Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.

Mia McNeil chats with Capital Gains at her offices at Kelly Cawthorne

All Photographs © Dave Trumpie