These are a few of the governor's favorite things
(WJBK) - There is no way to calculate how many reporter questions the governor has field in his six years in office, but it's a very good bet he ran into a bunch of them the other day that he has never answered before.
The occasion was the 6th annual recording of the Evening with the Governor series on Michigan Public TV in which anchor Tim Skubick deviated from the hard news stories of 2016 to something a bit more light-hearted.
The governor's favorite movie?
"I've got a whole list of them," he smiles but places Star Wars at the top. Ironically the latest Star Wars saga was opening at the very time he gave that answer.
Favorite car?
His family in Battle Creek purchased the vehicle of the Fire Chief in town. "It was red" the governor recalls fondly while also disclosing that he has a 1957 Thunderbird, complete with Opera windows, and that is red too. It was given to him by a relative but he does not have much of a chance to tool around town in it.
Favorite board game?
Monopoly he quickly responds nothing that, believe it or not, he does not always win.
Into the world of sports his all-time favorite Detroit Tiger is former right-fielder Al Kaline and while he played Euchre years ago he does not play now reflecting that it is not an easy game to play even though "we have friends who want Sue and I to play."
If he had a chance to interview any famous person, he explains he would go back in time to chat with former President Abraham Lincoln.
"How many speeding tickets have you had?"
He reports "none" but he confesses he has been stopped but did not disclose how many times.
And then two shockers from the academically inclined self-described nerd, "What course did you almost flunk in school?" And what was the worst thing he did as a child that offended his parents.
He quickly recalls an Economics course as he struggled with a professor with whom he did not connect, but "I finally figured it out" and passed the course and then way back in fourth grade, he had an assignment to draw a map of Michigan.
Did you leave out the Upper Peninsula Mr. Skubick wanted to know?
Nope. The governor did not leave that out but his parents made it very clear that he had not devoted enough effort to the project. "I was too cocky about it," the governor remembers but he got the message and never did that again.