Political Duel Over Transportation In Lansing

Ever since January 2003, when Governor Jennifer M. Granholm took office, the most ambitious, influential, and dominant women who have ever governed a major industrial state have been locked in a rivalry rooted in money and power. Before Friday, when state lawmakers are expected to take a brief summer break, the Republican-led state Senate may vote on a package of six bills intended to wrest control of planning and budgeting for highways and public transit from the governor and her transportation director, and transfer it to the state Legislature. [Thanks to readers Shannon Allen, Meg Horl, Nathan Landau and Amalia Lorentz who wrote in to protest the original headline.]