Throwing Martha off the Train

Is he an ingrate who exploited a woman's wide popularity to get himself * elected Governor and then dumped her when she was no longer useful to him? Or is he a courageous leader who faced up to the difficult task of telling an aging colleague that she was no longer capable of handling a high state office? Those clashing views of Democratic Governor James Blanchard have bedeviled Michigan voters ever since he dropped Lieutenant Governor Martha Griffiths, 78, as his re-election running mate.

Griffiths, a former 10-term Congresswoman who is widely revered by state Democrats, is not shy about expressing her opinion. "I elected him," she says of Blanchard, who talked her into joining him on the ticket in his tight 1982 race. When rumors arose last spring that Blanchard might choose a new running mate in seeking a third four-year term this year, she snapped, "He should be taken immediately to a psychiatrist." And as Blanchard spread his hopeful view that Griffiths might quietly withdraw, she called a press conference to proclaim that she was "available" to run again. Finally, following his announcement that he did not want her on the ticket, Griffiths declared, "The biggest problem in politics is that you help some s.o.b. get what he wants, and then he throws you off the train."

Griffiths wears a hearing aid and is physically frail, and even her admirers concede that she has grown a bit eccentric. But she scoffs at the notion that she is not up to her job. When the age issue arose in 1982 -- she was a mere 70 then -- she dismissed it with the comment "I'm a year younger than Reagan. And I stay awake at meetings." As for her duties, she said, "You preside over the senate, cast a vote in case there's a tie and inquire every morning about the Governor's health." She figures she can handle that.

The Governor is either too much of a gentleman or too cagey to say precisely why he does not want Griffiths on his ticket. He did not cite her age and said only that he felt that dropping her was in the best interests of the state.

As Blanchard faced complaints of age and sex discrimination in his treatment of Griffiths, his major Republican opponent, state senate majority leader John Engler, seized the opening to announce that his running mate will be Connie Binsfeld, 66, a bland state senator and antiabortion activist. Blanchard countered by selecting Olivia Maynard, 54, who has been popular with senior citizens as director of the state office of services to the aging, to replace Griffiths. Ever loyal to her party, Griffiths said she will support / Blanchard's re-election. And, presumably, she will continue to inquire about his health.