Terri Lynn Land

Terri Lynn Land
File:MI Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.JPG
41st Michigan Secretary of State
In office January 1, 2003 – January 1, 2011
Governor	Jennifer M. Granholm
Preceded by	Candice S. Miller
Succeeded by	Ruth Johnson
Personal details
Born	(1958-06-30) June 30, 1958 Grand Rapids, Michigan
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Daniel Hibma
Alma mater	Hope College

Terri Lynn Land (born June 30, 1958 in Grand Rapids, Michigan) was Michigan's 41st Secretary of State. Land graduated from Grandville High School and later received a bachelor of arts in political science from Hope College in Holland, Michigan. In 2007 Land was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Public Service by Central Michigan University at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. In 2009 Davenport University presented her with a Honorary Doctor of Laws degree.

Mrs. Land's political involvement began in her high school years. She served as a "Scatter Blitzer" for the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Campaign and was one of the youngest attendees at the Michigan Republican Convention in 1978.

In 1988 Mrs. Land was named Chairwoman of the Kent County Republican Party. Afterwards she was elected as County Clerk and Register of Deeds for Kent County from 1993-2000. In 2000 Mrs. Land ran unsuccessfully for the state Board of Education. But Mrs. Land was elected Secretary of State in November 2002 and took office on January 1, 2003.

Of all her accomplishments, Mrs. Land's proudest memories are of her marriage to Dan Hibma in 1983 and her children Jessica and Nicholas, born in 1986 and 1988 respectively. Jessica graduated from University of Michigan in 2008, and Nicholas graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2011.

Mrs. Land and Mr. Hibma both attend Corinth Reformed Church. Mrs. Land has been active at Corinth by volunteering as a nursery supervisor. In her spare time she enjoys gardening and water-skiing.

Re-Election and Leaving the Office

Mrs. Land was nominated for a second time at the Michigan Republican Convention in 2006. Her Democratic opponent was Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh. On November 7, 2006 Land was elected for a second term.

Because of Michigan's Constitutionial term limits, Mrs. Land was unable to seek re-election in 2010. She was succeeded by Republican Ruth Johnson.

Accomplishments as Secretary of State

Michigan's Former Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop still recounts that Mrs. Land would always say, “I won't need more funds. I already have enough!”

Secretary of State and Customer Service

Throughout her tenure as Michigan's Secretary of State, Mrs. Land transformed the Department of State into an effective and efficient organization. Her two terms are most notably associated with vastly improved customer service.

"Good things can happen in government when you ask, 'How can we best serve our customers?' and then find a way.'' Land said. "We know people want courtesy, convenience and efficiency from the Department of State and that's what we've given them."

The Michigan SOS is the Chief Elections Officer in the State as well as the CEO of the auto and driver’s license bureau. Only seven states have this combined work schedule, where in addition to elections, the SOS handles the driver and automobile licensing. Land relished the opportunity to head the 2+billion dollar agency with 2000 employees.

While individuals may never come in contact with their representative or senator, odds are most will visit the Secretary of State. Because of this, the Department of State must continue to improve, develop, and evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of the public. This is a challenge that Land delivered on consistently throughout her eight-year tenure. Despite having two terms during trying financial times, Mrs. Land left the office better than she had found it. Through her persistence, dedication, and determination she also left behind a long list of accomplishments.

Mrs. Land believes firmly in a 'walk around management style'. This led her to visit every branch office in all 83 counties, three different times. At each stop, she spent time listening to the concerns and ideas from customers and employees, and used those ideas to improve customer service. This trip took about 6 months each time, and she did it all while conducting her regular scheduled weekly meetings. If she heard of a problem happening in real time at a branch office near by, she would change her schedule to travel to that office, meet with the customer and solve the problem herself. Land did not take the regular state car and instead drove her own and paid for her own gas, and didn’t take mileage reimbursement.

When Mrs. Land started at the SOS office, she would also call back those who had sent letters of complaint into the main office herself. This amazed both the staff and those who had written them, as they were not expecting a call from her. Her husband likes to recall that by the end of her first year in office Terri came back and said she hardly got a letter anymore.

Land’s firsthand review of branches helped modernize and consolidate offices state wide from 173 to an eventual 131. She did this by making more effective use of financial and human resources, as well as implementing and integrating new technology to the benefit of customer service. She saw her budget cut and her staff reduced 21 percent, from 1,959 in 2003 to 1,566 today, all through attrition.

One of her first steps to consolidate were to combine the several branch offices scattered around Lansing into one “SUPER!Center”. This saved taxpayers approximately $1.3mil a year in rent to private parties. Next she promoted renaming the newly consolidated Lansing office into the Richard J. Austin Building, in respect for his years of service.

As part of the modernization, she added on the spot tab renewal, adding magnetic strip readers allowing information to be scanned instead of being keyed in. This helped eliminate typing errors, and enabled faster transactions. Another one of her accomplishments was the expansion of the department's online registration renewal program. She also added the ability to pay at the counter with Discover and MasterCard to all branch offices. Under her two terms, the number of online transactions increased from 275,000 in FY 2003, to approximately 1.25 million in FY 2010. These Internet transactions are processed at half the cost as those done over the counter.

Transparency

Mrs. Land led the Michigan SOS office into becoming the most fiscally-transparent Michigan Department by showing every departmental expenditure on the internet. The website was updated quarterly by Mrs. Land's office.

Promoting Technology

In an effort to promote the value of Michigan's SOS website and cut over-the-counter costs, Land directed her name off of the SOS buildings so the department could place an advertisement for the Michigan SOS website ("Michigan.gov/SOS").

Elections

As Chief Elections Officer, Mrs. Land led the way by advocating for the cancellation of Michigan’s Republican presidential primary in 2004, which saved taxpayers about $7 million.

Mrs. Land saved millions of taxpayer dollars by consolidating local elections, making a statewide voting system called "optical scan." Votes are now counted more efficiently.

"Our team at the Department of State has worked hard to make the voting process easier and provide convenient services. I'm proud of the progress we've been able to make for Michigan's citizens." - Terri Lynn Land

Mrs. Land was presented with the Marvin E. Beekman Advocacy Award at a meeting of the MPAS Board of Directors in Lansing. The award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to rights protection and advocacy for people with disabilities, according to MPAS. In 2012 she was recognized by the National Disability Rights Network again for her work as Secretary of State, receiving an award for having made over 90% of voting and polling locations handicapped accessible during her tenure.

Mrs. Land also promoted voter participation by launching several outreach initiatives. Michigan reached a new high of registered voters with 7.47 million in 2008 and also saw record turnout in 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections. The Voter Information Center on Michigan's SOS website has been credited as helping the outreach initiatives.

Michigan's voter ID law and digitized signature project were Mrs. Land's hallmarks. The signature project added roughly 6.8 million signatures to the Michigan's Qualified Voter File. She also introduced E-pollbooks which checks-in voters by scanning their driver’s licenses. This made election results more reliable.

Drivers License and ID changes

Mrs. Land fought for federal approval of the high tech enhanced drivers license (EDL), and worked with both political and business leaders to make it happen. These EDL's contain the same high-tech chip as a passport does, allowing travelers to more easily re-enter the United States at both land and sea borders. This helped promote and protect the state's security and it's economy. The high-tech chip does not come standard in regular drivers licenses, meaning if citizens want one they have to apply specifically for an EDL. Over 300,000 of these enhanced drivers licenses have been issued since the creation of the program.

Another concern of Terri Lynn Land was the safety of young drivers. She helped lead the production of a vertical drivers license that was designed to keep age-restricted products like alcohol and tobacco out of young people's hands. She then headed a campaign to increase awareness about the new vertical licenses. She brought consistency to the state's driver education program, and through partnerships with the AAA and AARP, she was able to provide information and inspections that helped keep the elderly safe behind the wheel as well.

Reviews on Land's years as SOS

2003: Service, Safety, Savings highlight Land's first year - Consolidated Elections package a victory for voters, taxpayers -

2004: Second Year Successes - Junk Cars Clean Up New Legislation -

2005: Three in a Row! - Tuscola County PLUS opens doors to area customers -

2006: Continued Success! - Department of State's Efforts to Feed Hungry Shatter Last Years Contributions -

2007: Solid Results for Taxpayers - The Drive for a Safer Michigan - (Enhanced Licenses)

2008: Government for the People - Department of State, customers step forward to help hungry -

2009: Still Standing Strong for Customers Secretary Land awards $6,800 to cover Berkley Polling Place Improvements -

2010: Good Government through Customer Service Land Honored by Disability Rights Organization

Speaking to the Senior Women's Club about her years as SOS

Mrs. Land speaking to the Senior Women's Club about the duties that the office of Secretary of State entail. In her own words

Title

As secretary of state, Land is entitled to the courtesy title of the Honorable (abbreviated to Hon. or Hon'ble) for life.

Term Limits

In 1992 Mrs. Land served as the Treasurer and top petition strategist for the Michigan Term Limits Drive. The petition-drive collected 402,337 signatures, and Terri delivered them to the Michigan Secretary of State's office on December 16, 1991. In 1992 Michigan enacted term limits by a 59%-41% margin, becoming law in 2003.

1991 Term Limits Petition

Mrs. Land is the Secretary-Treasurer and Co-Founder of Restart Congress. Restart Congress' goal is to put Americans first by eliminating career politicians who have been corrupted by power and indolence.

2010 Michigan Gubernatorial Candidacy

In 2009 Land formed an exploratory committee for governor. Mrs. Land dropped out of the race in June 2009 and endorsed Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

Land ran for lieutenant governor as Michael Bouchard's running mate in 2010 primary election. Bouchard was unsuccessful in securing the Republican nomination, resulting in a fourth place finish.

Post Secretary of State Years

Terri Lynn Land has continued to stay active in conservative causes by co-founding Restart Congress and winning a seat on the Republican National Committee.

Republican National Committee

The Republican National Committee is responsible for promoting the party platform, fundraising for candidates and organizing the national convention. There are 168 members on the committee, which consists of three representatives from every state and territory.

Issues

Restoring Michigan's full complement of delegates at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa is Terri’s current goal. Because Michigan had placed its primary early, Michigan lost half its delegation at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Mrs. Land has promised to keep fighting for seating the Michigan Delegation.

An important change Mrs. Land hopes to bring to the Republican National Committee is the idea of a 'middle convention.' She believes by holding a Republican National Convention every two years, Republicans would have more time to improve the party platform. Michigan’s Mackinaw conference is a model for this ‘middle convention’.

"The RNC's convention is every four years. Well, in this day and age of Twitter and Facebook and cable and Fox News, news goes fast, and presidential campaigns start earlier and earlier, and I think we need accountability from our elected officials," she said. "I think we ought to have a big four-year convention where all the folks come together across the country and have President Romney come and talk to us and have the congressional (people) come and talk to us, and talk to us about what's going on." –Terri Lynn Land – Speech to the Alpena Tea Party 2012

Terri believes that a good Committeeperson should be accessible, committed and involved. She has pledged to help grass roots activists by bringing experience and enthusiasm to every election. She has promised to promote Republican events and attend Lincoln Day Dinners.

Terri Lynn Land won her election for Michigan's National Committeewoman by a 55%-45% margin from the delegates at the Michigan Republican State Convention in May 2012.

Land will formally assume the role after the Republican National Convention in August 2012.

Electoral history

Michigan Secretary of State Election 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Terri Lynn Land (incumbent)	2,091,533	56.18
	Democratic	Carmella Sabaugh	1,561,380	41.94

Michigan Secretary of State Election 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Terri Lynn Land	1,703,261	54.96
	Democratic	Melvin Hollowell	1,331,441	42.96

External links

• (Terri Lynn Land website)
• Michigan Secretary of State (official website)
• Michigan Republican Party (official website)

See also

• Michigan Republican Party on Wikipedia