Is Mark Hackel Running For Governor?

MACKINAC (WWJ) Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel seems to be entertaining the idea of running for governor of Michigan, but he's not announcing a run -- yet.

Hackel joined WWJ Newsradio 950 live at the Mackinac Policy Conference, where Michigan movers and shakers converge every year to set priorities.

Hackel discussed the announcement from General Motors that it was cutting a shift at the Warren assembly plant. "Overall we kind of expect there's going to be this kind of give and take when it comes to the auto industry and manufacturing. It's not so much of a shock or surprise if you know they're actually adding, investing in Macomb County billions of dollars, especially at the tech centers."

Hackel added that he sees the cuts as a transformation from labor jobs to high tech jobs. He says overall there are more than 419,000 people employed in Macomb County right now.

In the course of the talk, the governor's race came up.

"I would have made an announcement if I was actually saying I was running for governor," Hackel told WWJ's Roberta Jasina. "Do I think about it? Yeah, but I really like what I"m doing. That was a heck of a transformation from the Sheriff's Office, which I loved, to working as the county executive, but I've got a great team."