PSC is pleased to announce the winner of the Michigan Prophesy Contest for the year 2009. Drumbeat. The Michigan Prophet is Luke Capizzo.
Capizzo is a Communications Specialist with the Michigan Credit Union League. In addition to being skilled in prophecies, he has a solid handle on media relations and strategic communication. He interned in the Governor's Communications Office and worked for Lansing’s Lezotte Miller public relations firm. He is a grad of MSU’s James Madison College.
Luke, you join an illustrious group of past winners including State Senator Tom George and Lansing public relations whiz, David Waymire.
Luke correctly prophesied 53 of 63 questions about 2009 events.
Three people got 50 questions right: Phil Hoffman, Tom Ivacko, and Jake Davison.
Hoffman served 10 years in the Michigan House of Representatives and 10 more in the state Senate. Prior to being elected to the state legislature, Phil was deputy sheriff of Jackson County. He now manages his own Lansing lobbying firm, Hoffman Legislative Consultants.
Ivacko is program manager and administrator at University of Michigan's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) within the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. In a 2007 CLOSUP report, Michigan's Economic Transition: Toward a Knowledge Economy, Ivacko argued that the 20th century Michigan economic model of low-skill, high-wage manufacturing no longer works and that the only hope for a prosperous future is based on a knowledge economy. Tom received his BA and MPA from the University of Michigan.
Davison is the Communications Director of Americans for Prosperity—Michigan, a grassroots organization supporting free markets, limited government, and fiscal responsibility. A Lansing resident and MSU grad, Jake was worked in the state legislature and on campaigns statewide and consulted clients on issues management and media relations.
Congratulations, Luke, Phil, Tom, and Jake!
As to the questions posed in December 2008, we were pleasantly surprised that so many Democrats and Republicans entered the gubernatorial sweepstakes; the Tigers won more games than they lost; CMU won the MAC championship; the Detroit Free Press won a Pulitzer for local reporting of Kwame’s text messaging; and that a highly lauded film, Up in the Air, was partially filmed here (at the McNamara Terminal).
We were unpleasantly surprised that our unemployment rate exceeded 14% at year’s end; 8 of the 9 selected Michigan stocks did not reach our hoped-for values (Ford Motor, the exception); neither MSU nor UM won or shared the Big Ten football conference championship; and no actor from Michigan won a Tony (those who saw Jeff Daniels’ performance in God of Carnage know that he deserved one).
2010 Michigan Prophecy Contest
The 2010 Michigan Prophecy Contest was announced in December of 2009. We are no longer accepting entries for the 2010 Michigan Prophecy Contest. All entries were to be recieved no later than 5PM on January 8, 2010. The winners of the 2010 contest will be announced in January of 2011.