Houdini still lives in the form of the Granholm executive office.  When Philip Morris first lost their tobacco suit for false advertising involving children and use of psychological studies I was thrilled. That fire was soon extinguished when it became clear that the $8 billion would never be used to help victims of smoking or to prevent other children from being tempted to smoke.  Instead it was used first by Engler and then the Marlboro Woman in Lansing to act as a surrogate to provide money for pet political projects.
     The smoke began when the tobacco trust fund began to be shuffled from one department or fund to another like the Strategic Fund, Tobacco Finance Authority, Mezzanine Act, 21st Century Jobs Act, and all types of quasi-legal Michigan Acts that very carefully began to privatize the tobacco funds until those funds were completely privatized and sold for $400 million to pump into Granholm and Bishops's failed state budget.
     That money got Granholm re-elected by being used to get "new jobs" for Michigan by flying her all over the world to find jobs other countries didn't want and shipping them here.  A reversal of the Mexican immigration jobs concept of unwanted American jobs. It did create a lot of high-priced jobs but these were the jobs created by the tobacco money to run all of these programs and filled by supporters of the Granholm administration and some influential Republicans.
     Where is the Tobacco Trust Fund Money now - only Harry Houdini knows for sure.  But you can find out by carefully wading through this maze of deception laid out to make this money disappear and not even be questioned. While you are at it look for the money schools were supposed to get in addition to the gambling money, also where the hundreds millions of dollars from unreturned bottle deposits goes, and if $318,000 for a turtle fence along I-31 in Muskegon is just a nice touch of irony. Wonder who has the contacts in Lansing to build that fence.