Calley at Harvard: Does It Matter? - The Ballenger Report

Part-Time Lt. Governor Calley Scoffs at Only Constitutional Role for Lt. Governor

Cites His Legislative Role as “Largely Ceremonial” Despite Pointing out “Failure” of Legislature When He Did Not Contribute

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stu Sandler
(734) 846-4067
June 22, 2018

Midland, MI—Responding to questions by Bill Ballenger on his weekly podcast about a recent ad that blasts Calley for skipping 1/3 of his job as Lt. Governor to go to Harvard while still receiving a state salary, Calley responded “They are pointing to something pretending like it’s the main part of the job but as a practical matter, it’s very ceremonial.” According to the Michigan Constitution Article V, Section 25, the only prescribed duty of the Lt. Governor is to preside over the Michigan Senate. Earlier in the podcast, the part-time Lt. Governor cited issues like auto insurance rates where the legislature had “100 percent failure” and were unable to pass legislation.

“Maybe if the Part-time Lt. Governor wasn’t gallivanting to Boston, skipping a third of his constitutionally required role while still receiving his 6-figure salary, Calley could have been part of the process for auto insurance reform instead of ignoring it for 12 years,” said Better Jobs Stronger Families Executive Director Stu Sandler. “If Calley believes he is too important for the roles the Constitution lays out for Lt. Governor, he shouldn’t have taken the job. If Brian Calley took his role as Lt. Governor more seriously, he could have tried to help address some of these problems instead of complaining about the lack of progress on them.”

In the podcast, Calley cites issues like auto insurance reform, the poisoning of Flint water, and low child reading levels, and fails to recognize more engagement with the legislature might have helped come to solutions instead of waiting the final 6 months of his 8-year term to reveal his plan to solve these problems. Better Jobs Stronger Families PAC has called on Calley to refund 1/3 of his salary for the 3 years he attended Harvard and missed 1/3 of the State Senate sessions.

To listen to Ballenger’s full Friday morning podcast, go to: https://soundcloud.com/user-595768561/calley-calculatesdemocratic-dudvnp-gets-supremes-rsvp/s-h1cV7 (Calley’s response to the Harvard ad starts at 31:51)

To read the October 2014 article in the Detroit Free Press on Calley and Harvard, go to: https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/27/calley-goes-harvard/18035787/

To read the May 2015 article in the Detroit Free Press on Calley’s graduation, go to: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/05/22/harvard-grad-brian-calley/27728277/

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