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| AG Bill Schuete with wife Cynthia, son Billy, and daughter Heidi |
By Brandon Hall
(Email him at WestMiPolitics@Gmail.com)
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof may not have had 20 Republican Senators in his pocket for Wednesday's gas tax vote, but he had controversial Senator Virgil Smith and Lt. Governor Brian Calley up his sleeve... Meekhof needed both to pass the legislation.
MIRS reports Calley "was kept hidden" until he swooped in to cast the tie-breaking 20th vote Wednesday after the Michigan Senate deadlocked 19-19 on the gas tax increase...And did Meekhof strike some sort of a deal with Virgil Smith??
Who wins here? The Gubernatorial prospects of Attorney General Schuette, undoubtedly. It's definitely not Michigan drivers, who will be hit with an average of a $72 annual tax increase if the #MeekhofGasTax is implemented.
How can Calley justify this to 2018 primary voters? His explanations may sell in Lansing and with possible donors, but it won't sell with the "real" voters who comprise the electorate. Calley was already on thin ice for backing Prop 1 so fervently, now this?
Calley dubbed himself during his campaign against Wes Nakagiri as "the Conservative voice" of the Snyder administration. Evidently, that voice has been silenced. With Paul Mitchell rumored to be giving a hard look at the soon to be open Congressional seat of Candice Miller, and other possible contenders Calley and Meekhof knee deep in support of some horrendous legislation, (Miller herself as well in DC) Bill Schuette will be celebrating more than America's birthday this weekend... He may have sown up the 2018 gubernatorial nomination this week.
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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.
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| Photo By Darlene Dowling Thompson |
For more than five years Brian Calley has been a cypher.
ReplyDeleteActually getting to cast a meaningful vote -- never mind what for -- is pretty much the high point of his career as Rick Snyder's sidekick.
Bill and Cindy Michigan ready "political and economic" change expected see difference when. Decide run for governorship we
ReplyDeleteneed you Snyder is "OUT"residents fear a joke okay! Hillary might run for governor making Michigan mockery of ineptness!