Petty Politics? Senate Majority Leader Attacks Senate Gubernatorial Candidate

Patrick Colbeck

Arlan Meekhof

Petty Politics?  Embattled Michigan Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof who is under fire for his poor Senate building decision strips Senator Patrick Colbeck of his Michigan Senate Committees and Subcommittees.  Here is what Patrick Colbeck believes happened:

I was notified yesterday via a letter from the Senate Business Office that the Senate Majority Leader, Arlan Meekhof, decided to remove me from all Michigan Senate Committees and Subcommittees. No reason for the decision was provided in the memo, but last week Meekhof approached me to express that he was upset that I did not notify him of my intent to attend a Right to Life of Holland Dinner which is in his district.

His decision was an obvious, petty, political response to our rising political momentum in the wake of the GOP Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island. He was simply looking for any excuse he might use to cast aspersions upon my gubernatorial run. My attendance at a Right to Life of Michigan Event in his district appears to be just what he was looking for. Remember, at one time, Arlan was being considered for a gubernatorial run.

I should not be surprised by the Senate Majority Leader’s actions. Despite my service record, I was the only Republican Senator not to receive any committee chairmanships when he took over the leadership role. When I asked him at the time why I did not receive any committee chairmanships, he cited my opposition to Obamacare Expansion and Common Core as the top 2 reasons.

It is worth noting that I am on the side of the majority of Republicans with these positions. I'm not backing down. I speak for the majority of citizens who are tired of politics as usual and want our elected officials to represent the interests of the people who elected them to office not the special interests who provide the bulk of the financing for their campaigns.

As former Speaker Newt Gingrich once shared with me, ‘One should not be surprised if the alligators bite while one is draining the swamp’.