There have been a lot of rumors and accusations floating around the 33rd district in recent days. Below are some responses to some of the latest issues that have surfaced.
Jerk comment in the Ionia Sentinel Standard
Calley: I never said it.
Facts: In the newspaper column that he wrote, Calley said he’s seen campaigns turn people into jerks, a clear reference to Trebesh exposing his voting record and his public comments.
Did he write one last year before local school board elections? What about during the brutal Obama-McCain campaign in 2008? Has Calley ever written a column like this before? No. He decides to write it just as his campaign begins to heat up and people start to look at his record. How convenient.
Picture Caption
Calley: It’s the Michigan Business Tax, not the Dillion-Calley Tax.
Facts: A distinction without a difference. Calley himself has said his fingerprints are all over the MBT. He was one of the House’s lead conference committee members and was happy to stand next to Granholm and take credit for the bill when it passed. It’s only now, after the bill has proven to be a disaster, nearly doubling our unemployment rate in three years, that he’s trying to distance himself from his legislative work.
Morning Sun Article
Calley: Proof that Trebesh is lying. An independent columnist said Trebesh is lying every day.
Facts: That so-called “independent” columnist is actually the owner of MichiganLiberal.com. The week prior to his column attacking Trebesh he wrote a column attacking Christians and calling a statue of Jesus an “eyesore.”
Term Limits
Calley: Trebesh is distorting how much work I really do. The Speaker does not set the schedule all at once. That 67 day figure is wrong.
Facts: Brian is absolutely correct. When I contacted the House on April 7, 2010 to find out the number of session days, I was informed it was 67 days. As of today, it has “ballooned” to 73 days. It’s a good thing you got the entire month of July off. I don’t know how you survived those two-hour session days.
And as for claiming your term limits proposal wouldn’t apply to you as a sitting member. That’s true, if it passed and you stayed in the House. But, had it passed, and you as a candidate for the Senate, would be free to serve in the Senate for the longer terms that you yourself established.
Fundraising
Calley: Trebesh referenced my House account when I was running for the Senate. It’s a cheap parlor trick.
Facts: No, the cheap parlor trick was what Calley tried to do to hide his special interest funding. It’s a common slight-of-hand practice for politicians running for higher office to hide PAC money in an old account and then transferring it en mass to a new account.
It gives the politician the appearance of a “clean” fundraising report, listing mostly individual donors, and one or two huge (non itemized) transfers from the old account.
Ask yourself this: why would PACs throw away tens of thousands of dollars contributing to a campaign for an office that you’ve already announced you are not running for?
Support of Farms
Calley: Trebesh said I voted to put additional regulations on farmers. I actually was supporting the position of the Michigan Farm Bureau, who has endorsed me in this campaign.
Facts: Whether the Farm Bureau decided to roll over for these extremists is immaterial. Calley rolled over for these bullies, instead of fighting them, and it’s going to cost farmers.
Sometimes Pro-Life
Calley: The inference that I am not 100% pro-life is false.
Facts: I never said Calley was pro-choice. I said Calley was “sometimes” pro-life in that he did not co-sponsor six of 19 pending pro-life bills and resolutions, including the Personhood State Constitutional Amendment.
I’ve made a commitment to voters that I will NEVER miss an opportunity to support life.
Mr. Calley may try to claim that cosponsoring legislation means nothing, just actual votes. But throughout this campaign he’s made a big deal about all the bills he’s sponsored. So which it is? Is it important or not? Or is it important just when you say it is?
And Mr. Calley accepting campaign contributions from Christie Todd Whitman’s pro-abortion Republican Leadership Council, whose membership includes Planned Parenthood Republicans for Choice, Republicans for Choice, Republican Majority for Choice and The WISH List – which claims to be “the nation’s largest fundraising network for pro-choice Republican women candidates.”
Borrowing
Calley: In 2007, the state cashed in a portion of its Tobacco Settlement. Nothing was borrowed.
Facts: You can play Clintonesque semantics games, but I’m not sure it’s to your credit to deny borrowing and, instead, claim you were “merely” stealing from our kids and grandkids.
But to put a finer point on it: The Mackinac Center for Public Policy Research disagrees with you. Researcher Jack McHugh wrote in its Fall 2009 edition of Capitol Confidential a column titled “It’s from the Children: Borrow and spend not just a Washington Problem.” He calls the raid on the tobacco settlement which was meant for the future – QUOTE – pure Washington-style borrow-and-spend -- UNQUOTE.
Liberal vs. Conservative
Calley: A bizarre ranking assertion
Facts: Calley was ranked as one of the most liberal members of the Republican Caucus by BOTH Michigan Informational & Research Service AND Inside Michigan Politics. Bizarre? Hardly. Both publications are widely respected, often quoted and which virtually every legislative office subscribes to, including, I suspect Rep. Calley.
And, of course, there are the words of Rep. Calley himself, who told GCSI Intel on July 18, 2008 that “many times he’s voted liberal or Democratic.”
