Name: Commentary: Chatfield's short-lived CEO gig changes calculus on term limits
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Commentary: Chatfield's short-lived CEO gig changes calculus on term limits

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How does a 32-year-old northern Michigan native who taught at his father's Christian school in his early 20s before serving six years in the Legislature land a lucrative job directing economic development activities for Southwest Michigan?That's the nagging question Southwest Michigan First's board of directors faces in the coming days, weeks and months after former House Speaker Lee Chatfield as CEO of the organization just a week into the job.Here's one explanation: term limits.Legislative term limits has given rise to an increasingly of legislators constantly looking for their next gig and using their stature and power as lawmakers to land a job after the state Constitution says they must leave office.To be clear, there's no evidence Chatfield ever leveraged this job while still in office. Chatfield has said he negotiated this deal in January after leaving office.But there's also little evidence that Chatfield had any other qualifications for the job.In no other executive search would Chatfield's resume rise to the top of the stack other than the fact that he was the speaker of the House of Representatives, has political connections from being speaker and is very ambitious.But some board members at Southwest Michigan First apparently wanted to hitch their organization to Chatfield's rising political star without considering how he got to the Legislature in the first place — and that was ultimately his undoing here.Chatfield defeated Republican Rep. Frank Foster, R-Petoskey, in a 2014 GOP primary by opposing Foster's support of extending civil rights protections for gays, lesbians and transgender Michigan residents so they can't be fired or denied housing because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.His rise to power began by unseating the one Republican in the Legislature at the time who saw the changing societal view on gay rights and had the courage to sponsor an amendment to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.Chatfield's appointment as CEO of Southwest Michigan First was the first reckoning he has faced as a political figure for his 2014 campaign against Foster. His resignation letter submitted Monday to the Southwest Michigan First board was sincere in recognizing that reality."I don't want to feel I have to be quiet about that within this community so I could collect a paycheck," Chatfield wrote. "That's not right to anybody. And I can't truthfully apologize for various conservative beliefs I espoused while in office, and I don't think you wanted that."As it turns out, Foster was more in touch with where the entire state is on giving LGBTQ+ people an equal footing in our society than Chatfield remains today.In his letter, Chatfield acknowledged he was "already admittedly walking a fine line" when he took the CEO job in a college town that's increasingly progressive."It is true, that while in office, I upheld my personal convictions and those I believed held by my constituents," Chatfield wrote. "And as CEO, I was more than willing to uphold the values of the company. But I knew I couldn't within myself be honest to those around me by always agreeing on what good public policy was or what was necessarily right or wrong."That the business people who ran Southwest Michigan First's CEO search didn't see over hiring Chatfield coming is executive search malpractice.Cancel culture didn't cancel Lee Chatfield because of his conservative Christian beliefs. This was a public rebuke of how he ultimately became Speaker Lee Chatfield.Chatfield arguably couldn't get hired to do the same job in Midland, a much more conservative area than Kalamazoo.Why's that?Because one of the biggest backers of amending the state civil rights laws is Dow Inc. The chemical giant's chairman and CEO, Jim Fitterling, is openly gay.Dow is not supporting the Fair and Equal campaign to add LGBTQ+ protections to the civil rights law just because Fitterling is the boss. The multinational corporation is doing it because it's good for business and even better for recruiting highly educated chemists to live and work in mid-Michigan.The jury has returned a verdict on this issue, which is why major Southwest Michigan employers such as Whirlpool Corp., Kellogg Co., Stryker Corp. and Consumers Energy Co. are backing the voter-initiated law that may go before the Legislature this spring.Michigan's corporate community is firmly behind civil rights for the LGBTQ+ residents of this state. Their own internal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts demand that they be.Glengariff Group Inc., a Lansing-based polling firm, found in its most recent statewide survey that 76 percent of voters support adding protections for sexual orientation and gender identity to the civil rights law that affords equal rights in employment and housing based on race, national origin, age, sex, weight, marital status and religious beliefs.This 45-year-old law prevents, for example, a Catholic boss from firing an employee who got divorced because Catholicism shuns divorce. But there's nothing in law preventing a Catholic boss from firing an employee because they are gay based on the Roman Catholic Church's position on homosexuality.About 83 percent of voters surveyed by Glengariff Group said they oppose allowing an employer to fire someone who is gay or transgender because homosexuality violates their deeply held beliefs. This is the exemption Chatfield and other outstate Republicans have been advocating for, creating a religious justification for discrimination.Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Southfield Democrat who is openly gay, was elected in the same freshman class as Chatfield in 2014. He spent years talking to Chatfield about LGBTQ+ civil rights and said he found him more "respectful, thoughtful and engaged" on those issues than most Republicans.But, when Chatfield held the gavel, "Elliott-Larsen didn't move," Moss said."You don't win any prizes for exclaiming your support after you (could have) had something to do about it in the Legislature," Moss said, referring to Chatfield's efforts last week to quell his controversial hiring by at Southwest Michigan First based on sexual orientation and gender identity.Pollster Richard Czuba, the president of Glengariff Group who is openly gay, noted Chatfield was elected by "a sliver" of his own constituents by defeating Foster on this issue."That gets you elected in a primary," Czuba said. "But you're going to pay a price for it. And that price is when you go out into the real world, the world is changing."The implosion of Chatfield's first post-Legislature job is a cautionary tale for other legislators contemplating their next move after they hit the term-limits wall.Term-limits created the illusion that a $71,685-a-year job as a state rep on the resume can be easily be converted into a six-figure gig in corporate America, regardless of your previous political stances. That's not the case anymore. In this case, words, voting records and actions mattered.And that was Lee Chatfield's reckoning in this debacle.RECOMMENDED FOR YOULetterto theEditor&nbsp;Want to get something off your chest? or hit us up on or .RECOMMENDED FOR YOUSign up for newsletters

How does a 32-year-old northern Michigan native who taught at his father's Christian school in his early 20s before serving six years in the Legislature land a lucrative job directing economic development activities for Southwest Michigan?That's the nagging question Southwest Michigan First's board of directors faces in the coming days, weeks and months after former House Speaker Lee Chatfield as CEO of the organization just a week into the job.Here's one explanation: term limits.Legislative term limits has given rise to an increasingly of legislators constantly looking for their next gig...

Commentary: Chatfield's short-lived CEO gig changes calculus on term limits

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