Charles Smiley (Michigan)
Charles Smiley (b. May 4, 1954) is a former Democratic member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing District 50 from 2010 to 2017.
Smiley did not seek re-election to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2016 because he was term-limited.
Smiley served as mayor of Burton for 20 years, and as a member of the Burton City Council for four years.
Biography
Smiley's professional experience includes working at General Motors Truck and Bus Assembly Plant for 18 years.
Committee assignments
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Smiley served on the following committees:
| Michigan committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Natural Resources |
| • Tourism and Outdoor Recreation, Minority Vice Chair |
| • Transportation and Infrastructure |
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Smiley served on the following committees:
| Michigan committee assignments, 2012 |
|---|
| • Agriculture |
| • Natural Resources, Vice chair |
| • Transportation and Infrastructure |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Smiley served on the following committees:
| Michigan committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Energy and Technology |
| • Military and Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security |
| • Transportation |
Campaign themes
2012
Smiley's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[1]
Enacting the Emergency Financial Managers Law
- Excerpt: "This undermines democracy because the Governor can make the determination that a local unit of government or school district that doesn’t meet his standards can take over that entity and wipe out the vote of the people who reside in that area."
Tax on Pensions
- Excerpt: "Making senior citizens pay for big tax breaks for Businesses, who haven’t created jobs, reducing the spending power and consumer demand that small businesses need to thrive and create jobs."
Massive Cuts in Education Funding
- Excerpt: "Our residents have said loud and clear that they do not want the budget balanced on the backs of our children. It is deplorable that the Governor and legislative Republicans refused to listen to the people, choosing to divert state funding meant for classrooms to giant corporations instead."
Worker’s Compensation Law
- Excerpt: "This makes it more difficult for worker’s who become injured on the job to be compensated for those injuries."
Unemployment Benefits Reduction
- Excerpt: "Last year any person who was laid off would become eligible for up to 26 weeks of Unemployment benefits. Beginning in January 2012, the maximum weeks have been reduced to 20 weeks. This new law change offers fewer weeks of eligibility benefits than any other state in the country."
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2016
Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on August 2, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 19, 2016. Incumbent Charles Smiley (D) did not seek re-election because of term-limits.
Tim Sneller defeated Michael Matheny in the Michigan House of Representatives District 50 general election.[2]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 50 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Tim Sneller |
52.03% | 22,773 | |
| Republican | Michael Matheny | 47.97% | 20,992 | |
| Total Votes | 43,765 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State | ||||
Tim Sneller defeated Raymond Freiberger in the Michigan House of Representatives District 50 Democratic primary.[3][4]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 50 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Tim Sneller |
67.53% | 4,537 | |
| Democratic | Raymond Freiberger | 32.47% | 2,181 | |
| Total Votes | 6,718 | |||
Michael Matheny defeated Jackie Seal in the Michigan House of Representatives District 50 Republican primary.[3][4]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 50 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Michael Matheny |
63.83% | 1,973 | |
| Republican | Jackie Seal | 36.17% | 1,118 | |
| Total Votes | 3,091 | |||
2014
Elections for the Michigan House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election was held on August 5, 2014, and a general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was April 22, 2014. Incumbent Charles Smiley was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Craig Withers was unopposed in the Republican primary. Smiley defeated Withers in the general election.[5][6][7][8]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Charles Smiley Incumbent |
58.7% | 17,018 | |
| Republican | Craig Withers | 41.3% | 11,949 | |
| Total Votes | 28,967 | |||
2012
Smiley won re-election in the 2012 election for Michigan House of Representatives District 50. He ran unopposed in the August 7 Democratic primary and defeated Miles Gadola (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[9]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Charles Smiley Incumbent |
60.8% | 26,678 | |
| Republican | Miles Gadola | 39.2% | 17,165 | |
| Total Votes | 43,843 | |||
2010
Smiley won election to the District 50 seat in 2010. He defeated Richard Burrus, James Cowan, Jeffery Houston and Gerald Master's in the August 3 Democratic primary. He defeated William Ralph (R) in the general election on November 2, 2010.[10][11]
| Michigan House of Representatives, District 50 General election (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Charles Smiley (D)
|
13,647 | |||
| William Ralph (R) | 12,134 | |||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
Tea Party Scorecard
The Independent Tea Party Patriots, a Michigan Tea Party group, grades the votes of this and every other Michigan legislator on “core tea party issues” in a regularly-updated scorecard. 100% is considered an ideal rating.[12]
January 2011 - March 2012
Charles Smiley received a 10% rating on the January 2011 - March 2012 Tea Party Scorecard.[12]
Personal
Smiley and his wife, Pam, have two children.
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term Charle + Smiley + Michigan + Legislature
See also
- Michigan State Legislature
- Michigan House of Representatives
- House Committees
- Michigan state legislative districts
External links
- Office website
- Official campaign website
- Profile from Open States
- Profile from Vote-USA
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign contributions: 2010
Footnotes
- ↑ "charlessmiley4staterep," Official Campaign Website
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 official general election results," accessed May 2, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Candidate Listing," accessed April 22, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Michigan Secretary of State, "2016 Michigan Election Results," accessed August 2, 2016
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "Representative in State Legislature," accessed August 6, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "Representative in State Legislature," accessed December 5, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2014 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed May 27, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "2014 Official Michigan General Candidate Listing," accessed September 8, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Department of State, "2012 Official Michigan Primary Candidate Listing," accessed June 5, 2012
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "State Representative," accessed March 23, 2014
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State, "State Representative," accessed March 23, 2014
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Michigan Votes, "Tea Party Scorecard Jan 2011-Mar 2012," accessed June 22, 2012
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jim Slezak (D) |
Michigan House of Representatives District 50 2011–2017 |
Succeeded by Tim Sneller (D) |
