By K.D. Norris
It was a holiday season of change and challenges for new Kent County Treasurer Peter MacGregor.
The two-term State Senator representing Wyoming and Kentwood won a countywide election in November 2020 with the shadow of term limits set to end his time in Lansing in two years. He was sworn in to the Kent County office in mid-December and officially resigned his 28th District seat on Dec. 31 — but not before helping to push through state government a series of “essential” COVID-19 related bills.
Last week, as he prepared to take over the county position this week, he talked with WKTV about his plans for his new public service duties and what he will miss about serving in state government. He also expressed concerns about how and when the constituents of his old senate district will again have representation — a process which he hopes will not be driven by partisan politics.
“I am gong to miss the friendships, the working relationships that I have with the people there,” MacGregor said. “I am going to miss my staff — I had five staff members. I am going to miss my colleagues. … (and) the policy people who are dedicated to making our state the best place to live and play and work. … That is what I am going to miss. I am not going to miss the politics.”
Replacement for senate seat driven by Governor
The currently Republican-held senate seats vacated by MacGregor and one-time Macomb County Sen. Pete Lucido, who won the Macomb County’s prosector position in November, leave the current balance of political power in the state senate at 20 Republicans and 16 Democrats.
State senators are all elected in the same years as the governor, with the last election one being in 2018. So for the two now open senate seats to be filled, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would need to call for a special election — which MacGregor hopes will occur.
At this point, the local senate seat “will be unfilled by an elected official, (but) there is still staff there that will help out the people of the 28th District, in fact it is my former staff,”MacGregor said. “But the sooner it is that the Governor calls for an election, the better it is for the people to have representation in the 28th District. … My hope is that the seat stays vacant for as little time as possible.”
The new Senate leadership will have Sen. Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) serving a second term as majority leader while Sen. Dan Lauwers (R-Brockway) will replace MacGregor as majority floor leader. MacGregor was also chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.
According to a spokesperson for the Kent County Clerk’s office, which controls county elections, filing the local seat is “completely at the mercy of when the Governor calls for the special election.”
When WKTV this week asked Gov. Whitmer’s office for its plans for calling a special election, a spokesperson in the office said the Governor was “reviewing possibilities.”
But the Kent County Clerk’s spokesperson noted that there could be a ripple effect no matter what she does.
“In both (open) seats you’ll likely see House members running for the special senate elections, so if she called the special for the August/November 2021 election dates, then that has the potential to leave a House seat vacant. It’s likely that she leave the Senate seat vacant for the final two years and not deal with the potential of the domino effect in the House.”
MacGregor wraps up work in Lansing
As Michigan’s 2020 Legislative session wrapped up in December, a spate of bills signed by the Governor (and a few vetoed) had Sen. MacGregor’s name attached. Some of them were sponsored by him and some had his name attached due to his role in Senate leadership.
“As the floor leader (as the session came to an end), I can control what moves, and towards the end, when we were running out of time, it made more sense to the leadership team to put some of these bills in the name of leadership because we just have a better way of moving the bills,” MacGregor said.
Many of the bills were COVID-19 related and, he said, “Timing was essential . … We needed to get those done before the session ended.”
One of those bills was SB 1258, which was signed by the Governor, dealt with “good employment practices both for employers and employees,” MacGregor said. “If the employees are doing every thing they were told to do, following the guidelines the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has issued, they can’t be fired.”
The law also includes protections for the employer in these times of COVID-19, when it comes to work environments.
“It protects workers from being discharged if they are sick and it also mandates that, if the employers follows all the rules the they are supposed to, especially for essential workers, the the essential workers can’t retaliate,” MacGregor said. “Everybody needed this bill to protect (the state) moving forward” in the pandemic.
Skill-set and goals for new new county position
MacGregor, in comparing his change in duties from state senator to county treasurer, says they are very different in most ways but that the common ground fits in with his skill-set and his personal outlook when it comes to taxpayers and use of their taxes.
“The financial aspect is probably where the similarities are,” he said. “I am going from a policy position to more of an administrative position, but working with the people’s tax dollars, making sure that you are a good steward of those tax dollars, I’ve done that since I was a supervisor in Cannon Township.”
In between serving as a township supervisor and a state senator, MacGregor served two terms as a state representative.
And as in the past, he sees a priority of his new position “is that you have got to put faces to those tax dollars.”
Pointing out that one of the duties of the treasurer is dealing with property foreclosures, he said he wants to work to help people who are threatened with foreclosure.
“You got to work with those people. They are not just addresses … you have to help those people as soon as possible,” he said.
MacGregor, who lives in Rockford, is a lifelong Michigan resident and was a small business owner before serving in Lansing. He is a graduate of Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business. He and his wife, Christie, have three sons.
