Lee Chatfield quits Southwest Michigan First amid uproar over his politics bridgemi.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bridgemi.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives has resigned as the head of an economic development organization just days after taking the job following significant pushback from community and business leaders.
In a letter posted to Twitter on Monday morning, Chatfield apologized for causing an unfortunate controversy, but not for the beliefs at the core of the issue. I can’t truthfully apologize for various conservative beliefs I espoused while in office, and I don’t think you wanted that. But many of my political opinions were causing an uproar. That much was obvious, Chatfield said in the letter, addressed to the company s board of directors.
Lee Chatfield’s first official move as CEO of Southwest Michigan First this week was to set a nondiscrimination policy that included LGBT protections for his new workplace.
That wasn’t his plan. In fact, much of his first week on the job hasn’t been what he envisioned when he accepted the position, based in Kalamazoo, to guide economic development across seven counties in the southwest corner of the state.
But the Republican, whose political career was launched by opposition to gay marriage, said he is seeing things differently these days.
“That’s not my role anymore,” he told Bridge Michigan.