State Sen. Joseph Bellino, a Republican, recently took office and said he plans to advocate for his rural constituents. Courtesy | Facebook

 

Bellino formerly represented state House District 17 in northern Monroe County. He now represents most of Hillsdale County, Lenawee County, and his home county of Monroe under the new state Senate District 16.

Bellino said the position is an extension of giving back to his community. Before running for office, Bellino was a trustee at Monroe County Community College and helped run a family-owned convenience store for almost 25 years. He said he thinks politicians failed to represent their constituents.

We would see that Meijer, Kroger, and Walmart had bills introduced and passed to help them, but nothing for the small, independent store like I had in Monroe,” Bellino said. “My representative for Monroe County was quiet about these things. He would never go to Lansing to advocate for us.”

Bellino decided to run against his representative, incumbent Democrat Bill LaVoy, in 2016. Unexpectedly, Bellino won by more than a 5% margin. In the 2018 election, he won against LaVoy’s wife Michelle by more than 10%.

“I decided to take on this two-term Democrat, thinking I would lose, but that I would learn how to run and I would win the next election. Come to find out, I beat him and his wife, too,” Bellino said.

One of Bellino’s longtime allies in Michigan politics is Hillsdale’s Republican state Rep. Andrew Fink ’06. He looks to continue their work on improving rural Michigan.

“I always try to look at legislation with a view toward how it impacts rural and small town Michigan communities,” Fink said. “An example from last term is the work we did on legislation that would allow rural hospitals to continue to provide emergency services, ensuring that there is emergency care available throughout the whole state, not just in our most populous areas.”

According to Bellino and Fink, hospitals are a rare asset in regions with sparse populations like Hillsdale County, so one of their joint first goals is to return funding to rural healthcare.

“The first items Gov. Whitmer cut on her budget were rural services, rural sheriff’s patrol, rural hospitals, money for rural school districts with buses that drive many miles,” Bellino said. “I want to keep that hospital open and keep it viable.”

Fink also said he sees a threat to southern Michigan’s funding.

“This term, I expect many government programs designed by the Democrat majority to more heavily benefit areas with higher population concentration,” Fink said. “The people I represent can be certain that I will always speak up for those of us living in the countryside.”

Republican state legislators like Bellino plan to wait and see what bills Democrats will introduce before acting. With a 20-18 Democratic majority in the state Senate, Bellino said he expects the minority party will face an uphill battle with new bills.

“During a majority, everything is talked about in committee by the Democrats,” Bellino said. “Everything talked about on the floor will be their bills first. I’m sure there will be a lot of bipartisan stuff later.”

Bellino and his office, however, continue to plan for action.

“The first few weeks have been great,” Bellino said. “Currently we’re strategizing what kind of amendments we’ll put up against some of the bills coming our way, but mainly we’re waiting for the Democrats to do something.”

Bellino’s first days in the state Senate have included introducing a new office staff to the public. His office only hired Michigan natives, which Bellino said is an important asset to his constituency work.

“My top priority is to provide residents with the best service possible, and my excellent staff will help tremendously to achieve that goal,” Bellino said in a press release.

Bellino announced his staff members included Chief of Staff Joe Martin, Constituent Relations Director Margie Roggelin, and District Liaison Tracey Oberleiter.

Martin previously served as chief of staff for three separate state senators. He received his bachelor’s degree from Alma College and attended law school at Western Michigan University.

Roggelin was born and raised in Monroe and received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Siena Heights University. She handled projects for two state senators before Bellino.

Oberleiter worked at Monroe Bank & Trust for nearly 50 years, until retiring and becoming a district liaison for Representative Dale Zorn in 2019. He is currently the state chairman of Michigan Ducks Unlimited and the former chairman of the United Way of Monroe County.

“What we are currently doing is the definition of insanity: trying the same thing over and over again, expecting different results,” Bellino said. “We need to bring some value back to the community. We need to keep our hospitals open. We need to help our nonprofits take care of people. That’s what I’ll work on.”