Patrick Colbeck

Patrick Colbeck is a Republican member of the Michigan Senate, representing the northwestern portion of Wayne County.^[1] During his first term in the Michigan Senate, he served on the Senate Leadership Team as the Assistant Caucus Chair. He also served as the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and State Police budgets. Prior to serving in the Michigan Senate, he served as a Management Consultant and President of Perspective Shifts, LLC. He launched Tek Made Easy in 2007 to provide SharePoint-based web services for clients. In 2006, he published the book Information Technology Roadmap for Professional Service Firms.

Prior to his management consulting career, Colbeck was employed by Boeing as a Senior Design Engineer responsible for components of the Environmental Control and Life Support System and Quest Airlock module for International Space Station. He later provided contract systems engineering services to the Department of Defense for work on advanced simulation system for training military forces.^[2]

Colbeck is a graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School. He later graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with a Bachelors of Science in Engineering for Aerospace in 1987 and a Masters of Science in Engineering for Aerospace in 1988.^[3] He went on to study Life Sciences at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France whose international faculty included Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Dr. Oleg Atkov.

During his service in the Michigan Senate, Colbeck led the effort to make Michigan the 24th Right-to-Work state in the United States. Recognized as the "most vocal opponent of anything to do with Obamacare",^[4] he led the effort to oppose state-based health exchanges in Michigan and Medicaid Expansion. He was successful regarding the state-based exchange effort but, despite a procedural move that temporarily blocked passage, he was ultimately unsuccessful in stopping Medicaid Expansion which is now referred to as the Healthy Michigan program. His opposition to Obamacare featured the introduction of free market alternatives based upon an expansion of Direct Primary Care Services offerings.^[5] The Senator is also responsible for the passage of legislation to expand school choice and he has been a vocal opponent of the Common Core Standards Initiative. In 2015, he challenged Michigan elected officials to debate him on why they thought tax increases were needed to fix Michigan roads.^[6] He is responsible for improving government transparency regarding how the state spends taxpayer money (See www.tenmillionaccountants.com). As the Senate Chairman of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs and State Police budgets, he required quarterly reporting of key performance metrics for each department service. This improved accountability is credited with improving the state services for veterans from one of the worst in the nation to the second best. The Senator is also a co-Founder and Board Member for the Michigan Armed Forces Hospitality Center known as the Freedom Center.

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