The Senator's Rock & Roll rise

Bearing Scars - Michael Ertel

Senator Jeff Clemens shares his journey from a shy Michigan youth to a prominent Florida Democrat, blending journalism, advocacy, and political reform. His rise was marked by integrity, resilience, and a commitment to ju

Key takeaways

• Journalism shaped his passion for truth and accountability

Transcript preview

Today's episode of Bearing Scars is sponsored by the Churchill Strategy Group. In today's complex world, your voice needs to be heard from City Hall to the halls of the White House. Whether you're navigating local regulations, state policy, or federal legislation, Churchill Strategy Group's strategic insight opened doors, builds coalitions, and turns challenges into victories. Visit them online at Churchill Strategy Group's strategic insight. Inside and out everyone you know is got them your mom your mom and dad and all your friends enjoy your scars scars enjoy your scars enjoy your scars enjoy your scars enjoy your scars. Today on bearing scars were meeting a man who scars derailed his life just a decade ago a political fast track in Florida as one of the highest ranking Democratic senators in the third largest state in the nation. His work in economic development, social, medical, and community buildings saw Senator Clemens as a statewide leader on a potentially national trajectory. One thing you'll notice about Jeff is he has a natural communicator, but he's the shy reserve communicator who's always naturally let others shine. He was in a band with a recording contract. but not in front as the lead singer. He was an award-winning journalist, but telling the stories of others. He was an advocate for so many in his community, but often let others take the glory. Yet through his shyness, people saw a natural, humble leader, so they elected him to lead. In this episode, we'll discuss his idyllic childhood in Michigan and his rise to one of the most influential leaders in the state of Florida. If you like this episode, I encourage you to listen to our previous episodes and follow us on whichever podcast platform you use. The premiere episode, His Second Chance, featured Desmond Mead, a man who went from homeless drug addict to one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Our episode titled A Wrestler's Addiction. deadly secret, where someone you know as a Chamber of Commerce President reveals for the first time the deadly consequences of her addiction. The quiet man introduced us to the former CEO of a garbage company who was molested for years as a child. Forty years after he thought the abuse had ended, his abuser returned. In finding her voice, the actress we all remember as the voice of Sally and the Charlie Brown cartoons, reveals her spiral and eventual peace. We met a former mafia enforcer in the family business. The New Englander's mafia life had predictable consequences, including prison, being shot in the back of the head, and an amazing transformation. We went to the heartland of America for a chilling episode titled, Soccer Mom dealer, to meet an Idaho mother whose own addiction inadvertently caused her to become a drug dealer to have all people, her own son. If you've seen the Amazon Prime documentary, Ram Khan, who the F is Jason Porter, you already know some of the story of the featured victim. But what our episode of bearing scars with Heather Ravet revealed were secrets that even her mother didn't know until it aired. In The Uncanceable Man, we learned some techniques to overcome adversity when it seems the whole world is against you. own self-inflicted scars. We've established a level of trust with our guests and our listeners and I think you'll find these real life stories inspiring. Please follow our show to continue listening and rate us on your podcast platform of choice. As you're doing that and without any commercial interruptions we present the first part of our conversation with Senator Jeff Clemens. Jeff Clemens welcome to bearing scars. How are you doing today sir? I couldn't be better Michael. Thanks for having me on. The weather up here and continue to is amazing this time of year. There are a lot of things I miss about Florida the humidity in the summer is not one of that. Oh my goodness this is I mean we're both in comfortable clothes because even in the summertime right now it's nice and it's nice and it's nice and chill and beautiful in the hills as well and beautiful in the hills and we're gonna talk about where we are today a little bit later on in the podcast but we start every podcast talking with the same question which is where you were when you were six years old Winters of Michigan. Jeff Clemens, what did you want to be when you grew up? Well, look, when I was six years old, I probably wanted to be some sort of sports stars, a lot of kids do when they're six years old. I was very good at a lot of sports. I was not great at any of them. So I would be a little league all-star. I would be the second or third best guy on the basketball court, but I love sports. I would be outside all the time. I would be middle school newspaper and from that point on I really never wanted to be anything else but a journalist I structured my high school curriculum around that and making sure that I would be the editor of the high school newspaper which I was I picked my university you know based on what had a good journalism program pretty much everything I wanted was geared toward that I wrote for my hometown newspaper when I was in high school just to try to get experience it's really I wanted I wanted root out evil in government and shed light in places that other people didn't want it shed. So as a seventh grader, what about government did you want to root out that you knew about? Or what was it? So you're in seventh grade and you're like, I really want to take down the evil that is city council member so and so. Or what was that? Kind of a precocious seventh grader, right? Our journalism, well it was probably an English slash journalism teacher in middle school, I don't know how many of you have seen that Robert Redford movie but it was about the Watergate scandal and you know they just seemed to be doing some really cool exciting things and of course as somebody who loved sports so I thought it would be cool to write about sports I you know I a friend and I made our own little sports illustrated when we were in middle school and talked about the teams and the players and so yeah I just I don't think I had as much knowledge then obviously as I would gain later about what kind of good things government does and what kind of bad things government does but I really like the fact that there was something that they were doing wrong and Woodward and Woodward and Bernstein were there to try to make it better. Which one of those two did you most identify with if you're looking at them you're like I'm the Woodward and or I'm the Bernstein which one did you think you were? Yeah more the Bernstein. You know I of course I just knew them as Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Thank you. me. I wasn't that attractive. So, you know, I was more the Dustin Hoffman character. But it was... The Lou Grant more likely, right? I would say, you know, I met Bernstein later in life and I think he was the true, you know, real in the dirt muckraker. And Woodward was amazing too, but he operated on a higher level. Wasn't one of them like just out of school. One of them, if I remember correctly, one of them was like, it was his first gig, his first gig as the government as the government beaten, and the government beaten, and to amazing how you find yourself in certain places at certain times and are able to take advantage of that and they just worked and worked and worked and they had a lot of people who didn't believe in them as well you know and and they had to convince not only their readers but a lot of people that they worked with that they were legitimate but you know I went on to high school and did become editor my high school newspaper and you know I was at that point I had the bug because anytime you get that positive feedback I think you get in a lot of different careers. It's just reinforcing and you'd get the positive feedback not only from the people in your school from the work that you did, but I happen to be lucky enough to be named to this group in Michigan where they would do every year the top 10 high school journalist in the state of Michigan and we would come together and do a newspaper ourselves. So that was all, it was like winning an award or a gold medal, you know, and And so that positive reinforcement, that ability to be able to say, hey, look what I did. I think it became kind of a defining part of my life. Like I liked being recognized for doing things. And I reveled in that and I wanted to do more things that were positive to get those feelings again. And when you were one of these 10 students that were selected, what assignment did the editor of that newspaper give you? Great question. So we went to, we gathered at Michigan State University. I'm from Michigan. I'm from Michigan. and we actually got to cover some things on campus that we wrote about and then we were also supposed to interview some journalism professors and professors and some journalism professors and professors and some pretty heady stuff for somebody who's 17 16 17 years old. And it for Michigan State University was also a great way to recruit because that's where I ended up going to school right? Yeah, they have one of the better journalism schools in there 17, 16, 17 years old. And it for Michigan State University was also a great way to recruit because that's where I ended up going to school right. in the country and even more than that they have one of the top college newspapers in the country and so that's where I ended up going to school is funny I grew up a Michigan fan I grew up outside of Ann Arbor going to Michigan games big Michigan sports fan and then I went to the arch rival across the state yeah parents feel about that they were I was one of the first people in my family to go to college so they were just happy that I was at university and truth be told I had a good grade point average but I probably didn't have the grade point average they were I was I was I was I was I was I was I was one I was one I was one I was one Michigan anyway. You had to have a 3-9 or a 4.0. I was more of a 3-4-36 type of student. So, went to Michigan State and was one of only two freshmen hired at the school newspaper there, which was a very good daily newspaper on campus. My freshman year was only only two freshmen on staff. And what was your beat? You know, one of the cool things they did is they rotated every semester. So I covered administration. One of the great things you got to do since Michigan State is in East Lansing, the capital, the capital, the capital, the capital, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you actually got to go cover things at the at the state capital so what a great opportunity again for a student journalist to be able to co stand next to reporters from the Detroit News the Detroit Free Press and there were stories that that I worked on where there were New York Times reporters they're doing the same thing so yeah I got to cover student the student body I got to cover administration and then where I really made my hay is I became the opinion editor of the paper yeah so I really reveled in working on the opinion page and writing freshman you weren't the opinion editor of sure you was a sophomore. Wow yeah so they saw a rising star there then as a sophomore to make you the editor one of the editors it was a very competitive environment. It was a very competitive environment. It was a hundred to a hundred and twenty people apply every semester and only hire six or seven people. So it was competitive just to get on the newspaper and then once you were there you were working with some guys you know people. People who went to write for the New York Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Philadelphia Inquirer, my classmates went to do those kinds of things. So yeah, it was great. I think also, you know, I had the advantage that I was opinionated. So that helps to be, to have opinions and be the opinion editor, you know, and it was very creative because you got to choose what your topic of the day was. And we worked as a team with the opinion writers and the editorial board. And yeah, again, that immediate feedback, you know, if we did something shocking, the opinion page your classmates were picking that news of course it's back in the day I'm a little older they actually had newspapers in every building on campus that were delivered daily and they pick it up and read it and you'd get that immediate feedback you know so I think that's a defining kind of theme throughout my time and we've talked about music you and I before and so that you know that immediate adulation feedback whatever it is that you want to call it that kind of fuels people people like me. For good or bad. Now you said you worked sports when you were in high school and I have to ask Billy Sims, Lions, Early 80s. Yeah, he was the guy right. Right. And then Barry Sanders. Well that was much yeah but yeah Billy Simb you had two good years but you had the lions. Poor Billy. I know. Yeah all those guys back there in the day you know. Yeah but I am a diehard Lions fan have been forever if you've seen my Facebook page I post about them a lot. you know it's tough being the team that loses a lot uh... but uh... you got to stick with your team and i i think some people have claimed that it is child abuse that i raised my children is just lying fans uh... i'd like to think of it as a growing and learning experience and you can't always win in life right ironically you then later on became a democratic elected official in florida so you were in the minority party there too but you stuck to your guns and you stay loyal there that's i that's just wanting punishment That's about enjoying losing is what that it's all about But I was you know I was a high school I was an athlete I was a I was a freshman letterman as a in track as a as a high school or as a conference track champion later on in life I played football for two years Basketball for two years But I never really wanted to write sports I really from that time on in high school and moving forward I never really wanted to write about that I enjoy watching him but I didn't want to write about it What was your position in football? What was your position in football in football? I was? I was? I was? I was? I was? I was? I was your? I was your? I was your? I was your? I was one of the great things about being a track guy is if you're fast you can play any sport you know and and I had good hands but I was not big and we never passed the ball so you know so you were a decoy yeah pretty much I was a blocker you know and if you're gonna if you're gonna have somebody block I'm not the guy you want doing it right so you know you catch three touchdown passes in the preseason game and then never see the ball for half the season so you were a point guard you were a point guard or shooting I was a point guard little light on the outside shooting. I could get to the hole but and put the ball in people's hands but yeah never really much of a good shooter. The quarterback of the basketball team though. It is you know and it led to a lot of great memories I played in three on three basketball tournaments all throughout my 20s in the summer had great times with friends doing that and and really enjoyed it until I just got too old and four knee operations later I can't do that kind of stuff anymore. You decide to go to Michigan State because It's got the best journalism program, one of the best in the country, and that's your feet. That's the field you want to be in. What was it other than taking down the man kind of a thing? What really was it about journalism that got that drew you? That drew you in beyond just the impact of the journalism, but doing the job itself. What was it? Yeah, well, number one, you have to be a good writer. So it starts there, and I'd always gotten good feedback from my teachers about my writing abilities. I think I had a really of how to draw readers in. If you usually look at what we call the lead sentence or the lead, you know, I was very good at crafting those kinds of things to kind of draw people into the story. And I like telling stories that normally weren't told. And I can talk about some of them that I've done throughout my career if we want to get into it. But, you know, it was really a lot of fun to do things. You know, a civil rights leader would die and I would