Bill Ballenger (born 28 March 1941) was the editor of Inside Michigan Politics a newsletter of Michigan Politics until January 2016. He previously served as a Republican member of both the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan State Senate. In March 2016, he founded The Ballenger Report political blog, followed by a weekly podcast.
Ballenger was born in Flint, Michigan. He has a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was the Robert P. & Marjorie Griffin Professor in American Government at Central Michigan University from 2003 until 2007. He also served for a time as Michigan racing commissioner and director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulation. Ballenger has for many years been a panelist on the Michigan state politics public affairs television program Off the Record with Tim Skubick on WKAR-TV.
Ballenger was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare under Gerald R. Ford.
Sources
Macomb Daily, Jan. 21, 2013. Michigan Liberal article on Ballenger Inside Michigan Politics bio of Ballenger