“How seriously do you take your job?”
When I wake up too sick to work (I rarely do—healthy living!), one of my first thoughts is, I’d better call the boss. I take my job seriously. I take my obligation to show up every day and do good work as seriously as my boss takes his obligation to pay me punctually and well. To fail to call in sick in all but the most extreme emergencies is to flip the bird at one’s boss.
Senator John Carley (R-29/Piedmont) flipped that bird Tuesday… and his boss is you, the voters.
The rookie Senator from District 29 didn’t show up for work in the Senate Tuesday. He attended Joint Appropriations in the morning and popped into the Senate chamber before lunch, but when the Senate convened at 1:30 p.m., Senator Carley’s seat was empty. His absence set off a Capitol-wide search. Calls to Carley’s phone, even from Governor Larry Rhoden, went unanswered. Senator Carley’s seat remained empty through adjournment at 6:11 p.m.
Wednesday Senator Carley sauntered back into the Capitol and told the press by text, “All is fine! Just an eye doc visit!” Later, he issued this flippant statement to the press:
“I had an unexpected health issue come up, but I also find it ironic that being absent worried some that the executive branch might not be able to break a tie, and by default it was actually me representing the request of my constituents because an absence now is more powerful than a no vote,” Carley said [Gracie Terrall, “Where Is Sen. John Carley?” KELO-TV, updated 2026.02.25].
No, John—stop at “unexpected health issue”. You missed work, an entire day of the mere 38 that you are paid to be in Pierre this year. You missed a particularly important day, Crossover Day, when the Senate and the House each have to hurry to hear all remaining bills proposed by their respective members and advance them to the other chamber or kill them. You missed votes—i.e., you left your constituents voiceless—on 15 bills and one resolution. Don’t even try to make quips about irony and empowering voters by not showing up for work, because that is the deepest bullshit I’ve heard from this Legislature all Session.
How seriously do you take your job, Senator Carley? Your absence Tuesday and your unapologetic and self-serving response Wednesday show you don’t take it seriously enough.
A serious legislator would not schedule an eye appointment for the middle of Crossover Day. A serious legislator would schedule an appointment with his local eye doc on one of the many Fridays or Mondays available in the eight four-day weeks of Session. A serious legislator with a serious surprise eye problem would maybe check with a trusted colleague—”Hey, do you see something in my eye?”—or go see the Doctor of the Day in Room 408. A serious legislator with a persistent and unexpected eye problem would then call a Pierre doctor, and if an emergency appointment was available, would text his party leader and the presiding officer to explain the problem and indicate he might miss a few votes but will hurry back as soon as he gets done with the appointment.
A serious legislator would not lie about his whereabouts—and I do think Carley is lying, because his story (unexpected eye doc appointment that lasted past 6 p.m.? No chance to contact leadership, send a text, post on Facebook to apologize to voters?) doesn’t add up—abandon his post, and leave the people of District 29 without a voice for an entire day of his chamber’s business.
And a serious legislator would not smirkingly claim that not showing up for work is actually doing more work. My boss would never buy that. Neither should John Carley’s boss, the voters of District 29.
Political gamesmanship doesn’t matter here. Carley has no excuse for not doing his duty and showing up to cast thoughtful votes on behalf of the voters who elected him and pay him.