Grand Valley State University alumnus and State Rep. Brian Calley ® discovered his initial interest in politics at a young age. Watching President Ronald Reagan’s farewell address with his father, Calley recalled his inspiration, but it was decades before he would fulfill his passion for public service.

After campaigning successfully for the 33rd District Seat in the Michigan Senate and winning the Republic primary, Calley decided to bow out of the race at the request of Rick Snyder to join his gubernatorial campaign.

“It was a decision based on merit,” Snyder said of his request to run with Calley. “The thing that impressed me most about Brian was his depth of knowledge. Even though he’s a relatively young guy, he’s already worked on some of the most complex legislative issues out there. I also like that he’s repeatedly demonstrated his ability to work with both Republican and Democrat lawmakers to find solutions – that’s something we need more of in Lansing.”

Often praised for his ability to go beyond party lines to push public policy forward, Calley attributed this quality to an obligation to his constituency.

“When I got into politics I made myself, my family and my community a promise that I would just do what I believe to be the right thing for my district, regardless of whether or not that fell along any particular party lines,” Calley said. “Beyond that, I’d say often times in order to make progress it doesn’t really require as much compromise as you would think. It requires that we focus on the areas we agree on and then build from there. Oftentimes you might find that Republicans and Democrats can agree on 50 percent of issues that come before the legislature, yet the other half of issues that we disagree on prevent progress on areas where we do agree.”

Calley, who got his bachelor’s degree at Michigan State University before earning a master’s degree at GVSU – pointed out the rivalry between his alma mater and that of Snyder, a University of Michigan graduate.

“It proves that anybody can work together if we’ve got a Wolverine and a Spartan at the top of this ticket,” Calley said. “Frankly, with the current condition of University of Michigan’s football team, it hasn’t been much of a rivalry in the last few years. I don’t remind Rick of that too often.”

Prior to his selection as Snyder’s running mate, Calley served a four-year term on the Ionia County Board of Commissioners starting in 2002. Following that, Calley was elected to the Michigan legislature in 2006, subsequently winning his bid for re-election in 2008.

It was during the earlier decade that Calley worked as a community banker and small business lender at Ionia County National Bank and Irwin Union Bank. This inspired his ambition to enter the political arena.

“I saw the type of employment potential in small and mid-sized businesses where people are just taking great ideas from their heads right on through to employment, but then I saw a state that was so fixated on chasing big business around the globe,” he said. “So I decided with the decade of experience that I had as a community banker that it was important to take that and utilize it in the arena of public policy because I didn’t really see an effective advocate for small business in state government.”

After completing his bachelor’s degree in business administration at MSU, Calley juggled family life and a full-time job while pursuing his MBA at GVSU, an experience that he said left little time for leisure.

“It was all business,” Calley described the hectic period. “It wasn’t so much the college experience as it was the educational experience.”

Valuing education, Calley always took his studies – high school, undergraduate, graduate – seriously.

“I tried to make the most of every minute of it by forming relationships with the people I was at school with, but then also trying to get my money’s worth out of the education,” Calley said.

In particular, he valued the real-world experience of professors at GVSU.

“What I really appreciated was that my professors practiced in the private sectors what they taught. For instance, my accounting professor was an accountant and my marketing professor had a marketing company,” he explained.

Despite his passion for public policy, Calley revealed that there are aspects of the job he finds frustrating.

“This state has been looking down for a long time and there are a lot of people, particularly within the political system, that try to use this negative atmosphere for political opportunity as opposed to just solving the things that are wrong in our state,” he explained.

Noting the benefits of self-examination, Calley said, even criticism can be a good thing if warranted. In the cases that it is unfounded or unfair, he advocates ignoring it entirely.

“I don’t recommend that you lower yourself to that type of political discourse,” he warned. “I’ve always followed the philosophy that you run for the office, not against another person. You need to stay on your message and what you’d like to do because that’s what your constituents deserve as opposed to concentrating on why they shouldn’t vote for somebody else.”

Regardless of the negatives, Calley enjoys the rewarding aspects of the job, citing situations in which he gets to personally help constituents – assisting a young man with an unemployment plan or getting a Michigan Centennial Farm designation for a terminally ill man – or implementing good policy. Calley noted that these aspects make the frustrating ones worthwhile.

“It’s always a long shot in a system where you have to find agreement with so many people to make any changes,” he explained. “It’s an uphill battle no matter what you’re trying to accomplish, and in those cases where that magical formula comes together and you find agreement across political divides to move public policy forward, it’s what keeps you coming back. That’s what I love about the job and what I hope to build on here in the future.”

As for his fellow Lakers, Calley advised students to take a proactive role in political discourse.

“There’s a saying that I kind of like: ‘If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room.’ What I mean by that is that we’re far past the point where we can afford to be apathetic, and boldness is really required,” he said. “We have to take chances today. We have to completely reinvent things in this state. In order to do it right in a way that secures a future for young people, we have to have the voice of younger people at the table. “

Stressing the importance of adequate representation, Calley said it is crucial for young people to seize opportunities to have their voices heard.

“When you’re aloof or silent on the direction of public policy and your voice isn’t at the table, so often the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” he said. “That’s a real danger to young people starting with my generation, which would be Generation X, and those younger are in a very precarious situation. The type of decisions that are being made and the type of overspending that we see with many levels of government, particularly with the federal government, is going to leave a huge price for young people in the future. So I think that we need to have better representation both at the ballot box and right at the political table of young people that say, ‘We need a voice in the future of this country as well.’”

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