LANSING – Rep. Brian Calley of Portland is under serious consideration to be Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder’s running mate as lieutenant governor, sources with knowledge of the situation told Gongwer News Service.
Calley declined to comment when reached by Gongwer. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said he had interviewed for the position.
As buzz surrounding the running mate question grows feverish, Calley appears to be the surprise, unconventional possibility that some had expected could show up on Snyder’s shortlist.
Unlike the others under speculation as possible running mates – Sen. Jason Allen of Traverse City and Sen. Patricia Birkholz of Saugatuck and former Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, the latter two of which seem to be getting the most attention as possibilities – Mr. Calley is relatively new to state politics. He’s 33 and serving just his second term in the House. He just won a tough Republican primary for the 33rd Senate District and is overwhelmingly favored to win the solidly Republican seat in November.
Birkholz has served in the Legislature for almost 14 years, six in the House and eight in the Senate. Allen has nearly 12 years in the Capitol, four in the House and eight in the Senate. Sikkema has 20 years of legislative experience, 12 in the House and eight in the Senate, including two years as House minority leader and four as Senate majority leader.
If Snyder chose him, Calley would be the first House member picked as a running mate since then-Rep. Jim Agee was running mate in 1998 to unsuccessful Democratic nominee Geoffrey Fieger. Senators have mostly dominated the running mate slot, and a House member has not actually been elected lieutenant governor since then-Rep. Jim Damman in 1974.
Calley spent 11 years in banking prior to winning election to the House in 2006 and, like Snyder, has a master’s of business administration.
Calley has had support from Right to Life of Michigan in his previous campaigns and generally meets most conservative litmus tests. Geographically, he’s represented an area on the outskirts of the Lansing and Grand Rapids media markets.
And he seems effusive about Snyder. On Sunday, the Lansing State Journal reprinted a column he wrote for the Portland Review and Observer in which he lavished praise on Snyder’s somewhat apolitical approach.
“Rick has never been involved in the political process before now. He has no dog on any of the fights of old. He is very vocal about ending the winners vs. losers mentality of the current system,” Calley wrote. “All this garbage about class warfare, eastside versus westside, and Rs versus Ds does not mean anything to the average person who just wants to live out their life with a good job that adequately provides for their family. When I was in the private sector, long-term relationships with my customers required that all parties benefited from the relationship. There was no winning when any of the people involved lost. It is an attitude that I bring with me to public service. It is also a quality I see in Rick Snyder.”
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