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MARQUETTE -- As thousands gather in Marquette to cheer on the popular sled dog races over the weekend, government officials included, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley addressed running as a Republican candidate for the 2018 Michigan gubernatorial election in an interview with The Mining Journal Friday morning.
Calley was a community banker for more than 10 years, starting in the mailroom and working his way to vice president. He was elected twice to the Ionia County Board of Commissioners, serving as vice chairman during both terms. He later left banking to run for the Michigan House of Representatives where he served two terms.
As part of the interview, Calley, who has worked alongside Gov. Rick Snyder since he was elected lieutenant governor in 2010, focused on opportunities and challenges the state of Michigan faces, including ways to improve the state's education system, creating more skilled trade jobs, reorganizing the social service system, eradicating the opioid addiction epidemic and bringing civility to public service -- all of which are at the forefront of his campaign.
"There are several aspects of taking Michigan to the next level," he said. "Michigan has been on an incredible comeback. Our state, as a whole, has added 540,000 new jobs in the last seven years."
Since education is his No. 1 concern, Calley said he wants to ensure students are entering school ready to learn and become "great readers" at a young age. Calley also suggested bringing skilled trades, internships and work experience back to schools to introduce students to future job opportunities.
If elected governor, Calley aims to fill 100,000 skilled trade positions in his first four years to address the high demand. Calley believes good paying jobs would help retain Michigan college students and younger residents in the area to begin careers rather than moving elsewhere due to dwindling opportunities.
"We need to make that a top priority. A lot of kids aren't finding their way to opportunities that exist. There are great jobs and careers available and many of them are going unfilled in our state," he said. "While I'm running for governor I don't have to wait until next year to work on these things -- this is needed right now. It's my priority right now and I'm continuing to work with the governor and we're going to sprint through the finish line of this term. There will be no slowing down at any point in the Michigan comeback."
Calley, a well-known mental-health advocate, also talked about Michigan's jail diversion pilot programs that aim to connect individuals who have mental health issues with proper treatment to keep them out of the criminal justice system.
The pilots, which run in partnership with the Mental Health Diversion Council, which is led by Calley, are currently operating in 10 counties throughout the state, including Marquette County. The programs allow law enforcement, judges and community mental health care providers the chance to collaborate and get to the "bottom of the issue and fix it" accordingly, Calley said, adding that recidivism in jails and prisons has decreased by nearly half the percentage rate since 1998 because the government has started addressing the root of problems by giving people "tools they need to be independent and successful."
"Independent people are building-blocks to creating a strong community. It's not the other way around. You can't make a strong community create strong people. It's the opposite," he said.
Later today, Calley, state Sen. Patrick Colbeck and Dr. Jim Hines, two of the other Republican candidates also running for Michigan governor, will speak at two open forums scheduled at separate locations in the U.P. During the unscreened forum, candidates will address all questions from the public from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Ontonagon Area Junior and Senior High School and Bay de Noc Community College in Escanaba from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
Michigan's Attorney General Bill Schuette, another Republican candidate seeking the governor's office, will not be attending the public forum, Calley said.
Jaymie Depew can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is jdepew@miningjournal.net.