Published June 22, 2008

The negotiator: Respected statesman Hollister is a man in the middle

BECKY SHINK/ Lansing State Journal

David Hollister, president and CEO of the Prima Civitas Foundation, has served as mayor of Lansing and as a state legislator. Many credit him with exceptional negotiating skills in getting various sides to work together.

David Hollister doesn't hesitate when sharing the names of his heroes - John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy.

"Can you see what happened to all of them?" he asks with dry wit. "Those people probably influenced my life more than any others."

He credits his heroes for taking him from a mediocre high school student to a self-described "activist teacher" to a liberal legislator on fire to do good deeds.

Now, one of the area's most recognizable figures is facing yet another difficult task: bringing together the region's leaders so mid-Michigan can thrive.

Constant strife between the city of Lansing and Lansing Township, whose leaders struggle to put aside past differences, looms over any progress.

But some say if anyone can bring diametrically opposed parties to the negotiating table, it's Hollister.

Regional leaders point to the 66-year-old's vast political ties, broad knowledge of the issues and his sincere dedication to the success of the region, adding that Hollister is widely trusted and respected.

It doesn't matter that some slammed him years ago as a state representative who kowtowed to labor unions and the liberal agenda and, later, as a Lansing mayor who could be too controlling.

With time, Hollister's colleagues - past and present - remember the big picture.

The former state representative reached across the aisles in the '70s, '80s and early '90s to work with conservatives at the Capitol, carving a niche for himself as a champion of the poor.

As Lansing's mayor from 1994 to 2003, he put aside partisanship to run the capital city, where he emphasized economic development and keeping General Motors Corp. in Lansing.

He then took a key post in Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration, heading a department focused on the state's labor and economic issues.

Acknowledging that he would want to be "a teacher, not a principal" if he weren't where he is today, Hollister said he is guided by the Constitution's preamble.

"I keep going back to the perfect union: 'We the people,' " said Hollister, who now is president and chief executive officer of the Prima Civitas Foundation, a nonprofit group applying Michigan State University's assets to practical problems. "It's a social compact. We are in this together."
Called to teach

Responding to President Kennedy's youthful optimism and his rousing call to public service, a teenage Hollister considered the ministry.

He gave more serious thought to teaching after hearing King speak at Michigan State University.

He volunteered for the Mississippi Freedom Schools.

During the summers of '66 and '68, Hollister taught at Rust College, a small, historically black liberal arts school in Holly Springs, Miss., where racist hatred was evident.

"It just radicalized me," he said from his office in the old Allen Street School building on East Kalamazoo Street. "I became an activist teacher, (determined) to fix things one way or another."

He returned north to teach social studies at Lansing's Eastern High School. The deaths of King and Bobby Kennedy, both in 1968, convinced him to seek change by running for public office.

Hollister served on the Ingham County Board of Commissioners from 1968 to 1974; was a state representative from 1974 to 1993; and then was Lansing's mayor from 1994 to 2003.

"He walked the talk," said Lansing Community College Trustee Deborah Canja, who had Hollister as a government teacher in high school.

"He has shown by example that you can make a difference."

It was because of Hollister's classroom, Canja said, that she decided to become a lawyer.

Hollister rallied his students to talk current events every day, and the newspaper stories they discussed in his classroom covered the serious topics: Vietnam, protests and the Kent State University shootings.

Canja remembered that Hollister always told students if they weren't part of the solution, they were part of the problem.

"He's very serious about making the world a better place," she said.

He sponsored Michigan's Open Meetings Act and laws written to ensure greater oversight of foster care homes, speedier adoptions for hard-to-place children and more home repairs for low-income families.

Fred Dillingham was the conservative state representative who occasionally opposed Hollister but came to view the staunch liberal as a good friend.

The two worked closely together on hospice legislation.

"We could always reach the middle ground to solve a problem," said Dillingham, executive director of the Economic Development Council in Livingston County. "Between the two of us, we kind of considered all aspects of an issue, from the far right to the far left."
Bringing people together

Hollister seems adept at turning around situations and people, according to a former political opponent.

"Everyone who supported me feared Dave Hollister, that he was an ultra ultra liberal," said Jim Crawford, who unsuccessfully campaigned against Hollister for mayor in 1993. Crawford, who had served as mayor for roughly a year, lost by about 2,500 votes.

"They feared what he would do if he became mayor. I am thankful that he proved me wrong. He proved that the issues that we used against him were not real fears."

Crawford said he was impressed with Hollister's pragmatic turn.

Hollister himself admits that being a Democrat sometimes had little to do with how he ran the city.

There's nothing Democratic about fixing a pothole, he said.

At least one former City Council member says he was frustrated with the mayor "2 percent" of the time.

Rick Lilly remembered Hollister rarely attended council sessions and he didn't take quickly to ideas that weren't his own.

"It always seemed that Dave wanted to be in control of the idea," Lilly mused. "If it wasn't Dave's idea, he was cool to it."

Lilly said City Council had a good relationship with Hollister's chief of staff, David Wiener, and his finance director, Bob Swanson.

"His real strength is to bring people together and then to encourage them to get the work done," Lilly said. "The city grew more than anything else in terms of economic development."
Regional middleman

The region looks to Hollister now because of his business acumen and political clout, which grew when he served as Lansing's mayor.

"He's a mentor, a friend, a trusted advisor," said Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who asked Hollister to be part of his transition team after he was elected in 2005.

"He happens to have the friendship and the trust of the leaders of Lansing. He's the ideal person to stand in the gap."

Bernero and his administrators have feuded with Lansing Township over sewer capacity, which the township needs to develop.

Their relations have been further aggravated by the township's studies into the possible construction of a $100 million hotel complex that would have meeting space and an indoor-and-outdoor water park.

City officials consider the proposal a direct threat to the downtown Lansing Center. Bernero recently canceled a meeting with township leaders to protest.

Talks regarding regional issues between city and township leaders, with Hollister mediating, were happening on an occasional basis.