At just 18 years old, Mike Foley has already owned a business, served on the Westbrook School Committee and has just taken a seat on the City Council.
With that sort of resume, it’s obvious Foley is a driven person who thrives on achieving goals. That he’s considered a “clown” by some of his friends and loves to play poker might be a surprise.
However, “the Councilman,” as some of Foley’s friends call him, has also been a comedian, a good friend and a consistently nice guy.
“He’s always trying to help out,” said friend Aaron Tanguay. “He’s also funny.”
Adam Roy, who became friends with Foley while serving with him as a student representative to the School Committee, said Foley is “not your average teenager.”
“He is and he isn’t,” said Roy. “He’s hard to describe. There’s nothing to compare him to. He’s not like anybody. He’s really responsible, but he’s still just a teenager. He takes things very seriously sometimes. But he still has a good sense of humor. More of a logical sense of humor. I don’t know. He’s just Foley.”
Not looking for political career
Foley has always been a businessman, and he enjoys working on developing enterprises. About a year ago, he started a business with another friend, Alex Roy, working out of their homes repairing computers.
This past fall, Foley and Roy, who is not related to Adam Roy, managed to secure backing to open Emerald Technology Management on Main Street doing computer repair, as well as setting up and managing networks. After six months, the business has a client base of more than 200 and provides networking services for two local businesses.
Foley’s career in politics began when he became a student representative to the School Committee in his junior year. Serving as a non-voting member of the School Committee caused him to become “really interested” in the budget process. When former City Council President Jim Violette decided to run for mayor against Bruce Chuluda instead of seeking reelection to his at-large council seat, Foley decided to go for it.
At the Democratic caucus this fall, Foley ran as one of three candidates for the two at-large spots on the ticket and managed to secure a spot on the ballot. Foley caused a mild surprise when he finished first in the race ahead of longtime Republican Councilor John O’Hara. Although with two at-large spots up for grabs, O’Hara also secured a seat on the council.
“Mike brings great energy and optimism,” said City Council President Brendan Rielly. “He works hard and is always trying to come up with new ideas. I respect that. He’s accomplished a tremendous amount at a very young age.”
City Administrator Jerre Bryant is “very impressed” by Foley. “He definitely does his homework on issues and is very familiar with a lot of city issues,” Bryant said. “As far his age goes, it’s not an issue.”
However, Foley doesn’t plan on being a career politician. Next fall, he plans to attend the University of Southern Maine to major in technology education. After graduation, Foley hopes to go on to get his master’s degree in education, teach technology in the schools for a few years, and then move up the ranks by seeking an administrative position with the school department.
Down the road, Foley said he’d like to be a school principal or perhaps even superintendent of schools. “Superintendent of Westbrook would be a dream job after I’ve finished politicking here,” he said.
That’s about as far as he wants to go, however. Foley said he really doesn’t have any interest in climbing the ladder in the Democratic Party. In fact, Foley doesn’t want to leave Westbrook.
“I love Westbrook. I’d like to stay here a while and be involved in the community, representing the community,” he said. “I’d like to be on the council for a few terms, earn everyone’s trust, then run for mayor at some point once the people who have been in my party longer than I have taken their shot. I don’t want to challenge anybody in my party.”
At home among adults
The fact that Foley has succeeded in politics at such a young age should come as no surprise after hearing about his background.
“I love to talk to people,” he said. “My dad is a guy who’s always stopping and always knows somebody, and I’m starting to turn into that. My dad and I are like friends. We both love sports and like to travel, so we seem to always be doing that in some form.”
“He’s one of the few kids everybody gets along with,” said friend Devon Gilbert, who helped Foley on his campaign. “When you hang out with him, you get a sense of what a great guy he is. And he’s really fun.”
Gilbert described Foley, not surprisingly voted most likely to succeed by his senior class, as always trying to help other people and always willing to talk about things to settle differences. He said he is always willing to change or do something for someone else. He also said it was no trouble getting kids to go out and vote for him during his council election.
According to Westbrook High Athletic Director Gary Groves, “Mike is always smiling, always polite, supportive of his peers. You want some dirt? There is none.”
Foley said he tries to keep an upbeat attitude. “I’m happy most of the time,” said Foley. “Things that bother me, I address them, try to stay calm.”
But he understands that he’s not a normal high school senior. “I’ve always been different. And there’s people who like me for that. And you’ll always have the people who think that’s stupid,” he said. “People separate me in a way but don’t separate me enough that I’m a loser because of who I am.”
For the most part, Foley prefers to spend time with adults rather than with people his own age. “I hang out with kids once in a while here and there, but most of the time I’m doing my own thing,” he said.
Foley participates in very few school activities. The only organized sports he played was baseball when he was younger, which he said was “too political.” He also dove and played tennis as a freshman.
The closest Foley ever gets to organized sports now is through his night job as the visiting team locker room manager for the Portland Pirates, a job he has held for three seasons.
And as for partying and carrying on, it’s just not Foley’s thing. He avoids the pitfalls of poor decision-making that get a lot of high school students like him into trouble.
“Never drank. Never done any drugs. I think it’s stupid,” he said. “You know, I’ve seen bad things come out of it, watching it. Just never been interested in it. There’s a time for that. Maybe when I’m older I might do some of that.”
Speaking of a time for things, Foley also sees having a girlfriend as something for later on in his life.
“Just no time, you know,” he said. “I’m happy doing what I’m doing, and I don’t need a girlfriend to be happy. I’ve had a couple in the past couple years, but…I guess it’s just better to wait until people are older. Most people in high school want the badass. (Maybe when) everybody just sits down and relaxes and realizes who the good people really are, then somebody will come my way. But I’m not too worried about it right now.”
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