The Michigan legislature, with two-thirds majorities, sent a proposed constitutional amendment to the November ballot. It'd augment term limits and institute financial disclosure requirements, but with considerably more exceptions than what the original proponents had proposed.
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posted on 05/12/2022
It is an ambitious package of legislation that involved more than 70 stakeholders and years of negotiations. After passing the House with bipartisan majorities, it's sat in the committee Sen. Aric Nesbitt chairs for nearly a year without a hearing.
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posted on 04/19/2022
Key takeaway as U.S. House candidates submit campaign finance filings covering the first quarter of 2022.
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posted on 04/15/2022
Mail from anonymous organizations is being sent to Republicans who may help decide their party's nominee for attorney general. Some delegates haven’t enjoyed the appeals.
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posted on 03/30/2022
The cost of Michigan's state legislative elections have been increasing for years. But even this increase is unprecedented. Thank party spending and the outside money that inundated the state's few competitive districts.
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posted on 08/31/2021
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer raised more than $8 million in the first half of 2021. A big chunk of it came from wealthy donors who otherwise would've violated campaign finance limits.
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posted on 08/02/2021
While no races were as expensive as the most competitive in 2018, costs were were up.
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posted on 06/21/2021
After weeks of speculation, the Governor's office disclosed that a nonprofit used to fund her inauguration had mostly paid for a private flight to Florida in March. Her staff characterized the nonprofit as an administrative account, and despite pledging transparency, the picture offered of the nonprofit's finances is far from complete.
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posted on 05/14/2021
Michigan has no requirements for financial disclosures for anyone in the legislature or executive branch, and is one of just two states without any requirements for the legislature. Without them, it becomes much more difficult to determine if government officials have made self-serving decisions.
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posted on 05/04/2021
Amid pressure, special interests largely withheld contributions to the five U.S. Representatives from Michigan who took action to delay or block the certification of the November election.
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posted on 04/23/2021
More than $200 million was spent in the race between John James and Gary Peters, easily making in the most expensive single election in Michigan's history.
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posted on 03/03/2021
The Michigan Republican Party was roiled by accusations that money from a secretive account had been used to pay candidates to abandon their runs for office. Potential campaign finance violations aside, experts tell MCFN it may not be illegal.
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posted on 02/11/2021
A husband and wife duo held two of the highest-paying jobs as policy staff in the Michigan House. At the same time, their political consulting firm took in hundreds of thousands of dollars from members of the Republican caucus they helped oversee.
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posted on 12/30/2020
Nine districts attracted a total of more than $1 million in contributions — the most ever. In all but seven of the 110 districts the candidate with the most money won.
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posted on 12/30/2020
Vague FEC rules and a 2014 supreme court decision meant campaigns could use Michigan’s state parties to bypass contribution limits and spend unlimited amounts on political mail with campaigns' tailored messages.
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posted on 12/02/2020
Ads on broadcast television, radio and cable in Michigan, by themselves, eclipsed the total spending of the 2018 election.
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posted on 11/03/2020
Republicans have maintained a cash advantage heading into election day, despite Democratic candidates out-raising their GOP counterparts, in part through a new source of funding: small-dollar donations from outside Michigan.
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posted on 11/03/2020
Outside groups have outspent than the candidates for both major parties as the ideological lean of the court hangs in the balance.
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posted on 10/28/2020
"Election season" or not, advertising spending in Michigan has increased explosively in the runup to in-person voting. And it’s not because Michiganders are generously contributing to their preferred candidates. Outside groups and dark money organizations are outspending campaigns two-to-one.
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posted on 10/21/2020
Talking points and footage left available by campaigns turns making political ads into paint-by-numbers for dark money groups.
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posted on 10/16/2020
More than $50 million from more than 40 outside groups paired with record spending on advertising is driving the race for U.S. Senate to be the most expensive Michigan has seen.
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posted on 10/01/2020
Spending records are already being shattered in the 2020 election with more than a month to the election, and a super PAC has emerged to support Democrats in key state house races.
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posted on 09/25/2020
While lobbyists' overall spending on food for state officials is less than half of what it was last year, the expensive meals that require disclosure are only down slightly.
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posted on 09/16/2020
This fall, Michigan Campaign Finance Network ans MLive are partnering to follow the money behind campaign mail around the state
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posted on 09/14/2020
Progressives are taking a cue from conservatives and founding ‘news’ sites like Courier Newsroom, which spends big money on election-year social media ads to benefit Democratic in swing districts such as U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly).
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posted on 08/31/2020
The finances that matter in tonight's House Primary, shown in three infographics.
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posted on 08/04/2020
The Committee To Recall Governor Gretchen Whitmer has withdrawn its ballot language and organizers have left with complaints its founder misspent committee money.
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posted on 08/03/2020
Despite a smaller presence in Lansing compared with other unions, since 2010 organizations representing law enforcement have given to 112 of the 147 legislators currently in office.
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posted on 07/06/2020
An array of out-of-state nonprofits, funded by some of the same organizations that capitalized on the Tea Party movement, are creating an ecosystem of alternative media online, delivering political reporting, grassroots organizing, advocacy and even satire to Michiganders through Facebook. Now they're harnessing resentment toward the state's stay-at-home order.
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posted on 05/15/2020
A single liberal super PAC, Priorities USA Action, is spending $17.3 million to run ads every week until the general election.
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posted on 05/10/2020
If Facebook in the week before Michigan's primary was any prelude to what voters can expect before November, dark money organizations could be flooding news feeds.
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posted on 03/18/2020
The 501(c)(4), which are not meant to directly aid politcians, was created two weeks before the Governor's speech.
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posted on 01/31/2020
Bloomberg has spent about $6.6 million in the last eight weeks running ads. In 2020 they have represented 79% of all political advertisements on air.
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posted on 01/17/2020
The MCFN board of directors is pleased to announce Simon D. Schuster has been selected as MCFN's new executive director.
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posted on 11/25/2019
A statewide advertising campaign that promotes Enbridge’s oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac uses the image of a government scientist who found that 700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline would be at risk if the line ruptures. The agency the scientist works for says it didn't give permission for Enbridge to use the image in the ad campaign.
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posted on 09/30/2019
Some Michigan lawmakers have been headlining fundraisers where donors are specifically asked to make “corporate contributions only," according to invitations obtained by MCFN. It's a request that could help ensure the sources of money and the groups collecting it remain secret.
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posted on 09/24/2019
So far in 2019, a small group of influential state lawmakers has been consuming larger than normal amounts of free food and drink purchased by lobbyists. Those lobbyists spent more than $4,000 on meals and beverages for three individual lawmakers over the first seven months of 2019, according to new disclosures.
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posted on 09/11/2019
Over the last decade alone, Michigan has seen a striking shift on the subject of abortion: The number of Right to Life-backed Democrats running for state office has plummeted; and the groups funding the fight are providing less information about where their money is coming from.
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posted on 09/09/2019
A company that owns a controversial oil pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac was one of the sponsors of a recent gathering of county officeholders from across Michigan. At the event, the officeholders voted to take a policy position in favor of the pipeline, a pipeline Michigan's attorney general is trying to shut down.
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posted on 09/06/2019
Lobbyist spending in Michigan is on a record pace in 2019. Lobbyists reported spending $23.2 million over the first seven months of 2019, a 6-percent increase over the previous high for the same period in past years, according to disclosures. The spending came as a new class of lawmakers took office and the Legislature overhauled the state's auto insurance system.
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posted on 09/05/2019
A majority of Michigan's 83 counties have sued drug distributors and manufacturers over their alleged role in the opioid epidemic. However, one of the companies named in the suits registered to lobby in Michigan this year and could soon score a victory in the Legislature.
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posted on 09/04/2019
About 66 percent of the money that Michigan’s 148 state lawmakers have reported raising for their campaigns so far this year has come from political action committees (PACs), fundraising committees connected to businesses, unions, politicians and other interest groups that aim to influence what happens in Lansing. Only about 28 percent has come directly from individual donors.
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posted on 08/22/2019
The campaigns of term-limited lawmakers have repeatedly disclosed making large purchases during the lawmakers' final months in office with no explanation of where the items ended up once the lawmakers departed, according to a new investigation by MCFN and Fox 2 Detroit.
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posted on 08/16/2019
Michigan's top 150 political action committees raised more money over the first seven months of 2019 than they did over the same period before the record 2018 election, according to new campaign finance disclosures. Increased fundraising by committees connected to state lawmakers helped spur the high-dollar total.
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posted on 08/05/2019
Ten state lawmakers have already raised at least $100,000 across their campaign committees and personal political action committees, according to a review of new fundraising disclosures. The contributions have tended to follow power as the top fundraisers have been the leaders of the Michigan House and Michigan Senate.
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posted on 07/29/2019
Michigan officeholders’ quiet use of accounts and organizations that can accept unlimited amounts of money from secret donors has become widespread in Lansing. A new report by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network found links between a majority of the 148 lawmakers serving last year and accounts or organizations that could raise money from sources known to the lawmaker but unknown to the public. Where does the money end up? That can be a mystery as well.
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posted on 07/22/2019
In 2017, the U.S. House member from Michigan who raised the most money from the beginning of April through the end of June collected $360,342. Over the same period in 2019, three of Michigan's U.S. House members raised more than that. Two doubled the total, raising more than $730,000 each.
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posted on 07/16/2019
Fundraising committees tied to nearly half of Michigan’s current state officeholders have had to pay financial penalties — called late filing fees — for failing to meet donor disclosure requirements, according to an analysis of campaign finance records. Current state officeholders’ campaigns and political action committees (PACs) have combined to pay penalties of at least $112,695 throughout the officeholders’ political careers.
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posted on 07/09/2019
Michigan is currently one of two states that don't require state officeholders to file any type of personal financial disclosure to reveal potential conflicts of interest. However, the state House is now considering whether to adopt a financial disclosure reporting system. MCFN examined how the proposal compares to what's already been happening in other states.
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posted on 06/20/2019
As new Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson pushes for better collection of $1.5 million in unpaid campaign finance reporting penalties, an analysis of the outstanding fees shows how difficult the effort for better enforcement under current state law may be. People behind some of the committees that potentially owe the most say there's no way their committees could pay.
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posted on 06/17/2019
Before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer decided to end the state's medical marijuana licensing board, an email from a former Senate majority leader referencing a conversation with the board's chair gained the attention of state officials. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network learned of the situation through multiple Freedom of Information Act requests.
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posted on 06/05/2019
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce publicly weighed in on 28 bills or bill packages during the 2018 lame-duck session. The Legislature agreed with the Chamber on 24 of them. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network and Detroit Free Press columnist Nancy Kaffer partnered to examine the group's influence.
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posted on 05/30/2019
In a single year, a self-described “lawyer-lobbyist” went from working on behalf of a company accused of poisoning groundwater to writing a law that could weaken Michigan’s standards for pollution cleanup. Citing attorney-client privilege, the lawyer won't disclose who paid him to work on the new law.
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posted on 05/29/2019
Groups entrenched in the fight over Michigan’s auto insurance laws combined to spend at least $4.5 million in support of current state officeholders over the last five years alone. Those same officeholders continue to debate this spring what the state’s auto insurance system should look like going forward.
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posted on 05/17/2019
Michigan’s 2018 election was the most expensive in state history. As voters chose a new governor, picked candidates for every seat in the state Legislature and decided two competitive U.S. House races, money poured in from outside groups, and campaigns raised record amounts.
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posted on 05/09/2019
In the early 1980s, dozens of interest groups rose up to fight new regulations for lobbyists in Michigan. The fight led to a court ruling that came down 36 years ago this month. The ruling protected the main provisions in the state's lobby law, the framework of which is still in place today.
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posted on 05/03/2019
Over the first months of 2019, the 150 top political action committees in Michigan reported raising a combined total of $8.1 million, an increase over the same time period before the 2018 election. Michigan’s four caucus committees, which spend money on races for the state Legislature, were the primary forces behind the fundraising jump, disclosures show.
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posted on 04/30/2019
Ten state lawmakers raised more than $30,000 through their own political action committees over the first months of 2019, according to new campaign finance disclosures. Individual contributors gave as much as $40,000 to the leadership PACs, a growing form of fundraising in Michigan.
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posted on 04/30/2019
Elected state officeholders who served in 2018 disclosed having at least 774 fundraisers during the year, according to an analysis of hundreds of campaign finance disclosures. The most popular places to raise money were all within walking distance of the Capitol, and the wide majority of the most popular days for fundraisers were days the Legislature was also in session.
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posted on 04/25/2019
After the most expensive U.S. House races in Michigan history in 2018, the winners have already set out on a fast fundraising pace for 2020. On average, the 14 lawmakers’ campaigns brought in about $36,262 per day over the first three months of the year, according to the disclosures.
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posted on 04/16/2019
Michigan’s 2018 race for the Supreme Court was defined by what it lacked: It did not see large, under-the-radar spending by groups acting outside of the candidates’ campaigns. That type of spending has been a staple of Supreme Court races in the state for nearly two decades.
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posted on 04/11/2019
Democrat Debbie Stabenow won re-election to the U.S. Senate in a race that attracted about $40 million overall, according to an analysis of independent spending reports and candidate fundraising disclosures. The total may seem like a large one, but it isn't when compared to other competitive U.S. Senate contests in the year 2018.
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posted on 04/11/2019
As lobbyists for the casino industry increased their spending in Lansing, state lawmakers considered significant changes to Michigan's gaming laws. In the last four months alone, there have late-night votes on a bill to ease regulations covering casinos, vetoes by the governor and undisclosed trips to New Orleans for a gaming conference.
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posted on 04/04/2019
Michigan's 2018 races for the state House attracted about $27.6 million, according to MCFN's analysis. It was a record total that was achieved despite the fact the races shared 2018 ballots with expensive campaigns for the state Senate and governor. The most expensive individual 2018 House race cost about $1.5 million, according to the analysis.
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posted on 03/28/2019
At $34.5 million, Michigan's 2018 races for the state Senate attracted more money than they ever had before. New contribution limits and increased competition helped drive up the price tag. But there was also more than $4 million in spending by groups that didn't disclose their donors but occasionally used images of snakes and swamp monsters to attack candidates.
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posted on 03/21/2019
A group of state lawmakers has been quietly working to do away with Michigan's 21-year-old ban on state-level campaign contributions by individuals with financial ties to the three Detroit casinos. While supporters of the ban said it was meant to prevent corruption in a highly regulated industry, the lawmakers that want to lift the ban believe it went too far.
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posted on 03/12/2019
Michigan’s 2018 race for governor attracted about $93.4 million, and it spurred record spending by groups that can accept unlimited contributions while operating outside of the candidates’ campaigns. Both outcomes point to larger trends: more money in races; and more money coming from spenders that are allegedly “independent” of the candidates.
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posted on 03/11/2019
Michigan's 2018 race for attorney general was the closest contest at the top of the ballot and it attracted a record amount of money for an attorney general contest in Michigan. Likewise, it also saw a record amount of spending by groups acting outside of the candidates' campaigns.
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posted on 03/11/2019
Michigan's 2018 race for secretary of state attracted $3.6 million, according to campaign finance disclosures. About 26 percent of the money came from a national group that spent heavily to benefit Democratic candidate Jocelyn Benson. Michigan previously hadn't seen such heavy spending by an out-of-state group in a race for secretary of state.
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posted on 03/11/2019
For years, party-connected organizations in Michigan have used legal loopholes to take millions of dollars from undisclosed sources to fund TV ads and mailers that benefit candidates in competitive races, according to a joint investigation by The Detroit News and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. The strategy continued in 2018.
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posted on 03/07/2019
Registered lobbyists disclosed buying at least $1,000 in food and drink for 27 different state lawmakers in 2018, according to an analysis of new disclosures. Among the four lawmakers who received the most free food and drink were the incoming speaker of the House and the incoming chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.
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posted on 02/28/2019
As state lawmakers sent nearly 400 bills to then-Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk in the closing weeks of the year, lobbyists upped their efforts in Lansing to influence policy decisions, helping to make 2018 a record year for lobbyist spending, according to state disclosures. Overall, lobbyists reported spending $40.3 million in 2018.
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posted on 02/27/2019
Forty Michigan families and individuals spent a combined $56.5 million on political contributions from the start of 2017 through the end of 2018, according to a new analysis of state and national campaign finance disclosures. Fourteen families or individuals from Michigan spent more than $1 million each, the analysis also found.
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posted on 02/21/2019
Members of West Michigan's DeVos family combined to make about $11.3 million in political contributions from the start of 2017 to the end of 2018. The family spent more money on politics ahead of the 2018 election than any other Michigan family, according to an analysis of state and national fundraising disclosures by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
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posted on 02/21/2019
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s transition organization voluntarily released a list of inauguration sponsors. The list included 182 groups or individuals who fell into sponsorship categories ranging from $100,000 to $1,000. Some of the groups on the list previously supported Whitmer’s opponent in the election, and many of them will be working with state government on upcoming policy decisions.
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posted on 02/11/2019
Over 2017 and 2018, the state's largest 150 political action committees smashed their past fundraising record for a two-year election cycle. The PACs combined to raise $97 million, which is up 42 percent over the previous high total. Super PACs and PACs connected to individual officeholders had a lot to do with why the 2017-2018 total broke the record.
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posted on 02/08/2019
Michigan considered wide-ranging ballot proposal campaigns in 2017 and 2018, covering topics like redistricting, marijuana and wage requirements. According to an analysis, the wide majority of the money the campaigns and their opponents raised came from nonprofits that didn't have to report their own donors.
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posted on 01/31/2019
Ten political action committees (PACs) combined to spend $17.1 million on Michigan’s U.S. House elections last year, according to a new review of campaign finance disclosures. The 10 PACs' spending amounts to about 20 percent of the $80 million the races attracted overall.
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posted on 01/24/2019
Thanks in part to two extremely expensive races, the primary and general election contests for Michigan’s 14 seats in the U.S. House attracted about $80 million, according to candidate fundraising disclosures, independent-spending reports by groups and an analysis of TV advertising data from Kantar Media/CMAG. The 2018 total is double what the same races attracted in 2016: $40 million.
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posted on 01/22/2019
If giving large campaign checks to state lawmakers boosts a group’s influence in Lansing, there are some groups that stand to have a lot of power in the new legislative session. Five interest groups currently rank among the top 10 contributors to at least one-third of the 2019-2020 Michigan Legislature, according to campaign finance disclosures.
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posted on 01/15/2019
While candidates were responsible for the wide majority of positive campaign ads that ran last fall, outside groups, like nonprofits and super PACs, were behind the wide majority of negative campaign ads, according to a new analysis of more than 60,000 broadcast ad spots that ran in state races before the November election.
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posted on 01/09/2019
Political action committees connected to groups backing five bills to change environmental policies in lame duck have spent $3.01 million in support of current lawmakers and their caucuses over the last five years, according to an analysis of fundraising disclosures and meeting minutes.
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posted on 12/21/2018
Democrat Gretchen Whitmer and Republican Bill Schuette raised more than $23 million for their campaigns for governor. And disclosures show that employees of Michigan’s largest companies and some of the state’s largest interest groups helped foot the bill.
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posted on 12/12/2018
Compared to other states, Michigan would have a one-of-a-kind system for deciding who gets to enforce and administer campaign finance laws under bills advancing in the Legislature’s lame-duck session. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network examined the process of the 49 other states to see how the Michigan proposal compares.
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posted on 12/10/2018
When it comes to the general election race for Michigan governor, direct spending by PACs, super PACs, nonprofits and other political groups dwarfed spending by the candidates' campaigns. The numbers point to a greater trend in campaign finance, and they aren't final yet. The disparity will likely grow as more disclosures become available.
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posted on 12/10/2018
The business groups asking state lawmakers to weaken voter-initiated laws increasing the minimum wage and requiring paid sick leave have been heavy financial supporters of lawmakers’ campaigns.
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posted on 12/04/2018
Introduced two days after the election in the lame duck session, Senate Bill 1176 would create a new law called the “Personal Privacy Protection Act.” The act would ban any government agency, state or local, from requiring nonprofit organizations to disclose information about their financial supporters. That includes nonprofit organizations involved in campaigns.
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posted on 11/28/2018
Candidates for the Michigan House and Senate with the most financial support didn't win every race this year, but they won a lot of them. According to a new analysis, candidates with a financial advantage won 89.2 percent of the races for the Michigan Legislature. The 2018 percentage is very close to the percentage for 2016.
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posted on 11/20/2018
The battle for control of the Michigan Senate saw an influx of spending by nonprofit organizations that don't have to disclose their donors. The groups funded mailers, Facebook ads and even door-to-door campaigns. They also spent heavily on negative TV ads about candidates in the weeks before the election.
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posted on 11/16/2018
Michigan's 2018 elections have become the most expensive in state history. MCFN has now tracked about $291 million in the 2018 races, and the total is far from complete. The total will increase as more fundraising and spending disclosures become available in the next months. The 2018 elections break a record that's stood since 2012.
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posted on 11/13/2018
The Republican and Democratic candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state have been busy this fall describing what makes them different from their opponents. But these political rivals have some similarities when it comes to their financial supporters.
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posted on 11/06/2018
This year’s campaign for control of the Michigan Senate is shaping up to be an expensive one. While the numbers aren’t final and will only go up, already 10 of the 38 Senate races have crossed the $1-million mark, according to a new analysis of campaign finance disclosures, including late contributions reported over the weekend. That's a Michigan record for the number of $1-million Senate races in an election.
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posted on 11/05/2018
PACs, which are usually connected to interest groups, political causes or public officeholders, raise money to support candidates or to directly influence voters through advertisements or other campaign efforts. The fact that they’ve raised a record amount of money since the start of 2017 is another sign that Michigan’s 2018 election will be one of the most expensive in state history.
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posted on 10/31/2018
New campaign finance disclosures show that Michigan's candidates for governor raised more than $6 million over the last two months. But outside groups, including a handful of super PACs, are pouring millions more into the race as Election Day nears. When you include spending in the primary, the 2018 race for governor has drawn at least $75 million.
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posted on 10/26/2018
Voters Not Politicians, the ballot committee hoping to change how Michigan draws its legislative district lines, took in nearly $14 million over the past three months, swamping the group that is opposed to the ballot measure. Ballot proposal campaigns filed new reports on their fundraising ahead of Election Day.
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posted on 10/26/2018
The four groups that raise money on behalf of the House Democrats, House Republicans, Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans have raised a record amount of money. Some of the funds have come from donors giving maximum contributions of $40,000 per year. Now, the groups are spending millions on key races for seats in the Legislature.
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posted on 10/26/2018
Nearly $9 million in TV ads about candidates for the Michigan Legislature have already aired this fall or will air in the coming days, according to an analysis of ad-tracking data and public records. The ads are a large part of the expensive fight to decide which party will control the House and Senate.
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posted on 10/25/2018
Michigan's 2018 race for governor will be one of the most expensive in state history. Much of the money is coming from super PACs and nonprofit organizations that are working outside of the candidates' campaigns. Later this week, the candidates and involved PACs will have to file new disclosures with the state about their involvement.
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posted on 10/22/2018
New fundraising disclosures show that Michigan's 2018 U.S. House races are attracting more money than they did before past elections. Among the 2018 races is a contest in the 8th Congressional District, which has already drawn about $16.5 million, a record amount for a U.S. House race in Michigan.
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posted on 10/16/2018
The campaign for majorities in the Michigan House and Senate is playing out on TV screens across the state this fall. The ads will intensify as Election Day nears. But already, MCFN has tracked more than $4 million in broadcast and cable TV ads focused on candidates for the Legislature. A majority of the money has gone to ads aired in races in Southeast Michigan.
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posted on 10/12/2018
Michigan's 2018 races for the U.S. House are on pace to attract much more campaign money than those in recent years. Two of the 14 races are already shaping up to be the most expensive U.S. House contests Michigan has seen since lawmakers redrew congressional district lines in 2011.
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posted on 10/04/2018
Before Republican lawmakers introduced bills in September to support picking a future president through the national popular vote, many of them attended seminars about the topic in vacation spots, like Hawaii and Puerto Rico. More than 20 lawmakers participated in the conferences with some receiving free air travel and hotel stays.
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posted on 10/01/2018
According to new data submitted to the Secretary of State, lobbyists reported spending $21.6 million to influence state government over the first seven months of 2018. It’s a total that falls just shy of the record pace for lobbyist spending set last year when lobbyists disclosed spending $21.8 million over the first seven months.
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posted on 09/21/2018
State lobbyists reported spending $428,533 on food and drink purchases over the first seven months of 2018. While it's impossible to track which officeholders individually benefited from all of those free meals, disclosures show that at least 16 state lawmakers received more than $1,000 in free food and beverages.
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posted on 09/18/2018
In 2014, the last time all 38 seats in the Michigan Senate were on the ballot, there were three primary races where the candidates’ campaigns combined to spend more than $400,000. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network labeled those totals "unusually high." In 2018, a series of Senate primaries easily surpassed the $500,000 mark.
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posted on 09/14/2018
Michigan's 2018 race for governor will likely be one of the most expensive in state history. As of this week, the race has attracted about $50 million, according to a new analysis from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. The candidates' campaigns have raised most of the money, but outside groups are starting to play a larger role.
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posted on 09/07/2018
Two times each year, groups that want to influence state government through lobbying have to file reports on their spending. But according to lobbying contracts obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, state law has allowed many groups to disclose only a portion of the amount they're paying lobbying firms.
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posted on 09/04/2018
The general election race for Michigan governor is just getting started. But already, an estimated $1.6 million in broadcast TV ads have aired since the primary. National groups are driving the ad spending. In this story, MCFN examines who's behind the ads.
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posted on 09/04/2018
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network examined state fundraising disclosures, federal fundraising disclosures and reports that some groups file with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to determine which Michigan-connected political donors have been giving the most since the start of 2017.
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posted on 08/22/2018
This fall, Michigan voters will pick a new attorney general and secretary of state. They’ll also fill two seats on the state’s highest court. Candidates applying for the jobs have already raised about $5.4 million.
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posted on 08/22/2018
While there are limits on what donors can give directly to state officeholders' campaigns, those same officeholders can accept unlimited amounts of money through leadership PACs. Some of the state's highest ranking officials are receiving big contributions through their PACs and using the money to fund like-minded candidates. We track which donors have been contributing the most to lawmakers' PACs.
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posted on 08/14/2018
About $23.6 million in political advertisements aired on broadcast TV in Michigan before today’s primary election, according to an analysis of ad-tracking data from Kantar Media/CMAG and filings with the Federal Communications Commission. The wide majority of the ads focused on the race to become Michigan's next governor.
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posted on 08/07/2018
With an election that could reshape state government on the horizon, interest groups and officeholders are raising large amounts of money for political action committees, also known as PACs. According to MCFN's analysis, Michigan PACs are on a record fundraising pace with three months remaining before the general election.
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posted on 08/06/2018
While broadcast TV ads are usually rare in primary elections for the Michigan House and Senate, a nonprofit organization linked to a major Michigan utility has been airing TV ads promoting five candidates for the state Legislature. The ads are drawing criticism from opponents who are concerned about the groups behind the nonprofit and the general nature of the advertisements.
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posted on 08/01/2018
Michigan's 2018 race for governor has already attracted about $42 million. It's a total that's been reached with more than a week remaining before the Aug. 7 primary election and with an entire general election campaign yet to waged.
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posted on 07/27/2018
Political action committees, super PACs and nonprofit organizations that want to sway Michiganders' votes for governor have already spent about $8.9 million, according to a new analysis from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. That number will likely rise in the final 12 days before the Aug. 7 primary.
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posted on 07/26/2018
A state senator introduced a bill that could have benefited a company he once worked for. In Michigan, unlike other states, such can remain secret unless state lawmakers decide to run for higher office or they choose to voluntarily disclose information about their personal finances.
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posted on 07/26/2018
According to new fundraising disclosures that were due on Sunday, campaigns for Michigan’s 14 seats in the U.S. House had already drawn $30 million as of June 30, 2018. That’s more than Michigan’s U.S. House races had attracted at the same point before the 2014 and 2016 elections.
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posted on 07/17/2018
As a deadline looms for Gov. Snyder to decide the future of a pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac, he has touted efforts to weigh the issue independently. But his administration has given Enbridge avenues to influence the debate. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network and Bridge Magazine have examined thousands of internal documents, investigating potential conflicts of interest in the state's handling of Line 5.
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posted on 07/11/2018
Michigan candidates and groups that want to influence their races have now aired an estimated $8.3 million in broadcast TV ads in 2018, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network's analysis of Federal Communications Commission filings and Kantar Media/CMAG ad-tracking data.
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posted on 07/09/2018
The three major-party candidates in Michigan's 2018 U.S. Senate race combined to raise $20.5 million by the end of March, according to campaign finance disclosures. One of the candidates is an incumbent with a large fundraising lead. One is self-financing his campaign. And the third is receiving heavy support from some of Michigan's top donors.
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posted on 07/09/2018
A new joint investigation by Fox 2 Detroit and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network has found that members of the powerful Moroun family and companies run by the family spent more money than anyone else on races for the Detroit City Council last year. Much of the money moved through three Super PACs and wasn't easy to track until after the election.
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posted on 06/27/2018
When state lawmakers voted last week to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage, the wide majority of them voted the way their fundraising reports suggested they would. The votes came after a petition-gathering campaign and a lengthy fight that involved some of the state's most active interest groups.
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posted on 06/15/2018
In Michigan, when legal fights over legislative redistricting go to the state's high court, justices often have to rule on cases in which their political benefactors have strong opinions. A 2018 case about a ballot proposal to institute an independent redistricting commission could be the latest chapter in a story that has a long history.
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posted on 06/08/2018
As of Monday, June 4, Michigan voters had viewed an estimated $4.45 million in political ads on broadcast TV in 2018, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network’s analysis of Kantar Media/CMAG ad-tracking data and Federal Communications Commission filings.
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posted on 06/06/2018
A little over a year after the Michigan Senate moved its offices into a new building, there are days when senators are just an elevator ride away from private parties offering free food and drink, according to invitations they’ve received.
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posted on 05/25/2018
With all 148 seats in the state Legislature on the ballot in 2018, donors are investing heavily in the Republicans who could lead the House and Senate next year if the GOP maintains control. Meanwhile, Democratic candidates for leadership jobs have fallen well behind their GOP counterparts in PAC fundraising.
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posted on 05/22/2018
Nonprofit organizations have already been running advertisements promoting two state Senate candidates. The candidates' opponents say the ads are a response to policy stances they've taken. One of the opponents said, “If you aren’t willing to go with what they want, then they are willing to spend what it takes to defeat you."
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posted on 05/10/2018
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network estimates that there’s been at least $1.01 million in spending by groups that don’t have to disclose their donors as of May 7. The spending includes ads run on broadcast TV, on cable TV and on some radio stations across Michigan.
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posted on 05/10/2018
As of April 20 — 200 days before the general election — the top 150 political action committees in Michigan had collected $34.5 million, according to an analysis of new campaign finance disclosures. That total is a record for this point before a statewide election.
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posted on 05/04/2018
Because of large blind spots in Michigan law, state officeholders can go on trips funded by interest groups and easily avoid public detection. Multiple sources say trips funded by groups may happen more often than you would expect, and the same blind spots that exist in Michigan don't exist in some neighboring states or at the federal level.
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posted on 04/30/2018
The four committees that raise money on behalf of the House Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Republicans and Senate Democrats reported having $10.0 million available as of April 20, according to new campaign finance disclosures. That total is a record, and it's millions of dollars above where they were at the same point in 2014.
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posted on 04/27/2018
The eight most active ballot proposal campaigns that are working to change Michigan law in 2018 have already combined to raise $12.3 million, according to new disclosures. The majority of their financial support has come from a small number of organizations and their affiliates.
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posted on 04/27/2018
Less than eight months after Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law establishing new standards for how closely candidates can work with “independent” spenders looking to sway voters, multiple PACs with connections to Lt. Gov. Brian Calley have bought ad time to boost his campaign for governor.
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posted on 04/20/2018
The men and women who want to represent Michigan in the U.S. House have already raised about $22 million for their 2018 campaigns, according to new campaign finance disclosures. In most of the state's battleground districts, the candidates’ total fundraising hauls are higher so far in 2018 than they were at the same point in 2016.
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posted on 04/17/2018
Democrats across Michigan will meet inside Detroit’s Cobo Center on Sunday. Their official duty will be to endorse party candidates for attorney general, secretary of state and Michigan Supreme Court. However, political insiders say the event could also be a bellwether for a possible power shift within a changing Democratic Party.
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posted on 04/12/2018
Precinct delegates help set the Michigan Republican Party's future, and the quiet fight to decide who gets to be one of them in 2018 is playing out in small meetings in counties across the state. GOP candidates for secretary of state and attorney general are already out working for support among delegates. Tea party groups want to increase their own numbers. And if the past is any indication, others will try to sway the process as well.
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posted on 04/12/2018
Contributions from political action committees – also known as PACs – accounted for 54 percent of the total amount of money accepted by state lawmakers’ campaigns in 2017, according to a Spartan Newsroom analysis of Michigan campaign finance records. Even though 2017 was a non-election year, Michigan lawmakers raised nearly $8 million from all sources – individuals, parties, political action committees – to help them eventually run for re-election.
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posted on 04/02/2018
An estimated $1.7 million in political ads had aired on broadcast TV stations in Michigan as of Monday, March 26, according to an analysis of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings and of Kantar Media/CMAG ad-tracking data. The total doesn’t include ads airing on cable TV. There have been many of those as well.
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posted on 03/29/2018
Michigan lawmakers and other state officials reported having 601 fundraisers during 2017, a significant increase compared with previous years, according to a review of campaign finance disclosures. Nearly half of the events took place in downtown Lansing within walking distance of the Capitol on days the Legislature was in session.
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posted on 03/26/2018
Leadership PACs are becoming a more powerful player in Michigan politics. It's a trend that gives donors the ability to make unlimited contributions to a wider array of elected officials and that gives lawmakers who can attract donors the ability to wield more influence.
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posted on 03/16/2018
Lobbyists reported spending $821,640 purchasing food and drink in 2017. According to new disclosures, 30 different lawmakers benefited from at least $1,000 in free food and drink last year. Three of them crossed the $3,000 mark.
Lobbyists’ food bill for 2017 is the second highest they have posted for a single year, losing out only to 2015.
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posted on 03/02/2018
Lobbyists disclosed spending $39.4 million trying to influence state government in 2017. It’s the second highest total Michigan lobbyists have reported spending in a single year, according to state filings. The record spending total came one year ago in 2016 when lobbyists reported spending $39.9 million.
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posted on 03/02/2018
Many of the men and women who sit on the boards that oversee Michigan’s public universities have made names for themselves in business or politics. Many also happen to be generous campaign donors.
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posted on 02/27/2018
The top 150 PACs in Michigan reported raising $24.3 million in 2017, a record amount for an off-year leading into a statewide election year. In 2018, voters will choose a new governor, a new attorney general, a new secretary of state and candidates to fill all 148 seats in the state Legislature.
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posted on 02/19/2018
According to new campaign finance disclosures, Michigan's U.S. House candidates have already collected about $14.7 million. Three candidates have individually raised more than $1 million each. Thirty candidates have raised more than $100,000 each.
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posted on 02/13/2018
The November election may be 10 months away, but some campaign donors have already made max contributions in support of their preferred candidates for governor. According to a review of fundraising disclosures, about 318 donors contributed the maximum amount allowed to at least one candidate for Michigan governor by the end of 2017.
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posted on 02/07/2018
If the early numbers are any indication, you can expect some expensive races for the Michigan Senate in 2018 with many involving current members of the Michigan House. Two primary races between well-funded Republican candidates have already attracted more than $400,000 in campaign cash, according to campaign finance disclosures.
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posted on 02/07/2018
The four main groups that raise money to elect Michigan lawmakers have more cash available at the start of 2018 than they’ve ever had at the start of an election year. And it’s not even close. The House Democratic Fund, the House Republican Campaign Committee, the Senate Democratic Fund and the Senate Republican Campaign Committee raise money on behalf of the four legislative caucuses.
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posted on 01/31/2018
With Michigan’s redistricting process, wage laws and marijuana legalization hanging in the balance, the 2018 battle over ballot proposals is just getting started. But it’s already attracted more than $7 million in contributions, according to new campaign finance disclosures.
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posted on 01/31/2018
Later this year, Michigan voters will elect a new governor, a new attorney general, a new secretary of state and multiple new U.S. House members. They’ll also fill every seat in the state Legislature and pick a U.S. senator. The election will likely be among the most expensive in state history. Here are 10 graphs on trends to watch in 2018.
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posted on 01/23/2018
Lawmakers say lobbyists not only write proposed amendments to add to existing bills but they also present draft language that the lobbyists ask lawmakers to formally introduce as their own bills. But lawmakers also say the general involvement of lobbyists and interest groups makes for better legislation.
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posted on 01/18/2018
Making Government Accountable paid out $1.7 million in the election year, more than other Snyder-linked nonprofits reported spending in past years.
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posted on 01/18/2018
This fall, mayoral elections in three of Michigan’s largest cities saw at least some involvement from outside groups. In two of the cities, the groups apparently avoided disclosing their donors and showed up in the final weeks before the election, providing little time for their targets to respond.
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posted on 01/02/2018
In a city council race this fall, a Super PAC flexed its muscles. It formed on Oct. 4, 2017, about a month before the election. It went on to spend $32,823, supporting a candidate through digital advertisements and three rounds of mailings. The candidate won by 336 votes.
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posted on 12/15/2017
The race for an Upper Peninsula-based seat in the state House drew about $431,093 this fall with about half of the money coming from Michigan Republican Party. In the Nov. 7 special election, the state GOP was hoping to flip the Democratic-leaning 109th state House District, which includes the city of Marquette.
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posted on 12/15/2017
It could be the next battle in the struggle between powerful pro-business groups and powerful pro-labor groups. This one has an added wrinkle: The labor groups with the most to lose have a record of financially supporting some Republicans.
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posted on 12/08/2017
With the November 2018 election still about a year away, the 150 most active PACs in Michigan are on a record fundraising pace. They’ve reported raising $18.5 million this year through Oct 20, 2017.
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posted on 11/14/2017
The attorney general, the lieutenant governor, the leaders of the state House and state Senate and potential future leaders are among the Michigan officeholders who’ve seen the heaviest support from donors this year. Some of those donors’ individual contributions have reached as high as $75,000.
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posted on 11/07/2017
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is riding a wave of financial support into the final days of his race for a second term. Duggan’s campaign and Turnaround Detroit, a Super PAC that’s been running positive TV ads about Duggan, reported raising a combined $1.3 million from late August through Oct. 22.
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posted on 10/31/2017
Four groups that are consistently among the top campaign spenders in Michigan are sitting on a strikingly massive amount of money for this early in an election cycle. As of Oct. 20, 2017 — just over a year before the 2018 election — those four committees reported having a combined $6.48 million available in their accounts. That total is up millions of dollars compared to where they were at this point in past gubernatorial election cycles.
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posted on 10/31/2017
With a small group of large donors driving the numbers upward, three ballot campaigns to change Michigan law have each passed the $1-million mark. Three other campaigns have amassed more than $400,000 in support.
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posted on 10/26/2017
Candidates for Michigan governor combined to bring in $71,000 a day on average over the last three months. The primary election they’re collecting money for is still 10 months away, and their early fundraising efforts are out-pacing many of past candidates.
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posted on 10/26/2017
A new collaborative project by MLive Media Group and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network examines Michigan’s efforts to create rules for a developing medical marijuana industry that’s been valued at more than $800 million.
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posted on 10/25/2017
The political fight over gun laws in Michigan is less about big checks written to powerful officeholders and more about lobbying, candidate surveys and strategic messaging directed at voters in a handful of key districts with some of those messages coming from groups with secret donors.
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posted on 10/23/2017
A representative who may run for the Senate and two candidates who could square off in one of Michigan’s most competitive House districts are receiving heavy support from political donors, according to new campaign finance disclosures.
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posted on 10/17/2017
Political action committees and executives tied to groups or businesses that have previously taken a stance on plans to change Michigan's auto insurance system have given at least $704,795 to fundraising accounts tied members of the House and Senate insurance committees over the last five years. About 63 percent of the money, $448,530, came from those traditionally siding with proposals backed by the auto insurance industry.
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posted on 10/02/2017
A bill that could weaken Michigan’s long-standing campaign contributions limits has received the approval of Gov. Rick Snyder. The Michigan Senate voted 23-12 for Senate Bill 335 on Thursday. On Tuesday, the House voted 62-45 in favor it.
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posted on 09/20/2017
Michigan lobbyists reported spending $540,598 on food and drink purchases for public officeholders over the first seven months of 2017, according to new state disclosures. That total is the second highest ever posted for the first seven months of a year and isn't far from the record. Some state officeholders, including high-ranking lawmakers, have received a larger portion of the free food and drink from lobbyists than others.
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posted on 09/18/2017
Lobbyists reported spending a record amount trying to influence Michigan officeholders in 2016. Over the first seven months of 2017, they matched their record pace. From Jan. 1, 2017, through July 31, 2017, lobbyists reported spending a total of $21.8 million in Michigan, about the same total that they spent over the first seven months of 2016, $21.7 million.
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posted on 09/11/2017
As its chairman pushed for tax breaks to help spur a 52-story development in downtown Detroit, mortgage company Quicken Loans increased its efforts to develop relationships with Lansing lawmakers. According to new disclosures, Quicken Loans spent more on lobbying state government in the first seven months of 2017 — $159,475 — than it had spent in an entire year previously.
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posted on 09/11/2017
The lengthy legal battle between the leaders of a powerful Michigan law firm and one of its former lawyers is stirring new discussion in Lansing over the role of political contributions in the state’s judicial system, which has seen some of the most expensive judicial races in the country.
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posted on 08/31/2017
The top 150 PACs in Michigan have combined to raise $12.2 million so far in 2017, according to an analysis of new campaign finance disclosures. The total, which includes dollars raised as of July 20, is up about 11 percent over the same measure at the same point in the 2015-2016 election cycle.
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posted on 08/09/2017
The top 15 fundraisers serving in state government have combined to attract more than $4.4 million in contributions over the first seven months of 2017. Most of the money has gone to officials’ candidate committees, which collect funds for their own campaigns for offices. But the officials are also raising money for PACs, which help fund other campaigns, nonprofit organizations and administrative accounts.
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posted on 08/03/2017
Six statewide campaigns seeking to change Michigan law by gathering petition signatures have already combined to raise more than $2.7 million. A majority of that money continues to come from just a handful of sources.
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posted on 08/01/2017
While they’re still a year away from collecting official votes for governor, a field of potential candidates in Michigan has already amassed more than $7.5 million in campaign cash. Six candidates officially running to be the state’s next governor and two potential candidates reported in fundraising disclosures due today that combined, they had $7.5 million sitting in accounts on July 20.
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posted on 07/25/2017
The main fundraising committees of the House Republicans, the House Democrats, the Senate Republicans and the Senate Democrats combined to raise $3.1 million in 2017 as of July 20, according to campaign finance disclosures due today. Over the last decade, the four committees had previously never combined to raise more than $3 million as of July 20 in the year before the election year.
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posted on 07/25/2017
As a handful of ballot proposal campaigns work this summer to change Michigan law in 2018, the names of many individuals and businesses whose dollars ultimately helped fund the campaigns are hidden from public view.
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posted on 07/21/2017
Registered lobbyists have been frequent political donors in Michigan over the years, according to a new analysis of campaign finance disclosures. Since the start of 2012, five-and-a-half years ago, Michigan’s more than 1,300 registered lobbyists made $3.7 million in personal political contributions at the state level.
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posted on 07/18/2017
The average U.S. House member from Michigan raised $1.3 million for 2016’s election. With the 2018 version still 15 months away, some of the contenders are already on their way to that number. Over the weekend, candidates who’ve been raising money to run for the U.S. House next year had to turn in new fundraising disclosures.
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posted on 07/17/2017
Forty of Michigan's top campaign donors combined to give about $44 million in contributions at the state and federal levels last election cycle, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network's tracking. Eight families or individuals connected to Michigan gave more than $1 million each.
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posted on 06/19/2017
As state lawmakers weighed millions of dollars in new incentives for businesses bringing large development projects, some of those pushing hardest for the incentives opened their checkbooks to make political contributions.
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posted on 05/31/2017
Michigan lawmakers who will decide whether to hand health insurance plans a victory this spring have received about $1 million in contributions from committees and executives connected to the plans. At stake is who will provide services for people with mental illnesses, developmental disabilities and substance use disorders and who will oversee the $2.6 billion in annual Medicaid dollars that are attached to those services.
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posted on 05/01/2017
The 2018 election cycle started with a boom for groups that tend to be the biggest spenders in races for the Michigan Legislature. The main fundraising committees of Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, House Republicans and House Democrats combined to raise $2.10 million from Jan. 1, 2017, through April 20, 2017, according to disclosures due on Tuesday.
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posted on 05/01/2017
Dollar signs abound in a renewed debate this spring over when Michigan schools should be able to start their academic years. A bill that would lift the state’s current ban on school starting before Labor Day advanced out of a Senate committee in March. But the bill, Senate Bill 271, is facing major pushback from business groups.
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posted on 04/24/2017
Lawmakers leaving the Michigan Legislature would have to wait two years before becoming lobbyists under bills being prepped by a Democrat and a Republican in the state House.
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posted on 04/11/2017
Despite the fact that none of the general election results were close, the campaigns for Michigan's 14 congressional seats drew about $40.0 million, according to a review of campaign finance disclosures. About 17 percent of that total — $7 million — came from so-called “independent” spenders that can pay for unlimited amounts of TV ads and mailers to try to influence elections.
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posted on 04/05/2017
The speaker of the Michigan House has ordered a review of the main fundraising committee for House Republicans after discovering the committee’s public reports differed from bank balances by about $100,000, according to newly obtained emails by MCFN and the Michigan Public Radio Network.
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posted on 03/31/2017
State lawmakers who served in the Legislature last year self-reported having 414 campaign fundraisers in 2016, according to MCFN’s review of hundreds of campaign finance disclosures. About 46 percent of the events, 192 fundraisers, took place in Lansing on days either the House or the Senate was scheduled to be in session.
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posted on 03/27/2017
The 2016 races for Michigan's highest court weren't competitive. Still, they attracted millions of dollars — much of it coming from undisclosed sources, as is the tradition in Michigan — with the winning side outspending the losing side by an estimated margin of 34 to one. “I was telling people it was 20 to one,” one of the losing candidates said. “I wanted to be conservative. And I guess I was.”
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posted on 03/16/2017
Michigan lobbyists reported spending $690,681 on food and drink purchases in 2016 with 25 different state legislators identified as recipients of more than $1,000 in free meals each, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network’s (MCFN) review of new disclosures filed with the state.
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posted on 03/08/2017
Last year saw more spending on lobbying than any year before, according to new filings with the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office. Lobbyists in Michigan reported spending $39.99 million in 2016. It continues a general upward trend for spending to influence lawmakers. The previous high came just one year before in 2015 when lobbyists reported $38.66 million in spending.
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posted on 03/03/2017
Michigan’s 2016 elections saw millions of dollars in political spending from groups whose donors remain hidden from public view. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network analyzed TV ad-tracking data and reviewed thousands of pages of disclosures on ad purchases to determine at least $6 million was spent on political TV ads in 2016 by groups whose donors didn’t have to be disclosed.
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posted on 02/27/2017
One of the candidates for a university board position last year reported raising more money than the 11 other major party nominees combined, according to campaign finance disclosures. It's one example of the wide range of fundraising totals among candidates for university boards and the State Board of Education in 2016.
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posted on 02/27/2017
The fundraising totals of Michigan’s largest interest groups continue to trend upward with no end in sight. For the 2015-2016 election cycle, the top 150 political action committees (PACs) in Michigan combined to raise $48.5 million. That’s $7 million more than the top 150 PACs have raised in a two-year presidential election cycle before.
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posted on 02/15/2017
The 2016 fight for control of the Michigan House of Representatives is the most expensive in the state’s history, according to disclosures. Donors, political parties and outside groups poured at least $27.0 million into House races for 2016, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network’s tracking.
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posted on 02/10/2017
If money is power in politics, an association that represents beer and wine distributors may wield the most power in Michigan politics heading into the new legislative session. An analysis of lists of top donors for individual state lawmakers found that the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers Association appears more frequently on the lists than any other interest group
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posted on 02/08/2017
A fund tied to the husband of the House Insurance Committee’s new chairwoman received $80,000 last fall from a group that lobbies on behalf of insurance companies. The account then paid most of the money to a business a legislative staffer had filed paperwork to help form.
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posted on 02/02/2017
While it’s impossible for the public to find out exactly how much money West Michigan’s DeVos family has spent on politics over the years, the number must fall somewhere above $82 million. As the U.S. Senate considers whether to confirm Betsy DeVos, former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, as U.S. education secretary, the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) attempted to track her family's extensive political giving over the years.
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posted on 01/27/2017
Over the last two years, members of the House Health Policy Committee — the panel that takes the first votes on health care proposals in the House — averaged raising more money than any other House committee with eight or more members who served throughout the two-year session.
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posted on 01/23/2017
Unlike Michigan, more than 30 states already have “cooling-off” measures in place, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Facing term limits, 38 lawmakers departed the Michigan House at the end of 2016. If recent history is any indication, several will become lobbyists, and those who do will most likely make the jump within the next six months.
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posted on 01/17/2017
A state representative who sponsored an amendment that would have benefited the ride-sharing company Uber worked for Uber as a driver while also serving in the Legislature. During the 2015-2016 session, the lawmaker voted twice in favor of bills that set state requirements for ride-sharing companies like Uber.
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posted on 01/16/2017
Multiple political operatives said this week a candidate for Michigan governor in a competitive primary race in 2018 would likely need about $3 million dollars in funding to contend in the primary alone. Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, a Republican, and U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, a Democrat — all potential candidates — are already on their way to that figure. And former Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has officially begun her fundraising efforts.
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posted on 01/06/2017
In the murky world of campaigns and corporate spending to influence politics, answers can be elusive. More than two years after a company's boom truck was used to fly a Michigan House candidate's sign above a busy stretch of road, there are still questions about why the effort wasn't disclosed as campaign spending.
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posted on 01/04/2017
Most of the state senators who voted in lame duck for new tax incentives aimed at luring economic development projects had received campaign cash from the main groups pushing for the incentives. That includes bill sponsors and legislative leaders who received contributions in the six months leading up the Senate votes on Nov. 29.
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posted on 12/27/2016
The battle to be Macomb County’s public works commissioner — a job that will pay $130,034 in 2017 — cost at least $3.3 million, according to an analysis of campaign finance records.
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posted on 12/16/2016
Twenty of Michigan’s top independent spenders, which can accept unlimited contributions and expend unlimited amounts in elections, raised $9.9 million over the last two years. About half of that total can be traced to 12 sources.
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posted on 12/13/2016
Members of West Michigan’s powerful DeVos family have combined to make more than $14 million in political contributions in the last two years alone. As Betsy DeVos prepares to become President-elect Donald Trump’s education secretary, MCFN analyzed the family’s giving in Michigan, in other states and at the federal level.
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posted on 12/02/2016
A nonprofit organization linked to Gov. Rick Snyder raised $2.24 million from anonymous donors in 2015, its first year of existence, according to a new federal tax filing. That’s more than the NERD Fund, a previous nonprofit organization connected to Snyder’s administration, raised over the three years it was active.
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posted on 11/23/2016
The candidates with the most money won 91.8 percent of Michigan’s state House races this fall, according to currently available public disclosures and TV ad-tracking data. Out of 110 races for seats in the House next session, the candidates who appear to have attracted the most financial support won 101 of them.
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posted on 11/22/2016
Democrats and Republicans combined to spend more than $4.4 million on broadcast TV ads aimed at swaying state House races this fall, according to ad-tracking data and disclosures available through Tuesday evening, Nov. 8. After all of that spending, Michigan Republicans held the 63-seat majority they won two years ago.
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posted on 11/09/2016
As Michigan suddenly became a key battleground, the state saw a spending surge in the last days of the presidential campaign. Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton and their supporters aired an estimated $2.78 million in broadcast TV ads in Michigan markets over the last week.
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posted on 11/08/2016
A nonprofit that incorporated in September has spent large sums in the last weeks to tell voters in Detroit that a ballot proposal there is “awful.” But because of the way the group is wording its attacks, it can protect the identities of its donors.
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posted on 11/08/2016
For every $1 that’s gone to support the two Democratic nominees for the Michigan Supreme Court, the two Republican nominees have had about $34 in support. According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network’s analysis of fundraising records and broadcast TV data, the GOP nominees for the state’s high court have seen more than $2.9 million in support for their campaigns with just days remaining before Tuesday’s election.
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posted on 11/03/2016
With control of the Michigan House up for grabs, Democrats and Republicans have already poured more than $10 million into 15 districts that will ultimately decide which party wins.
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posted on 11/02/2016
In two of Michigan’s most competitive state House races, mystery mailers have emerged touting the conservative credentials of Libertarian candidates. The mystery comes in the fact that the Libertarian candidates mentioned in the mailers have no idea who sent the pieces out.
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posted on 10/31/2016
The most active 150 political committees in Michigan have raised $43.19 million so far this cycle, a 24 percent increase over where the top 150 PACs were at the same point in the 2012 cycle. The total — $43.19 million — is the most the top 150 committees have raised through Oct. 20 in a two-year presidential cycle in the state’s history.
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posted on 10/28/2016
An investigation by Bridge Magazine and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) found numerous examples of bills authored or supported by legislators that, at least on the surface, offered the potential of a benefit to the lawmakers, their businesses or their families. Meanwhile, lawmakers are recusing themselves from voting less frequently than before.
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posted on 10/27/2016
Michigan House candidates and their supporters have now aired an estimated $1.37 million in broadcast TV ads this fall, according to an analysis of Kantar Media ad-tracking data and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings. That total — $1.37 million — is across 11 State House districts and includes ads that have run in the general election campaign through Monday, Oct. 24.
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posted on 10/26/2016
With little-to-no information available to the public about who's behind them, two secretive funds have been using robocalls to attack Democratic candidates in key Michigan House districts.
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posted on 10/25/2016
Some big players in Michigan politics contributed to two Super PACs that slammed a state senator running for Congress in the days before the Aug. 2 primary, according to campaign finance disclosures released over the weekend.
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posted on 10/17/2016
A race for the U.S. House in Northern Michigan and another in Southern Michigan are shaping up to be the state’s most expensive congressional battles of the 2016 cycle.
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posted on 10/17/2016
A nonprofit funded by secret donors and connected to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder ran about $266,309 in TV ads this fall touting Snyder’s record and six Republican State House candidates.
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posted on 10/14/2016
A joint investigation by MLive and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network found at least 50 of Michigan's 144 House and Senate members, about one in three, are connected or have been connected to a nonprofit or administrative account.
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posted on 10/12/2016
Campaigns and their supporters have already spent an estimated $3 million on broadcast TV ads this fall in four Michigan races for the U.S. House. That estimate is as of Monday, Oct. 3. It's a total that will continue to jump upward over the next month.
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posted on 10/07/2016
As Tesla continues its fight to sell electric vehicles directly to buyers in Michigan, it’s challenging one of the state’s most powerful interest groups: the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association. Auto dealers have given more than $1 million to current state officeholders and their caucuses.
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posted on 10/05/2016
Since the start of 2015, individuals with interests in medical marijuana have contributed nearly $50,000 to seven key lawmakers working on the bills as they moved through the Legislature. But donors disagree on whether money influenced the outcome.
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posted on 09/30/2016
For lobbyists, 2016 is shaping up to be one heck of a year. Over the first seven months of 2016, lobbyists reported $21.7 million in spending, according to disclosures filed at the end of August. That total, $21.7 million, is a record for the first seven months of a year.
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posted on 09/21/2016
The House Health Policy chair, the House Judiciary chair and a Democrat from the Upper Peninsula have consumed the most lobbyist-purchased food and drink over the first seven months of 2016, according to new disclosures.
Report...
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posted on 09/21/2016
As Tesla Motors Inc. continues its fight to sell cars in Michigan, the company has increased its focus on another form of travel: lobbyist-paid trips for state lawmakers.
So far in 2016, Tesla has paid for travel and lodgi...
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posted on 09/21/2016
Their campaigns have already combined to bring in about $1 million — with more on the way. Each candidate has accused the other of unethical behavior. And both candidates have raised money from individuals tied to businesses they could help employ if elected. It's the race between an incumbent and a member of Congress to be county public works commissioner. Read more at the link below.
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posted on 09/15/2016
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s early September TV ad blast in Michigan amounted to an estimated $654,962 in ads across the state. With the election just under two months away, he's not the only candidate hitting the airwaves. The campaign of a candidate in the 7th Congressional District has already spent $370,000 on broadcast TV ads, and more than $1 million in ad time has been ordered in the 1st District. Read more by following the link below.
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posted on 09/14/2016
With the Nov. 8 election two months away, money is already flowing in the battle for control of the Michigan House. Two races have passed the $200,000 fundraising mark, and many more will in the next weeks. Among the big donors to Democrats have been the Operating Engineers and the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters. For Republicans, the DeVos family and Rep. Tom Leonard's PAC have written large checks. Read more and view an interactive graphic at the link below.
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posted on 09/07/2016
Genesee County voters got to see the power of a single big donor this summer. An attorney who says he wanted to “put his money where his mouth was” gave at least $200,000 to a Super PAC, funding a vicious campaign to try to unseat Genesee County’s long-time sheriff in the Democratic primary. The attorney is Glen Lenhoff, who’s practiced law in Genesee County for 35 years but currently lives in Oakland County. Read more about the Super PAC New Sheriff In Town at the link below.
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posted on 08/31/2016
A bill that would limit local governments' ability to regulate plastic bags has set off a debate between business groups that have made some big campaign contributions over the years, including a few donations reported received on the date of a key committee hearing, and environmental groups that have made their own contributions, on a much smaller scale. Read our full story at the link below.
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posted on 08/30/2016
Without having to disclose its donors, a nonprofit organization that’s tried to influence state lawmakers’ debate over energy policy spent $7.4 million in 2015, according to its newest tax filing. The money paid for phone calls, mail campaigns and hundreds of television ads. The group is called Citizens for Michigan's Energy Future, which has connections to the state's largest electric utilities and has promoted bills that the utilities support. Read more by following the link below.
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posted on 08/18/2016
Michigan’s most active political action committees (PACs) continue to set a record fundraising pace for a presidential election cycle. The bump in fundraising is being driven by major interest groups, like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, increasing their activity and by the two House caucuses raising more than in past years. Read more by following the links below.
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posted on 08/16/2016
The candidate who had access to the most money won about 70 percent of the contested State House primary races last week according to campaign finance reports available as of Election Day, Aug. 2. But when primary races in which the winning nominee has little or no chance in the general election are dropped from consideration, the impact of fundraising becomes even more profound. Read our full story on candidate fundraising and election outcomes by following the link below.
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posted on 08/12/2016
In the days before Tuesday's election, two groups attacked at least seven Republican candidates across five different House districts, potentially impacting one-fifth of the races for open seats currently held by the House GOP. The late attacks tended to focus on candidates who were the more conservative options in competitive races and who were already at a fundraising disadvantage. Read our story and see the attacks by following the links below.
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posted on 08/05/2016
Alleging that one candidate thinks gun violence is a game and that another's ideas would "handcuff" police officers, dark money-funded mailers have been trying to sway Michigan voters in the days leading up to Tuesday's primary election. The attacks have come from nonprofit organizations, and some have falsely stated they were sent by previously dissolved PACs. And Michigan law allows the donors behind the mailers to remain secret. Read more by following the link below.
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posted on 08/01/2016
There will be State House candidates on many ballots across Michigan Tuesday who want to strengthen transparency laws and who believe the Legislature should do something about the role of money in politics. That’s according to the responses to questionnaires the Michigan Campaign Finance Network sent out in May to 225 State House candidates. To read more about their responses, follow the links below.
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posted on 07/29/2016
Voters across Michigan will head to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 2, to determine which candidates will be on general election ballots in November. Voters will choose nominees for seats in the Michigan House and in the U.S. Congress. They'll also weigh in on races for local offices. There’s a lot at stake and a lot of money attempting to influence outcomes. MCFN will post stories in the days leading up to the primary following the money that can be traced and also the money that can’t be. Read our primary election coverage at the links below:
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posted on 07/28/2016
By CRAIG MAUGER
Michigan Campaign Finance Network
LANSING — The wives of two current GOP House members and a newcomer in a battleground district have been among the top recipients of donations from current state lawmakers in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary election.
Political...
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posted on 07/28/2016
A Northern Michigan doctor dipping into his own wallet, a Detroit incumbent trying to fend off primary challengers and an ex-lobbyist running in Jackson are drawing big dollars into three of the most expensive House races so far in 2016. Campaign finance reports for House candidates were due on Friday — days before the Aug. 2 primary election. The reports, the first disclosing dollars given to the candidates in 2016, covered fundraising between Jan. 1 and July 17. Read our coverage by following the links below.
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posted on 07/25/2016
The ongoing debate over the future of energy in Michigan and who should pay for it has supercharged interest groups and the lobbyists they employ in Lansing. At least 145 registered lobbyists have either submitted official position statements to the Legislature’s two energy committees about pending energy reforms or are registered as working for the key players in the proposals. As one person watching the debate play out said of the large crop of interested parties, "Everyone gets an electric bill." Read our story by following the link below.
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posted on 07/20/2016
Michigan candidates for Congress dug deep into their own pockets in the last months to support their campaigns, according to new disclosures that were due on Friday. Combined, Republicans running in contested primaries in the 1st and 10th districts loaned or gave their campaigns more than $1 million from April 1 through June 30. But no one has helped himself more than Republican Paul Mitchell who’s running in the open 10th District. Read more by following the links below.
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posted on 07/18/2016
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network has added a new digital tool to help members of the public trace donations to elected officeholders serving in Lansing. The donor-tracking tool provides ranked lists of top contributors to state lawmakers, their caucuses, the governor, the attorney general and the secretary of state. The tool covers donations across a variety of fundraising methods. Read more by following the links below.
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posted on 07/07/2016
In a new complaint, a national ethics group says a Michigan nonprofit appears to have made false statements to the Internal Revenue Service about its political spending. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, D.C., filed a complaint today with the IRS that says the Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility made contributions to political action committees but told the IRS the group hadn’t engaged in “direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office.”
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posted on 06/15/2016
While it appears increasingly unlikely that any group will be able to gather enough petition signatures to put a proposal before Michigan voters in November, those who tried raised some $6.4 million and spent more than $3.5 million. The spending has been a boon for election attorneys, campaign consultants, polling companies and, most emphatically, petition circulators. Read our full piece by following the link below.
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posted on 06/09/2016
A former state lawmaker has formally requested that the Attorney General’s Office and Secretary of State’s Office investigate a State of the City luncheon that entangled public resources while doubling as a fundraiser for a PAC. In a letter to Attorney General Bill Schuette, former Rep. Leon Drolet alleges that Warren Mayor James Fouts’ 2016 State of the City address was “a blatant, open and obvious use of taxpayer resources” that helped a PAC raise money. Read more by following the links below.
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posted on 06/08/2016
With two months before Michigan's August primary, Paul Mitchell, the Republican who’s investing heavily in his own U.S. House campaign, ran an estimated $94,332 in broadcast TV ads in the last two weeks of May.
The ads mark the first of Michigan’s 2016 congressional races, according to tracking data from Kantar Media, which monitors ads. Mitchell’s campaign ran about 50 broadcast ads in the Detroit TV market last month, according to Kantar’s numbers. And according to federal filings, the campaign has already ordered more ad time for June. Read more by following the link below.
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posted on 06/02/2016
The interest groups and caucus committees that will help finance the fight for control of the Michigan House in 2016 are on a record fundraising pace for a presidential election year.
It’s an indication that the 2016 State House campaigns could rank among the most expensive in Michigan’s history. At the end of the last reporting period, which closed on April 20, the top 150 Michigan political action committees (PACs) had raised $26.0 million. The number is a 17 percent increase over the same point in the 2012 cycle.
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posted on 05/27/2016
As political action committees (PACs) continue to break fundraising records in Michigan, a bipartisan group of House members is hoping to decrease their influence.
A bill, introduced earlier this month, would cut in half the maximum amount PACs can give state candidates. Currently, Michigan law allows PACs to give 10 times the maximum amount individuals can give. House Bill 5632, sponsored by Rep. Martin Howrylak (R-Troy), would reduce that multiplier to five. Read the full story by following the link below.
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posted on 05/26/2016
One mayor's 2016 State of the City address is still drawing attention a month later, and it's not because of the policies he rolled out during the speech. The event raised thousands of dollars for a political action committee (PAC) while seeming to entangle public resources in the process.
And although the event raised money for a PAC, city workers helped put together a video presentation that went with the speech, and, according to emails, the mayor's office directed one individual on how to get tickets.
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posted on 05/20/2016
As Michigan’s largest school district faces a financial crisis, some of the state’s wealthiest campaign donors are entrenched in the fight over how to resolve it.
Through press releases, lobbyists, well-timed personal phone calls and perhaps even a slice of pizza, major campaign donors and groups connected to them are working to influence the future of education in Detroit. Read our coverage by following the links below.
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posted on 05/12/2016
Lobbyists who shelled out record amounts in Michigan last year would have to release reports on their spending more frequently under a new proposal from a Republican State House member.
Rep. Gary Glenn (R-Midland) says his new bill, HB 5535, would increase transparency and would improve the timeliness of reports on lobbyists’ efforts to influence state lawmakers. Read more about the bill by following the link below.
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posted on 05/09/2016
Key state lawmakers collected more than $615,000 from interest groups and individuals for their own Political Action Committees (PACs) over the first four months of 2016. It’s money they can now use to boost candidates they support in upcoming elections.
Legislators in leadership positions — or those who aspire to leadership positions — often use personal PACs to channel large donations they can earn to others. To see a breakdown of who's been raising the most money and of who's been giving to the state's leading legislators, follow the links below.
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posted on 05/04/2016
In 2015, state lawmakers held hundreds of fundraisers with the majority of them taking place within walking distance of the Capitol on legislative session days.
There were at least 315 fundraisers held by state officeholders in 2015 with 170 of them happening in Lansing on days when at least the House was expected to be in session. This is the story of those events and one particular fundraiser that occurred this week benefiting a senator who spent much of the event a block away in a committee hearing. Read the piece by following the link below.
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posted on 04/28/2016
As Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration makes use of a nonprofit organization to help respond to the water crisis in Flint, it’s impossible to tell where much of the money funding the nonprofit is really coming from.
Over the last year, the Moving Michigan Forward Fund, which discloses its donors and the amounts they give, has taken $525,000 — 83 percent of its total haul over that period — from other nonprofits tied to Snyder that haven't met that level of disclosure. Read our full piece on the fund by following the link below.
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posted on 04/22/2016
State Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth Twp.), who’s running for Plymouth Twp. supervisor this year, still remembers the moment he discovered the dark-money-funded website bearing his name: www.HigherCrimeHeise.com.
Over the last eight months, efforts to attack Heise tied to a nonprofit group have led to Freedom of Information Act requests, legal costs for the public and political feuding in one Wayne County township. Read our full story by following the link below.
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posted on 04/20/2016
Candidates hoping to serve Michigan in the U.S. House next year drew a combined $4.5 million from Jan. 1 through March 31, according to newly released campaign finance disclosures.
And five races across the state surpassed the $500,000 mark for the three-month period. According to the new disclosures, one GOP candidate loaned his own campaign $900,000, one sitting House member raised $300,000 from PACs, and one Democratic candidate got $58,350 from donors in California. For MCFN's complete look at the money flowing into our congressional races, follow the links below.
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posted on 04/18/2016
If money is any indication, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) appears to have the most sincere crop of Michigan delegates heading into the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July.
According to federal campaign finance disclosures, five of Cruz's 17 Michigan delegates have given directly to his campaign for president so far. Meanwhile, only one of Donald Trump's 25 Michigan delegates have given to his campaign, and only three of Ohio Gov. John Kasich's delegates have given to his campaign. Read more about contributions by the GOP delegates and by Democratic super delegates by following the link below.
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posted on 04/14/2016
Michigan has been the source of more than $5.2 million in contributions to Super PACs supporting or opposing presidential candidates, according to a new Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) analysis.
One weathy Michigan family and one businessman have accounted for about half of that $5.2 million total. And the $5.2 million is in addition to $6.4 million that Michigan residents have given directly to presidential candidates. Read our full story by following the links below.
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posted on 03/28/2016
As state lawmakers look to reshape public education in Michigan’s largest city, many of them have taken major campaign contributions from groups and individuals who are now seeking to influence the overhaul.
Those donors include the powerful DeVos family, the Detroit Regional Chamber, the Michigan Education Association and the Great Lakes Education Project. MCFN has tracked six groups that have weighed in on education plans for Detroit and those groups' donations to lawmakers for 2014 and 2015. Read our coverage at the link below.
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posted on 03/22/2016
Presidential candidates and Super PACs supporting them ran more than $10.6 million in broadcast TV ads in Michigan to try to sway voters ahead of the state's March 8 primary.
With about 2.5 million voters participating in the primary, that total amounted to more than $4 per primary voter. It also easily surpassed the amount spent on TV ads for the 2012 presidential primary in Michigan, $6.4 million. The candidate who spent the most on TV ads was Democrat Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont. To read our full story, follow the link below.
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posted on 03/16/2016
Presidential candidates and their supporters dumped money into Michigan in the last days before the primary election, buying $6 million in ads in the state over the seven-day period from Feb. 29 through March 6, which was Sunday.
That $6-million figure, which is based on Kantar Media ad tracking data, is nearly as much as the $6.4 million that was spent on ads for the entire 2012 presidential primary. This time around, as of March 6, with two days remaining, there had been more than $8 million spent. Read our full story by following the link below.
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posted on 03/08/2016
Just off Sanford Avenue in the 15,000-person city of Grandville, Michigan, there’s a small business plaza featuring two lines of glass storefront windows. One of the storefronts sits at 2885 Sanford Ave. SW.
It’s an address that keeps showing up in campaign finance reports this cycle. And it’s one that also illustrates just how difficult it can be to find out where the money flowing into the presidential race is coming from, even when the donations are disclosed to the federal government. Read our full story by following the link below.
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posted on 03/07/2016
Some 500 days after complaints were first filed, the Secretary of State’s Office has finally reached an agreement on the penalty for a dark money group that ran ads specifically touting two candidates "for Senate" in the fall of 2014.
According to paperwork dated March 2, the Michigan Jobs and Labor Foundation agreed to a civil fine of $17,696. The agreement came Wednesday after the Michigan Campaign Finance Network and Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson highlighted the then yet-to-be-resolved complaints earlier in the week. Read more by following the links below.
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posted on 03/03/2016
The amount presidential campaigns are spending on TV advertising in Michigan skyrocketed last week with Democrats Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton having now invested about $1 million each.
The Democratic candidates had combined for $2.2 million in broadcast TV ads, as of Feb. 28, with nine days left before the March 8 primary. Republican candidates and the Super PACs supporting them had spent only $125,521. For more on the latest TV ad numbers, follow the links below.
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posted on 03/02/2016
In the fall of 2014, one of Michigan’s most active dark money groups slipped up and blatantly violated campaign finance law. What’s played out since raises questions about how our laws are being enforced, how long that process takes and how we can add transparency to the process.
The nonprofit Michigan Jobs and Labor Foundation ran ads featuring two GOP Senate candidates that crossed the line between issue advocacy, which doesn't require donor disclosure, and express advocacy, which requires disclosure. The misstep led Democrats to file complaints with the Secretary of State's Office. So far, the office has told the nonprofit to file the necessary paperwork to form a Super PAC. But the office also says work on the complaints is ongoing, nearly a year and half after the 2014 election. Read more by following the links below.
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posted on 03/01/2016
As of Sunday, Democrat Bernie Sanders had run three times as many broadcast TV ads in Michigan markets as his opponent, Hillary Clinton, had.
According to tracking by Kantar Media, Sanders’ campaign ran 676 ads across five Michigan markets as of Sunday while Clinton’s campaign had run 211 ads. Sanders’ campaign had spent $319,037 while Clinton’s campaign had spent $100,001. As of Sunday, the campaigns of Sanders and Clinton were the only ones running ads on broadcast TV stations in Michigan. For more, follow the links below.
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posted on 02/24/2016
A handful of Michigan donors to presidential Super PACs gave nearly as much money in January as hundreds of Michigan donors who gave directly to the presidential candidates.
According to campaign finance reports released over the weekend, donors who listed Michigan addresses gave about $638,500 to the candidate committees of eight presidential candidates, including Republican Jeb Bush, who has now suspended his campaign. But January saw almost equal financial support from Michigan donors who gave large contributions to Super PACs that are supporting the candidates. MCFN tracked $620,500 in contributions from five Michigan-based donors to the Super PACs.
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posted on 02/22/2016
Lobbyists reported spending more money trying to sway Michigan lawmakers in 2015 than any year before. According to disclosure reports filed this month, lobbyists spent a grand total of $38.7 million in 2015. That’s a $1.7 million increase over 2014, and a $1.6 million increase over the previous annual record of $37.1 million from 2012.
Not only is there more money trying to influence Michigan’s elected officials, there are more lobbyists as well. There were 2,998 lobbyists and lobbyist agents registered in Michigan in 2015, up from the previous record of 2,959 in 2012. To read more, follow the links below.
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posted on 02/18/2016
Lobbyists reported treating state lawmakers and other public officials to $844,184 in food and drinks in 2015. That number, reported in the state’s food and beverage disclosure category, is a new high and more than twice the amount that was reported in 2001.
According to disclosures filed this month, 11 lawmakers benefited from more than $2,000 in lobbyist-paid food and drinks in 2015, and 35 benefited from more than a $1,000 in lobbyist-purchased food and drinks. For perspective, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the per-capita amount spent on food for the U.S. for the entirety of 2014 was $4,576. For more, follow the links below.
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posted on 02/17/2016
The Nevada technology company that won tax breaks from the Legislature at the end of 2015 first registered as a lobbyist in Michigan the exact same day bills granting the tax breaks were introduced, according to state records.
The bills — three in the Senate and three in the House —&n...
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posted on 02/16/2016
Gov. Rick Snyder received more in lobbyist-paid lodging and travel in 2015 than any other public official. And for Snyder, it all came in the form of a trip to California in early October.
According to lobbying disclosure reports due this month, the Ford Motor Company paid $3,232 for travel and l...
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posted on 02/15/2016
The presidential race’s TV advertising battle could begin unfolding on Michigan TV screens as early as next week. According to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings, a Super Political Action Committee (Super PAC) that’s been backing Republican candidate Jeb Bush already has at least $741,585 in ad time reserved with Michigan broadcast stations running up to the March 8 primary.
The ads were originally scheduled to begin on Feb. 15, which is Monday. However, multiple stations have filed revisions, showing that the ads airing with them have been pushed backed to Feb. 17, which is Wednesday.
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posted on 02/12/2016
The push to influence Michigan’s energy overhaul likely soared beyond $4 million in 2015. The total includes an estimated $2.5 million in broadcast TV advertising by a single group, $823,444 in lobbying expenses and $667,245 in donations to campaigns tied to state officeholders.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and state lawmakers set out in 2015 to redesign state laws that regulate energy standards and competition among energy companies. While no proposals made it through the Legislature last year, the effort to influence the ultimate outcome was unrelenting. Read our full report by following the top link below.
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posted on 02/11/2016
Political action committees (PACs) that seek to influence lawmakers and sway Michigan voters raised more than $22.6 million in 2015 with $20.1 million of that total by the 150 most active committees.
All of that fundraising came during an off-year. And while 2014 saw a gubernatorial race and State Senate races that won’t be on the ballot this year, 2015 PAC fundraising wasn’t far off the pace of 2013. In 2013, the top 150 PACs raised $22.2 million. So despite the fact that the upcoming election will focus mostly on the battle for the State House, the drop-off in 2015 was only about $2.1 million — or about 9 percent.
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posted on 02/09/2016
The Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington, D.C, submitted an analysis this week of the Michigan Senate bill that would broaden the potential connection between candidates and Super PACs that receive take unlimited contributions.
While the bill, Senate Bill 638, has been touted as a way to simply put the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in Michigan law, The Campaign Legal Center says it goes well beyond that, “allowing candidates to coordinate nearly every aspect of their supporters’ ‘independent’ expenditures.” Read the full analysis below.
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posted on 02/04/2016
An Ann Arbor resident has single-handedly provided $250,000 to a ballot campaign that aims to legalize marijuana in Michigan, according to new campaign finance reports.
That Ann Arbor resident is Kevin McCaffery, 54, who’s listed as the president of RKB Enterprises Inc. In the last fundraising period, which covered Oct. 21 until Dec. 31, McCaffery gave $200,000 to the MI Legalize campaign, which would legalize all forms of marijuana for adults 21 and older. McCaffery previously gave another $50,000 to the effort. For more on MI Legalize's latest campaign finance report and those of other ballot committees, follow the link below.
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posted on 02/04/2016
Attorney General Bill Schuette and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley — two term-limited Republicans — raised more money in their candidate committees than other candidates for state office in the last months of 2015.
Schuette reported raising $230,623 in the most recent reporting period while Calley reported raising $228,500. Those were the largest numbers posted for the period by any candidate committee, according to Secretary of State data.
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posted on 02/03/2016
Boosted by 18 donors who combined to give $720,000, Michigan House Republicans brought in more campaign cash than the three other caucuses in 2015, according to year-end reports due to the state on Monday.
The House Republican Campaign Committee raised $1.79 million in 2015. Of that total, $720,000 — or 40 percent — came from 18 donors who each gave the maximum yearly amount possible, $40,000. The House Democratic Fund had five maximum donors who gave a combined $200,000.
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posted on 02/02/2016
Michigan voters don’t head to the polls for the state’s presidential primary for another month. But already, donors from Michigan have chipped in more than $5 million to committees backing presidential candidates. That number represents $4.04 million given to presidential contenders’ candidate committees and another $999,275 given to super PACs (political action committees) supporting the candidates.
When it comes to the candidate committees alone, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush raised the most in Michigan in 2015 at $985,067. Finishing in second was Dr. Ben Carson, a Detroit native, who raised $692,068. As for Democrats, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the most money in Michigan at $640,070.
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posted on 02/01/2016
Michigan lawmakers’ decision to double contribution limits in advance of the 2014 election ballooned campaign coffers by at least $6.3 million in contributions that previously would have been prohibited.
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) analyzed thousands of contributions to candidates in the last election to determine how much money came in from donors above the state’s previous contribution caps.
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posted on 01/29/2016
Now, a month after our lawmakers added 41 pages to a campaign finance bill and within hours voted it through to the governor for his signature, we’re still not 100 percent sure who came up with the bill’s most controversial changes. In a column for Bridge Magazine, MCFN Executive Director Craig Mauger writes about why that matters.
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posted on 01/22/2016
On Jan. 21, 2010, six years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that government cannot limit independent spending in our elections by corporations and labor groups. So in honor of the past six years, we're sharing six quotes from Justice John Paul Stevens' dissenting opinion.
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posted on 01/21/2016
The board of directors for the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) is pleased to announce that Craig Mauger, who's covered the State Capitol as a reporter since 2012, will be the organization's new executive director.
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posted on 01/18/2016
LANSING - The Michigan Legislature has acted to revise reporting schedules for political action committees (PACs) and independent expenditure committees (superPACs), so that all PACs, including those of the legislative caucuses, are on a shared reporting schedule. Senate Bill 571 eliminates February...
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posted on 12/17/2015
SuperPACs, party administrative accounts and political nonprofit corporations outspent candidates' campaign committees in Michigan's most contested political campaigns of 2014. Details are contained in the Citizen's Guide to Michigan Campaign Finance 2014.
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posted on 11/16/2015
The Board of Directors of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) is seeking an individual for the position of Executive Director. The Network is a Lansing, Michigan based non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to achieving campaign finance reform in Michigan. Additional information...
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posted on 11/09/2015
Michigan ranks 50th among the states in the 2015 State Intergity Investigation from the Center for Public Integrity.
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posted on 11/09/2015
While legislators make the "sausage" of rewriting state energy policy, electricity interests have given officeholders' political committees more than $500,000 since November 2014. See who has given what to whom.
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posted on 11/08/2015
Michigan's top 150 state political pction committees raised $14.9 million from January 1 through October 20, 2015. Check the list to see which PACs have real throw weight.
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posted on 10/28/2015
Lansing lobbyists spent $21 million in the first seven months of 2015. Lobbying reports fail to reveal much of what citizens need to know to hold state government accountable
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posted on 09/22/2015
LANSING - Michigan legislators have raised more than $2.1 million for their campaign accounts since November 25th, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections today.
Thirty-five senators reported raising $661,017, an average of $18,886, while 107 representati...
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posted on 07/27/2015
Michigan has a record of dark money spending in elections for offices related to the administration of justice like no other state in the union. A new report from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network shows the record, and examples of the dark money electioneering communications that are undermining public trust and confidence in the impartial administration of justice.
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posted on 06/24/2015
LANSING - Proponents of Michigan's Proposal 1 of 2015 have a wide financial advantage over committees opposed to the proposal. Records filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections for contributions made through April 23 to the proponents' committee, Safe Roads Yes, show that the committee has raised ...
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posted on 04/27/2015
LANSING - Michigan's top 150 political action committees (PACs) collectively raised more than $68 million in the period from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2014, smashing the previous record of $51.9 million for a corresponding list of state PACs that had stood since the 2006 election cycle.
...
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posted on 02/23/2015
LANSING - Reported spending by Michigan lobbyists totaled $37,038,329 in 2014, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State that have been compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
That amount is up by 4.1 percent compared to reported lobbying expenditures from 2013, ...
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posted on 02/17/2015
LANSING - The 2014 campaigns for Michigan's constitutional executive officers exceeded $72 million according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections and advertising records compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from the public files of state broadcasters and cable systems....
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posted on 12/10/2014
LANSING - Michigan's 2014 campaigns to select legislators were a $44.3 million affair according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. Michigan Senate campaigns had almost $19 million, while Michigan House campaigns had $25.4 million.
Michigan Senate
Looking across the state, ...
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posted on 12/10/2014
LANSING - Michigan's 2014 Supreme Court campaign topped $10 million, according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections and advertising records compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from the public files of state broadcasters and cable systems.
In a pattern that has beco...
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posted on 12/10/2014
LANSING - Television advertising for Michigan's 2014 gubernatorial campaign ran to $47.6 million, gross sales. That total for TV spending in a Michigan gubernatorial campaign ranks second, all time, to the $54 million spent in the 2006 campaign between Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Dick DeVos.
This ...
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posted on 11/19/2014
LANSING -- Unreported, unregulated "dark money" paid the majority of costs for television advertising in Michigan's 2014 supreme court and attorney general campaigns, according to records compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
The Michigan Republican Party was the principa...
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posted on 11/12/2014
Updated 10/29/2014 to include Michigan for All and Progressive Kick superPACs
LANSING--Michigan's top 150 state political action committees (PACs) have raised $60.1 million since January 1, 2013. That total is up by 73 percent compared to the amount raised by the top 150 PACs in the same period l...
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posted on 10/28/2014
LANSING - Candidates for state offices in Michigan filed reports on Friday, October 24th that summarized their campaign finance activities for the period from August 26th through October 19th. Those were the final complete reports to be filed by the candidates prior to the November 4th election, alt...
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posted on 10/26/2014
Several members of the 2011-2012 Judicial Selection Task Force, including its co-chairs, retired Justice Marilyn Kelly and Senior Judge James L. Ryan, sent a single question to this year's candidates for Michigan Supreme Court:
Do you support the recommendation of the nonpartisan Michigan Judicia...
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posted on 10/20/2014
LANSING - Michigan's candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives raised $6.1 million in the 3rd quarter of 2014 according to reports filed with the Federal Elections Commission yesterday. That brings the fundraising total for active candidates to $26.45 million for the election cycle, through S...
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posted on 10/16/2014
LANSING - Michigan voters have been exposed to a barrage of advertising about the gubernatorial candidates sponsored by the Republican Governors Association and the Democratic Governors Association. Through the end of September the RGA had sponsored $6.3 million-worth of ads, and the DGA sponsored $...
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posted on 10/16/2014
The Michigan Republican Party has launched the television campaign for the 2014 Michigan Supreme Court election. The MI GOP ran a $500,000 flight of broadcast TV ads about its Supreme Court nominees in the Detroit, Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo and Flint/Saginaw media markets between October 1st and Octobe...
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posted on 10/10/2014
LANSING - The campaigns of Michigan's U.S. Senate candidates and their independent supporters had spent $32.3 million for television advertisements about the candidates through the end of September. That total represents gross sales.
Records of the advertising were compiled by the Michigan Campai...
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posted on 10/03/2014
LANSING - Spending for television advertising about Michigan's gubernatorial candidates has reached $19.2 million with five weeks to go before Election Day. That figure represents gross sales.
The data were compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from the public files of state broadcast...
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posted on 10/01/2014
LANSING - Reported spending by Michigan lobbyists totaled $20,574,448 in the first seven months of 2014 according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State that have been compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
That amount is up by 2.5 percent compared to the corresponding...
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posted on 09/26/2014
LANSING - Incumbents nominees for statewide office continue to hold a wide campaign finance advantage over their challengers for the November election, according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections. Candidates for attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor and just...
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posted on 09/23/2014
LANSING - Candidates for the Michigan legislature have raised $22.9 million so far this election cycle: $12,386,054 by candidates for the Michigan House and $10,556,850 by Michigan Senate candidates.
Those figures were compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network from post-primar...
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posted on 09/09/2014
LANSING - A clear trend has emerged from the months leading up to the beginning of the traditional political season: Independent spenders are dominating the air war in Michigan's gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.
Incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has spent $1.2 million for television adver...
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posted on 09/03/2014
LANSING - Incumbent Republican candidates for key statewide offices all hold wide fundraising advantages over their Democratic challengers according to the most recent campaign filings.
• Gov. Rick Snyder has raised more than twice as much Mark Schauer: $9.5 million, compared to $4.5 million. G...
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posted on 08/15/2014
LANSING -- Candidates for the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives have reported raising $20.3 million so far this election cycle, according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections and compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance network. That total is up by more tha...
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posted on 07/28/2014
LANSING - Michigan's top 150 state political action committees (PACs) are setting a blistering fundraising pace in the 2014 election cycle. They have raised $39.55 million so far, which is 44.7 percent more than the top 150 state PACs had raised at this point in the 2012 election cycle.
The state...
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posted on 07/28/2014
LANSING - Michigan candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives reported raising $7 million between April 1st and June 30th according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Self-funding by candidates with considerable personal wealth is playing a pivotal role in a handful of h...
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posted on 07/16/2014
LANSING - Independent spenders are dominating television advertising related to Michigan's principal statewide political campaigns. Through June 30th, the candidates for governor and United States senator account for less than $4 million out of a total of $17.9 million spent for TV in the campaigns....
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posted on 07/01/2014
This essay first appeared in Dome Magazine.
By Rich Robinson
Let me pose a principle of democracy: Legislative representation should be in proportion to the vote. That is, the partisan makeup of a legislative body should reflect the partisan makeup of the vote in the election that selected the...
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posted on 06/27/2014
LANSING - Independent spenders are dominating television advertising related to Michigan's gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns. Through the Memorial Day holiday, the candidates' campaign committees had spent just $2.9 million out of the total of $12.8 million spent for advertisements about the c...
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posted on 05/27/2014
By Rich Robinson
This Commentary first appeared in Dome Magazine.
It seems awfully early, but people I talk with are already tired of specious claims in political ads and big-footin' independent spenders whose finances are unknown, or Byzantine if they are reported.
So let's think about som...
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posted on 05/16/2014
LANSING - Fundraising by Michigan's top 150 state political action committees (PACs) is up by $9.9 million, or 44 percent, compared to the top 150 PACs at this point in the 2012 election cycle, according to data compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports filed with the Michigan B...
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posted on 04/28/2014
LANSING - Independent committees and organizations have dominated Michigan's statewide political campaigns through the first quarter of 2014. In the most visible aspect of the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial campaigns - television advertising - independent groups outspent candidates by a wide margin. ...
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posted on 04/16/2014
By Rich Robinson
What is the practical significance of the Supreme Court's decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission?
A whole new class of weapon, the McCutcheon joint fundraising committee (JFC), has been created for the American political war of mutually assured destruction.
J...
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posted on 04/11/2014
The 5-4 decision released today by the Supreme Court of the United States in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission is one more step in the direction of monetizing American democracy. By abolishing aggregate limits on contributions individuals can make to federal candidates, PACs and political pa...
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posted on 04/02/2014
Reclaim Our American Democracy (ROAD) invites you to a one-day conference on Friday, April 4th to explore the oversized role of money in politics, and what can be done about it.
The conference features presentations by state and national experts on money in politics, workshops on progressive elec...
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posted on 03/26/2014
LANSING - Michigan's top 150 state political action committees have reported raising $22,229,875 so far this election cycle, through February 10th. That is more than the top 150 state PACs reported as of April 20th in the 2012 cycle.
Turnaround Detroit, a SuperPAC that supported the candidacy of ...
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posted on 02/19/2014
LANSING - Reported spending by Michigan lobbyists totaled $35,431,637 in 2013 according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State that were compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
That amount is down by 4.6 percent compared to reported lobbying expenditures from 2012, and...
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posted on 02/11/2014
LANSING - Michigan's three constitutional executive officeholders raised $7 million in 2013, and they have raised $8.7 million so far this election cycle.
Governor Rick Snyder raised $5,126,488 in 2013, and he has raised $6.1 million for the election cycle. His fund balance at year-end stood just...
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posted on 02/03/2014
LANSING - Michigan's incumbent state legislators raised $6.8 million for their state campaign committees in 2013. That total is 52 percent higher than comparable figures from four years ago.
Two factors contribute to the dramatic increase in fundraising this cycle. First, there were 29 term-limit...
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posted on 02/03/2014
LANSING - Michigan candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives raised $4.1 million in the 4th quarter of 2013, and their fundraising total for the year now stands at $14,355,000.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp leads all candidates for the Michigan congressional delegation. He ha...
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posted on 02/03/2014
It is very disappointing that the Governor has signed Senate Bill 661. This very bad amendment to the Michigan Campaign Finance Act will extend the era of dark money campaigns in our state, and probably lead to even less transparency and accountability in Michigan politics than we have seen over the...
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posted on 12/27/2013
This commentary first appeared in the Detroit Free Press
By Rich Robinson
This week brings a defining moment for the administration of Gov. Rick Snyder. We'll see whether he will govern in accordance with the platform of ethics in government on which he ran as a candidate.
The question come...
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posted on 12/12/2013
LANSING - A very bad bill passed the Senate Committee on Local Government and Elections and the full Michigan Senate today, on a very fast track. Senate Bill 661 originally had the purpose of doubling limits on campaign finance contributions to state and local candidates for office. After an hour-lo...
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posted on 11/14/2013
LANSING - Michigan's top 150 state PACS raised $16,739,990 from January 1 through October 20, 2013, according to data compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections and the Wayne County Clerk's office. That figure is up by 32.3 percent comp...
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posted on 10/26/2013
LANSING - Michigan's U.S. representatives raised $3.6 million in the third quarter of 2013, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. That figure is down by 20 percent compared with the second quarter of 2013.
Rep. Gary Peters, an announced Democratic candidate for the U.S....
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posted on 10/23/2013
LANSING - The Michigan Campaign Finance Network submitted a comment to Secretary of State Ruth Johnson on Friday, September 27, 2013 supporting the request of the State Bar of Michigan for a declaratory ruling to require payments for all communications about Michigan judicial candidates to be report...
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posted on 09/30/2013
LANSING -Michigan lobbyists reported spending $20,327,273 in the first seven months of 2013, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State and compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
That figure is down by 1.7 percent compared to the same period in 2012, which was a ...
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posted on 09/18/2013
LANSING - Michigan's top 150 state political action committees (PACs) raised $9,509,565 between January 1 and July 20, 2013. That amount represents a 10.7 percent increase compared to the $8.6 million raised by the top 150 state PACs through the same period last election cycle.
The data were comp...
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posted on 07/29/2013
LANSING - Michigan's U.S. representatives raised $4.5 million in the second quarter of 2013, according to reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission.
Rep. Gary Peters raised $1,049,563 in the second quarter to lead the Michigan delegation. He has announced his candidacy for the ...
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posted on 07/17/2013
LANSING - Record spending and a continuing trend of diminishing accountability for that spending were the major features of Michigan's 2012 state election campaigns. Details are contained in the 2012 Citizen's Guide to Michigan Campaign Finance, released today by the Michigan Campaign Finance Networ...
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posted on 06/25/2013
LANSING - Michigan's delegates to the United States House of Representatives raised $2,170,989 in net contributions during the first quarter of 2013 according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
A recap of the members' fundraising follows:
• Rep. Dan Benishek (R-1st) raised ...
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posted on 04/17/2013
LANSING - Lansing lobbyists reported record spending in 2012 of $37.14 million. That amount is up by 4.8 percent compared to $35.44 million reported in 2011.
"The greatest value of these reports is that they tell us just how much we don't know about lobbying activity in Lansing," said Rich Robins...
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posted on 03/01/2013
LANSING - Michigan's 2012 Supreme Court election campaign was the costliest and least transparent in state history, according to records compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN). Just $4.7 million out of the $18.6 million in spending documented by MCFN - 25.4 percent - wa...
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posted on 02/21/2013
LANSING - Michigan ballot committees smashed all previous records for fundraising and spending in 2012. In aggregate, the 2012 ballot committees raised $154.3 million. All six proposals lost at the polls on November 6th.
The spending in three of the ballot contests - Proposal 2, 3 and 6 - broke t...
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posted on 12/14/2012
By Rich Robinson
This commentary first appeared in edited form in the Detroit Free Press under the title, "Who paid for those Michigan Supreme Court ads?"
Michigan earned national election notoriety in 2012. Our Supreme Court campaign appears to have been the most expensive, least accountable ...
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posted on 11/09/2012
LANSING - Spending by outside groups is already nearly twice what the candidate committees have raised in Michigan's most hotly contested congressional race. Through the pre-general campaign finance reports, incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Benishek had total receipts of $1,889,740 and Democratic chall...
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posted on 10/31/2012
LANSING - Fundraising by Michigan House candidates is running well ahead of the pace of the last two election cycles. Through pre-general reports, the general election candidates have raised $13.04 million. The comparable figures for 2010 and 2008 were $9.45 million and $11.7 million, respectively.
...
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posted on 10/31/2012
LANSING - Michigan's Supreme Court election campaign appears to be headed for the notorious distinction of being the nation's most expensive and least transparent judicial election campaign in 2012.
The candidates' pre-general election campaign finance reports filed Friday show that the major-par...
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posted on 10/29/2012
amended 4:00p, 10/29/2012
LANSING - Active ballot committees raised $141.4 million in Michigan this election cycle, as of Friday, October 26th. Three of the six proposals voters will decide on November 6th have already smashed the state's previous record for a ballot contest, the 2004 campaign t...
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posted on 10/28/2012
revised, 5:30p, 10/26/2012
LANSING - Michigan's top 150 state political action committees have raised $34.7 million through the October campaign finance reports. That total is the lowest recorded since the 2004 election cycle for the state's top 150 PACs.
Rankings were compiled by the nonparti...
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posted on 10/26/2012
LANSING - Michigan's general election candidates for the United States House of Representatives have raised $26.1 million in campaign cash through September 30th, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Michigan's most heavily contested U.S. House race is the 1st District...
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posted on 10/16/2012
LANSING -Proponents and opponents of the proposed constitutional amendments that will be on Michigan's November ballot have spent approximately $30 million for television advertisements since August, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
Sales totals ...
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posted on 10/11/2012
LANSING - The Michigan Supreme Court campaign moves into its final four weeks with candidates who are well financed and political parties that are fully engaged.
The six major-party nominees have collectively raised $2.26 million, so far.
Incumbent Justice Brian Zahra, a Republican nominee wh...
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posted on 10/09/2012
LANSING -- Television advertising records show one-sided advertising in Michigan's U.S. Senate race and the contest for the state's presidential electoral votes. However, data suggest a highly competitive campaign in Michigan's First Congressional District.
Presidential
In the presidential rac...
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posted on 10/08/2012
amended 5:30p.m., 9/13/2012
LANSING - Lansing lobbyists have reported spending $20.7 million through the first seven months of 2012, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State and compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. That figure is up by 4.5 percent compared to...
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posted on 09/13/2012
LANSING -- The presidential television ad war in Michigan continues to unfold unlike anywhere else in America. Through Labor Day, a group of superPACs and nonprofit "social welfare" corporations opposing President Barack Obama and supporting Republican nominee Mitt Romney has spent $10.9 million. Ne...
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posted on 09/06/2012
updated 8/31/2012, 8:00 a.m.
LANSING - Incumbent Michigan Supreme Court Justices Stephen Markman and Brian Zahra have significant campaign finance advantages over other candidates for this year's election, according to pre-convention reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
Justice...
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posted on 08/30/2012
LANSING - The nonstop barrage of television advertisements Michigan viewers have seen attacking the policies and administration of President Barack Obama are part of a campaign targeting nine states considered to be potential battlegrounds for the November presidential election: Colorado, Florida, I...
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posted on 08/02/2012
LANSING - Michigan candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have raised more than $40 million so far this election cycle according to data compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
The reports are complete th...
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posted on 07/30/2012
LANSING - Candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives raised $9,657,667 by July 22nd when they closed books on their pre-primary election reports.
That total is up by 17.4 percent compared to the comparable point in the 2010 election cycle, and it is up by 14.6 percent compared to 2008. ...
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posted on 07/30/2012
LANSING--Michigan's top 150 state political action committees have raised $27.3 million so far this election cycle according to reports filed this week with the Michigan Department of State. That total lags behind the corresponding total from 2010, when the Republican Governors Association had place...
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posted on 07/26/2012
LANSING -- Just twelve committees have raised $29.3 million - and already spent $20 million - in initial financial activity surrounding seven ballot questions that may be decided by the Michigan electorate in November.
Records were compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports fi...
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posted on 07/25/2012
LANSING -Second quarter campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission by Michigan's 2012 congressional candidates show incumbents dominating fundraising with little financial competitiveness apparent for the August 7th primary election or the November general election.
Incum...
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posted on 07/16/2012
LANSING - The presidential air war is playing out in Michigan without participation of the candidates' campaign committees. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney has paid for television advertising in Michigan since the presidential primary on February 28th.
The television ad war has been a one-si...
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posted on 07/06/2012
LANSING - A television advertising blitz by the Detroit International Bridge Company that ran from Memorial Day to the end of June has increased DIBC's ad spending in opposition to a new public/private bridge between Detroit and Windsor to $3.36 million so far in 2012. That figure is gross sales thr...
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posted on 07/05/2012
LANSING – A five-party, multi-million-dollar Michigan television ad campaign orchestrated by Mentzer Media Services illustrates the major role of nonprofit advocacy corporations in contemporary presidential politics.
Four nonprofits organized as 501(c)(4) corporations – Americans for Prosperi...
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posted on 05/14/2012
Coming on the heels of a record year of lobbyists' spending, there are more signs of recovery in the money-in-politics sector of Michigan's economy. Michigan’s top 150 political action committees have raised $22.2 million so far this election cycle. That figure is up by 12.2 percent compared to th...
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posted on 04/30/2012
After a year-long study, the Michigan Judicial Selection Task Force yesterday released its report and recommendations for improving the state's process for selecting Supreme Court justices.
Led by two veteran Michigan jurists, Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly and Senior Judge James L. Ryan of ...
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posted on 04/27/2012
Michigan candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives have filed their campaign finance reports for the first quarter of 2012. Those reports suggest a limited number of competitive primaries and even fewer competitive races in the November general election. A synopsis of races that are likely to...
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posted on 04/16/2012
LANSING – First quarter television advertising in Michigan related to the 2012 presidential election stands at $7.6 million. SuperPACs and nonprofit “issue” advertisers have outspent the candidates’ campaign committees by 50 percent.
Spending data were compiled by the nonprofit Michigan ...
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posted on 03/01/2012
LANSING – Reported Lansing lobbying expenditures totaled $35,348,800 in 2011, according to figures compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. That amount is up by 11 percent compared to 2010 and it is a new state record for annual lo...
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posted on 02/22/2012
LANSING – SuperPACs associated with individual presidential candidates raised $47 million in 2011 but Michigan donors were slow to join the fray. Only Restore Our Future, which Mitt Romney has referred to as, “my SuperPAC,” raised more than $1,000 from Michigan contributors.
Michigan donors...
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posted on 02/09/2012
LANSING – Fund-raising for Michigan’s Republican senatorial primary campaign is competitive, as of year-end reports that cover the period through December 31, 2011. Pete Hoekstra had raised $2,001,832 and had $1,524,458 in cash on hand, while Clark Durant had raised $1,376,744 and had $1,183,885...
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posted on 02/09/2012
LANSING -- Fund-raising figures reported by Michigan’s active congressional candidates carry a strong suggestion of the effect of the 2011 redistricting process. There will be competitive Democratic primaries this year, as there were after the 2001 redistricting process, and less competition in No...
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posted on 02/03/2012
This commentary first appeared in Dome Magazine
By Rich Robinson
This is campaign finance orthodoxy in early 2012: Corporations are people, money is speech and democracy is when my billionaire whups your billionaire.
Comedians have lampooned the silliness of the first strained equivalence. ...
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posted on 02/03/2012
LANSING – Michigan’s legislators and elected constitutional executives filed their first campaign finance reports in more than a year on Tuesday, January 31st. In aggregate, they reported raising $5.9 million: $3.5 million by representatives, $1.6 million by senators and $832,000 by the Governor...
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posted on 02/01/2012
It was welcome news when Governor Snyder announced during his 2012 State of the State address that he believes Michigan needs campaign finance, lobbying and ethics reforms. It has been a long time since a Michigan governor has expressed serious interest in this important area of government accountab...
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posted on 01/20/2012
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) have raised $12,651,003 since January 1, 2011, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State and compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
That figure is up by 4.9 percent compared to the s...
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posted on 10/27/2011
Michigan easily had the nation’s costliest judicial elections in 2009-2010, fueled by a nasty TV ad blitzkrieg funded by special-interests group, a new report by three nonpartisan legal reform groups discloses.
Campaign spending for Michigan Supreme Court seats was estimated at as high as $11.1...
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posted on 10/27/2011
LANSING – Independent spenders overshadowed candidates’ committees in financing Michigan’s most prominent 2010 election campaigns. Details are contained in the 2010 Citizen’s Guide to Michigan Campaign Finance, released today by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
In campaigns for stat...
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posted on 09/28/2011
LANSING – The Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) has spent $4.7 million so far this year for a grassroots-lobbying television advertising campaign opposing the proposed New International Trade Crossing.
That figure is gross sales. Data on the ad campaign were collected by the Michigan ...
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posted on 09/19/2011
LANSING -- It appears that the recession has ended, at least for Lansing lobbyists. They reported spending $19,664,879 in the first seven months of 2011. That figure is up by 11.6 percent compared to the first seven months of 2010, and it exceeds the spending pace of 2008, the record year for lobbyi...
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posted on 09/14/2011
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) have raised $8,587,412 since January 1, 2011, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State and compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
That figure is down by 3.2 percent compared to this...
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posted on 07/26/2011
LANSING – Nearly $23 million in unreported television advertising in 2010 statewide election campaigns pushed the state total of undisclosed candidate-focused “issue” advertising to almost $70 million since 2000.
Those data were compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network in a new rep...
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posted on 06/13/2011
LANSING -- The 2010 election cycle was widely noted for spending by interest groups acting independently of candidate committees. The Center for Responsive Politics reports that committees other than candidate committees spent $483 million in federal campaigns, with non-party groups accounting for m...
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posted on 03/15/2011
LANSING -- Reported Lansing lobbying expenditures totaled $31,811,476 in 2010, according to figures compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. That amount is down by $38,440, or one-tenth of a percent, compared to 2009 figures.
Afte...
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posted on 02/24/2011
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) raised $48,353,506 in the 2010 election cycle, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance from reports filed with the Michigan Department of State.
That figure is up by 16.8 percent compared to the $4...
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posted on 02/03/2011
This commentary first appeared in The Center for Michigan eNewsletter
By Rich Robinson
In one of her last interviews as Michigan’s chief executive, Gov. Jennifer Granholm told Michigan Public Radio’s Rick Pluta that the public is largely unaware of interests influencing laws and public pol...
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posted on 01/20/2011
amended 5:00 p.m., 12/3/2010
LANSING –The candidates and interest groups spent $30 million in Michigan’s three most competitive congressional elections in 2010. Overall, the candidates’ spending was $12.2 million and outside groups spent $17.9 million.
Spending totaled $14.1 million in th...
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posted on 12/03/2010
LANSING – Candidate committees are junior partners in the campaign ad wars being waged over Michigan’s governorship and two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court. In the gubernatorial campaign, Republican Rick Snyder and Democrat Virg Bernero have spent a combined total of $3.1 million for televis...
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posted on 10/29/2010
LANSING – A new era has begun for Michigan political action committees. Reports filed Monday with the Michigan Department of State show that the first state PACs funded by corporate contributions have been established.
The Michigan Association of Realtors has established an eponymously named s...
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posted on 10/27/2010
LANSING – Competition for control of the Michigan House of Representatives is nearly dead-even in campaign finance terms. However, in the contest for control of the Michigan Senate, Republicans have raised twice as much money as Democrats, they’ve already spent 60 percent more money than Democra...
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posted on 10/25/2010
LANSING – The candidates for governor, secretary of state, attorney general and justice of the Supreme Court have filed their pre-election reports. Republican Rick Snyder has wide cash advantage over his Democratic opponent Virg Bernero, and the incumbent Supreme Court justices, Robert P. Young, J...
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posted on 10/22/2010
LANSING -- So far in 2010 the Michigan Chamber of Commerce has contributed $5,372,500 to the Republican Governors Association. That amount includes $2,825,000 sent to the RGA in the third quarter of 2010, according to a report filed with the Internal Revenue Service on October 15th. That is on top o...
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posted on 10/19/2010
LANSING – Michigan’s major party congressional candidates reported raising $7.5 million in the period from July 15th through September 30th, according to reports filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission. As a group, the candidates have raised $25.4 million so far this election cycle....
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posted on 10/16/2010
LANSING – Lansing lobbyists reported spending $17.8 million in the first seven months of 2010, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State and compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. That total is up by 1.7 percent compared to 2009, when lobbyists reported spending ...
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posted on 10/07/2010
LANSING – Candidates’ television ad campaigns are being overshadowed by third-party ad sponsors in the early phase of three out of four of Michigan’s hottest political campaigns. The candidates’ television campaigns account for less than 20 percent of the TV advertising in the 1st Congressio...
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posted on 10/05/2010
LANSING – Post-convention campaign finance reports filed by the major party nominees for statewide offices show one very close money-race and two races where there are wide disparities between candidates.
Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Republican Ruth Johnson have nearly identical fund balances o...
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posted on 09/29/2010
Candidates for the Michigan Legislature raised $20.9 million and spent $14.5 million through the post-primary campaign reports. That fundraising total is up by 8.3 percent compared to 2006, the last time candidates for both the House and Senate faced the electorate. Summary statistics per chamber fo...
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posted on 09/24/2010
The 2010 gubernatorial primary candidates reported raising $18.9 million, through the post primary reports filed on September 2nd. Republican nominee Rick Snyder raised the most with $8,092,507. As of the August 23rd close of books, Democratic nominee Virg Bernero raised 6th most among the field of ...
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posted on 09/03/2010
LANSING: -- Television advertising for Michigan’s gubernatorial primary election totals $10.6 million. Of that total, $3.9 million paid for candidate-focused “issue” advertising which is not reported in the state’s campaign finance disclosure system.
Data were collected by the Michigan C...
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posted on 07/30/2010
The Republican Governors Association established a Michigan state political action committee (PAC) last December and it has ascended to the top of the list of state PACs with its latest filing. The Republican Governors Association Michigan 2010 PAC has taken in $4,162,586 since April, and so far thi...
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posted on 07/27/2010
revised 7/27/2010
The field of 663 primary election candidates for the Michigan Legislature report having raised $17.4 million through July 18th, according to reports on file with the Bureau of Elections, as of 11:00 a.m. on July 26th.
House of Representatives
Reported fundraising by House ca...
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posted on 07/26/2010
LANSING -- Michigan’s active gubernatorial candidates have raised $16.2 million through July 18th, the end of the Pre-primary Election reporting period, according to reports filed with the Bureau of Elections.
Republican Rick Snyder has raised the most among candidates with $7.3 million, nearly...
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posted on 07/23/2010
updated 2:15 p.m., 7/22/2010
LANSING – Applications for gubernatorial public campaign funds provide an early indication of the breadth of financial support for the candidates from persons. The candidates are eligible for a two-to-one match from the State’s Public Campaign Fund for the first $...
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posted on 07/22/2010
Lansing – Michigan candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives raised $20.3 million this election cycle, as of June 30th, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Freshman Democratic Reps. Gary Peters (9th District) and Mark Schauer (7th District) are the leading fu...
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posted on 07/16/2010
LANSING – With just more than four weeks to go until primary Election Day, television advertising is lagging far behind the pace of Michigan’s last two gubernatorial campaigns. Five candidates and one nonprofit organization have spent $3,371,214 so far, with Republicans Mike Cox and Rick Snyder ...
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posted on 07/02/2010
LANSING – With over 500 individuals seeking state offices this election cycle, it is safe to say that candidates have already raised several million dollars this year. However, due to disgracefully lax state reporting requirements, the citizens of Michigan currently have access to 2010 fundraising...
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posted on 06/14/2010
This opinion was published in the Detroit Free Press on June 10, 2010 under the title, 'Pay special attention to non-advocacy spending'
By Rich Robinson
In the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned precedent to allow corporations to make inde...
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posted on 06/10/2010
revised 6/2/2010
LANSING – Michigan gubernatorial television advertising has totaled $2,146,981 through May 31, 2010, all on the Republican side of the contest. Rick Snyder leads the spending race, so far, at $1,336,893. Mike Cox currently ranks second at $527,737. Mike Bouchard is third at $4...
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posted on 06/01/2010
DETROIT -- The Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association has given its 2010 Liberty Bell Award to Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
The Association’s incoming president, Morley Witus, made the presentation at the DMBA’s annual meeting on May 27th at the Gr...
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posted on 05/28/2010
LANSING – The Michigan Department of State has given the Michigan Chamber of Commerce clear guidance on how the Chamber can exercise newly won campaign expenditure rights that flowed from the U.S Supreme Court decision earlier this year in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission...
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posted on 05/23/2010
LANSING – The future of Michigan political campaigns is unfolding this week in Grand Rapids. The Mike Cox gubernatorial campaign and a corporate aggregator of undisclosed political contributions called Americans for Job Security are targeting Cox’s primary opponent Pete Hoekstra in a two-pronged...
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posted on 05/13/2010
LANSING – The Michigan Department of State issued a draft response on April 30th to a request from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce for a Declaratory Ruling on disclosure requirements for corporate expenditures in State campaigns in view of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision earlier this year in ...
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posted on 05/10/2010
LANSING -- As the time approaches when term limits will remove Michigan’s current constitutional executives and all top leaders on both sides of the aisle in both legislative chambers, concerned observers’ attention turns to the question of who will lead State government on January 1, 2011.
E...
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posted on 04/29/2010
LANSING – Fundraising by Michigan’s top state political action committees (PACs) continues to lag behind the pace of recent election cycles, according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections. The top 150 state PACs raised $19.8 million from January 2009 through April 20, 2010. Tha...
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posted on 04/27/2010
LANSING –Terri Lynn Land will define her legacy as Secretary of State when her department issues its Declaratory Ruling for campaign disclosure rules necessitated by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The Department of State’s ruling will restore t...
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posted on 03/17/2010
revised 2/23/2010
LANSING – Michigan’s decade long recession has finally affected the Lansing lobbying industry. Reported lobbying expenditures for 2009 totaled $31,849,916, down by 6.8 percent compared to 2008.
The top lobbying entities have not been affected in the same way as the indust...
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posted on 02/22/2010
Incumbent Michigan legislators reported raising just less than $6 million for their various candidate committees in annual campaign finance reports that were due on February 1st. For incumbent representatives, those reports were the first filed since their 2008 post-general election reports, which c...
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posted on 02/08/2010
Spending by candidates to be governor, attorney general and secretary of state appears sluggish this year compared to the last time the offices were on the ballot in 2006, when incumbents occupied all three offices. But campaign spending so far is two and a half times what it was at this point in th...
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posted on 02/02/2010
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and reversing Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce probably won’t change much about the way state political campaigns are run in Michigan. The political parties and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce have spent s...
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posted on 01/21/2010
As published in the Lansing State Journal, 12/17/2009
By Rich Robinson
Nearly any serious observer of Michigan’s budget process would tell you our state’s tax codes are an anachronistic mess. Our income tax, sales tax and business tax are ill-suited for a 21st century economy and need to b...
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posted on 12/17/2009
By Rich Robinson
The new rule adopted by the Michigan Supreme Court that specifies grounds and procedures for disqualification of a justice whose impartiality in a case is legitimately in question is a well-reasoned response to the contemporary realities of judicial election campaigns.
In Mic...
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posted on 12/11/2009
LANSING – Candidate-focused “issue” advertising is dominating the television campaign for the 19th Senate District special election. Republican candidate Mike Nofs has purchased $148,000 worth of television time, while his supporters, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce ($104,446) the Michigan Re...
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posted on 10/30/2009
LANSING – Fundraising by Lansing’s leading political action committees (PACs) continues to lag compared to the last two election cycles. The state’s top 150 PACs raised $12,062,243 through October 20th, according to data compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from reports filed with...
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posted on 10/28/2009
LANSING – Reported spending by Lansing lobbyists for the first seven months of 2009 totaled $17,281,754, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State and compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. That total is down by 11.3 percent compared to January through July of 20...
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posted on 09/21/2009
revised 8/7/2009
LANSING -- It appears that the Great Recession has finally reached the money-in-politics sector of Michigan’s economy. Michigan’s top political action committees (PACs) are accumulating funds at their slowest pace since 2003, according to data compiled by the Michigan Campaig...
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posted on 08/05/2009
LANSING – The Michigan Campaign Finance Network is urging the Michigan Supreme Court to consider campaign spending as a reason for recusal, in response to the Court’s invitation for public comment on draft disqualification rules.
Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Caperto...
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posted on 08/05/2009
Statement of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network
The U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Caperton v. Massey Coal Company establishes that extraordinary campaign spending to support the election of a judge can create an unconstitutional probability of bias that requires the judge to disqu...
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posted on 06/08/2009
LANSING -- Despite Michigan’s downward economic spiral, several campaign finance records were set in the state’s 2008 election cycle. Details are contained in the 2008 Citizen’s Guide to Michigan Campaign Finance, released today by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
On the federal side...
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posted on 05/14/2009
LANSING – Lansing lobbyists spent $34,075,809 in 2008, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. This set a new record for lobbyists’ spending, up by six percent compared to the previous record of $32,212,332, set in 2007.
Six multi-client firms topped the list in 2008...
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posted on 03/23/2009
LANSING – By a three-to-one margin, Michigan voters believe that there is a probability of bias when a judge hears a case involving a major financial supporter of his election campaign. Eighty-five percent believe that a judge should disqualify himself from a case involving such a campaign support...
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posted on 03/17/2009
Can two sides in a lawsuit receive equal justice – when one side has spent $3 million to elect the judge who is deciding the case? That is the question at the heart of Caperton v. Massey, a landmark case that was argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on March 3rd.
That case and its implications ...
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posted on 03/06/2009
revised 11:30a, 2/4/09
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) raised $41.4 million during the 2007-2008 election cycle according to reports filed with the Department of State’s Bureau of Elections and compiled by the nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
...
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posted on 02/04/2009
LANSING – More than 60 percent of spending for the Michigan Supreme Court campaign between incumbent Chief Justice Clifford Taylor and Judge Diane Marie Hathaway will not be disclosed in any campaign finance report because it paid for candidate-focused “issue” advertising. Michigan campaign fi...
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posted on 11/19/2008
Not all the campaign finance data that will be reported are in. Candidate committees have to file post-election reports, and late independent expenditures by state PACs will not be reported until the end of January. But some major story lines from Campaign 2008 are already clear. Here is a first loo...
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posted on 11/11/2008
LANSING -- Michigan’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) reported raising $37.1 million dollars in their pre-election October reports. That total is down by 28.5 percent compared to corresponding figures from the record-setting 2006 election cycle, when the top 150 PACs reported $51.9 mill...
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posted on 10/29/2008
The candidates who will appear on the November 4th ballot for the Michigan House of Representatives had raised $11,675,666 through October 19th, the date they closed books for their pre-general election campaign finance report.
That total is 1.3 percent less than corresponding figures from the re...
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posted on 10/28/2008
LANSING – Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor and Judge Diane Marie Hathaway already have raised more than $2 million for their Supreme Court election contest: Taylor: $1.8 million and Hathaway: $370,000.
Taylor's campaign has spent $1,265,000 for television advertisements while Hathaway's campai...
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posted on 10/27/2008
LANSING - Barack Obama’s presidential campaign spent 50 percent more for television advertising than John McCain in the first five weeks after Labor Day in Michigan: $5,546,000 to $3,683,000. Obama’s September surge overcame McCain’s early television spending advantage in Michigan, which was d...
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posted on 10/06/2008
LANSING – Lansing lobbyists reported spending $19,159,635 in the first seven months of 2008, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. That total is up by eight percent compared to the first seven months of 2007.
Five multi-client firms topped the lobbying expenditure li...
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posted on 09/17/2008
Candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives have raised $10.4 million and spent $6.9 million this election cycle through August 25th, according to post-primary campaign finance reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections. The amount raised by candidates through the post-primary repo...
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posted on 09/10/2008
LANSING – The presidential candidates’ campaigns and their supporters spent $13.6 million for television advertising in Michigan between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Sen. John McCain’s campaign spent $6.15 million, while Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign spent $5.48 million.
Among supporting gr...
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posted on 09/02/2008
LANSING – The campaign of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor has raised $1,464,000 so far this year, setting a new record for a Michigan Supreme Court candidate’s campaign committee. Taylor had raised $1,419,000 as of August 7th, according to his pre-convention campaign finance...
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posted on 08/19/2008
LANSING – Michiganders will elect 249 state court judges this November and three-fourths of those seats have only one candidate. There are 180 incumbents (12 court of appeals, 66 circuit court, 91 district court and 11 probate court) with no challenger for the primary or general election, and six ...
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posted on 07/31/2008
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees have raised $27,347,768 so far this election cycle, according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections and compiled by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
This year’s total is down by nine percent compared to the top ...
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posted on 07/29/2008
LANSING -- The field of 449 primary election candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives reports raising $8.4 million this election cycle through July 20th, according to reports on file with the state’s Bureau of Elections as of July 27th.
The 65 House incumbents have raised $3.5 milli...
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posted on 07/28/2008
LANSING – Television advertising for the 2008 presidential general election got a late start by recent Michigan standards but presidential TV ads have become a consistent presence in recent weeks.
John McCain’s television campaign began May 28th and spent $3.2 million by July 20th.
Barack...
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posted on 07/23/2008
LANSING – The Michigan Campaign Finance Network today announced the availability of new publication from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, A Citizen’s Guide to Redistricting.
The Citizen’s Guide is a comprehensive look at the rules for drawing political district lines, in...
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posted on 07/10/2008
LANSING - A new poll of Michigan residents shows broad dissatisfaction with the performance of state government and deep concern about economic-related issues. Michiganders had the most negative view about the direction of their state in the five-state Midwestern survey: 16 percent right track, 81 p...
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posted on 06/19/2008
Two of the major policy initiatives in Lansing this legislative session have been driven by seven-figure advertising campaigns, more than $700,000 in political contributions to legislators so far this election cycle and hefty lobbying campaigns, the extent of which will never be known with any real ...
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posted on 05/22/2008
The Midwest Democracy Network and the Justice at Stake Campaign released the following statement to accompany their new report, The New Politics of Judicial Elections in the Great Lake States, 2000-2008:
“This spring, Wisconsin voters endured their second special-interest-group dominated Supr...
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posted on 05/08/2008
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) have raised $21.8 million so far this election cycle, according to reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections.
That total is down by 6 percent compared to funds raised by the top 150 PACs at this point in the record-sett...
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posted on 04/28/2008
LANSING – The Michigan Campaign Finance Network joined other reform advocates today in calling for a mandatory pause in the ‘revolving door’ between high-level public service and paid lobbying.
Michigan is in the minority nationally in not requiring an interruption between legislating or ex...
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posted on 03/10/2008
LANSING—The Midwest Democracy Network, a coalition of over 20 Midwestern civic groups working in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, of which the Michigan Campaign Finance Network is a founding member,issued the following statement on Tuesday, February 19th:
“During the past we...
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posted on 02/20/2008
revised 2/21/2008
LANSING – Lansing lobbyists spent $32,101,151 in 2007, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. That total is up by six percent compared to 2006.
Governmental Consultant Services, Inc., a multi-client firm, was the leading spender again in 2007 at $...
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posted on 02/20/2008
LANSING – Grassroots activists brought a simple message to Lansing on Tuesday: Michigan’s high-priced and largely secretive Supreme Court election campaigns undermine public trust and confidence in the state’s highest court. Taxpayer-financed election campaigns would give Supreme Court candida...
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posted on 02/19/2008
REVISED 2/4/2008
LANSING – State officeholders’ first required campaign finance reports since their 2006 post-election reports were due on Thursday January 31st. During the time since their last reports were filed they have collectively raised $4,452,100, according to data compiled by the Mic...
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posted on 02/01/2008
LANSING – Political reform organizations from five Midwest states have collaborated to publish a new book that assesses the state of democracy in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The volume analyzes political pathologies that are unique to the respective states and those that cut...
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posted on 01/16/2008
LANSING -- Former Massachusetts Governor Willard “Mitt” Romney was the leading spender in Michigan’s 2008 Republican presidential primary television ad wars. Romney spent over $2 million, nearly three-times as much as Arizona Senator John McCain, and more than four-times as much as former Arka...
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posted on 01/14/2008
Acme Township Treasurer William Boltres has gotten relief in a case of dueling lawsuits with Grand Rapids-based Meijer, Inc. Meijer had sued Boltres and three other Acme Township Board members in May 2006, alleging conflicts of interest in their decision on a land-use permit for a proposed Meijer st...
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posted on 12/26/2007
LANSING – Michigan political reform advocates today commended a new comprehensive study that both praised and warned of potential problems in Michigan’s election system. The study said that although Michigan has a history of being a leader in important election administration initiatives, such a...
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posted on 12/03/2007
LANSING – Today the Midwest Democracy Network (MDN) – a nonpartisan alliance of 20 civic and public interest groups from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin – released former U.S. Senator John Edwards’ and U.S. Senator Barack Obama’s full and unedited responses to a detailed ...
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posted on 11/27/2007
LANSING – Michigan’s top political action committees continue to show a robust capacity to raise money, but the top 150 state PACs are slightly behind the pace of the 2006 election cycle. The top 150 PACs so far this cycle have raised $13,460,264 through October 20, 2007. The top 150 PACs had ra...
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posted on 10/30/2007
LANSING – A nasty, noisy and ridiculously expensive Michigan Supreme Court election campaign may be in the offing once again in 2008. Chief Justice Clifford Taylor and Michigan Democratic Party chairman Mark Brewer have both raised the possibility of a $20 million campaign next year when Chief Jus...
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posted on 10/22/2007
LANSING – Reported expenditures by Michigan lobbyists totaled $17,736,907 from January 1 through July 31, 2007, according to reports filed with the Michigan Department of State. That total is up by four percent compared to the same period in 2006.
“The interest groups have been working very h...
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posted on 10/03/2007
LANSING – Today the Midwest Democracy Network (MDN), an alliance of reform organizations in five states, called on presidential candidates to explain their positions on a variety of campaign and government reform issues.
“Voters deserve to know where candidates for our nation’s highest offi...
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posted on 09/11/2007
LANSING -- Money continues to flow in the Lansing political marketplace. The top 150 political action committees (PACs) have raised $9,558,690 through July 20th this year. That pace is just slightly ahead of the 2005-2006 election cycle, when the top 150 PACs had raised $9,538,880 through the July 2...
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posted on 07/30/2007
LANSING – Political campaigns in Michigan raised and spent over $192 million in the 2006 election cycle. Data and analysis for the record-breaking campaign spending are compiled in the 2006 Citizen’s Guide to Michigan Campaign Finance, released today by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
...
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posted on 07/18/2007
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Federal Election Commission. v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. effectively eviscerates one of the two major provisions of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Writing for the 5-4 majority, Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion gives corporations and union...
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posted on 06/26/2007
LANSING, Michigan - An alliance of Midwest civic and political reform groups is calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to impose stronger public interest obligations on local television broadcasters as part of the new regulatory framework that will govern the pending transition from ...
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posted on 06/12/2007
LANSING, MI – A new report issued today about the influence of special interest money in state judicial campaigns highlights the 2006 Supreme Court contests in Michigan in which two justices were barely challenged but still raised close to $1 million between them.
Special interest pressure is m...
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posted on 05/17/2007
LANSING – State lobbyists reported $29.9 million in lobbying expenditures in 2006. That figure is up by 28.2 percent compared to the last gubernatorial-election year of 2002 when lobbyists’ spending totaled $23.3 million.
Reported spending included $450,994 for food and beverages.
Multi-clien...
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posted on 02/26/2007
LANSING – Michigan’s top 150 political action committees raised $51.9 million in the 2006 election cycle. That total is up by 55 percent compared to the fundraising totals for the top 150 in the 2002 and 2004 election cycles when the totals were $33.2 million and $33.4 million, respectively.
...
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posted on 02/07/2007
Election administration
· Establish regulations against fraud in the ballot initiative process
· Allow no-excuse absentee ballots
· Reduce from 30 days the time requirement between registration and voting
· Rotate which party’s candidate is listed first on the ballot
· Assure that electi...
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posted on 11/28/2006
LANSING – Local news coverage of state election campaigns increased significantly in the month before Election Day. But paid political advertising occupied more than 2.5 times as much of a typical 30-minute local newscast in Great Lakes states during that period.
In the Detroit market, on avera...
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posted on 11/21/2006
The following summarizes Michigan’s state and federal candidates’ fundraising through pre-general campaign finance reports:
Statewide candidates
The gubernatorial campaign has captured the greatest share of attention and money. Republican challenger Dick DeVos’s campaign has raised $41.5 m...
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posted on 11/05/2006
A number of interested parties have asked how Dick DeVos’s self-funded gubernatorial campaign ranks among self-funded state campaigns across the country. As of his pre-general election campaign finance report, Mr. DeVos and his wife Betsy DeVos had provided $34.7 million of the campaign’s $41.2 ...
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posted on 11/02/2006
LANSING – Television advertising for the 2006 Michigan gubernatorial campaign has passed the $50 million mark and ads are still being placed for the last days of the campaign.
That figure represents gross sales through Michigan’s commercial broadcasters, state cable systems and broadcasters ...
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posted on 11/01/2006
LANSING – The state’s top 150 political action committees have raised $47 million so far this election cycle according to reports filed with the Bureau of Elections. That is 59 percent more than the top 150 PACs of 2004 had raised at the same point in the last election cycle.
The remarkable i...
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posted on 10/29/2006
Statement of Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network:
There is a new political action committee in Michigan called Coalition for Progress. It’s the biggest PAC we’ve ever had – $5.2 million. Jon Stryker of Kalamazoo and Pat Stryker of Fort Collins, Colorad...
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posted on 10/26/2006
LANSING – Michigan’s incumbent members of the U.S. House of Representatives maintain a wide fundraising advantage over the candidates who are challenging them this November. Campaign finance reports filed this weekend show that the incumbents who will appear on the November ballot have raised $1...
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posted on 10/16/2006
LANSING – Research conducted by the University of Wisconsin NewsLab shows that television broadcasters in Detroit and Lansing devoted an average of less than 30 seconds to Michigan’s campaigns and elections per 30-minute news broadcast during the first month of traditional campaign season, betwe...
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posted on 10/12/2006
LANSING – Spending for television advertising has reached $26 million in Michigan’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign. Governor Jennifer Granholm has spent $2.5 million for TV ads and the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee has spent $5.5 million for “issue” ads supporting Granholm’s cam...
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posted on 09/28/2006
Candidates for the Michigan Legislature had raised $19.3 million and spent $14.3 million this election cycle according to post-primary campaign finance reports filed with the Michigan Bureau of Elections. Collectively, the candidates had fund balances of $6.1 million and accumulated debt of $3.6 mil...
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posted on 09/21/2006
Michigan at a glance…..
State specific results from the Joyce Foundation survey on political reform show that the opinions of Michigan residents fall in line with many of their neighbors in the Midwest. Although they hold extremely negative views on the direction of the state, Michiganders exp...
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posted on 09/14/2006
LANSING – A declaratory ruling issued on Friday, September 8, 2006 by Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land will end the practice of “split-the-cost” gift giving by state lobbyists.
The declaratory ruling was requested by Robert S. LaBrant, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Mich...
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posted on 09/11/2006
LANSING -- As Michigan’s gubernatorial campaign reaches the traditional starting date – traditional Labor Day – the campaigns have already spent $16.7 million for television advertising. Those figures are gross sales through August 31st.
The nonpartisan Michigan Campaign Finance Network col...
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posted on 08/31/2006
What is Clean Elections week?
On Monday, August 21, a coalition of reform groups will ask their activists to contact their representatives’ district offices asking them to support publicly financed elections at the federal level. The groups are Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Public Campaign, ...
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posted on 08/21/2006
LANSING – With Michigan’s primary election just four days away, the candidates in the 7th District Republican primary and their independent supporters have raised and spent over $3 million.
Challenger Tim Walberg’s campaign has raised $623,222 from individuals and $21,300 from political ac...
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posted on 08/04/2006
LANSING – The field of 513 primary election candidates for the Michigan Legislature report having raised $16.3 million this election cycle through July 23rd, according to reports on file with the state’s Bureau of Elections as of August 1st.
Collectively, the 80 House incumbents and 32 Senat...
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posted on 08/02/2006
LANSING – The Michigan Campaign Finance Network and a diverse group of organizations have joined to ask the 512 primary election candidates for the Michigan Legislature a series of 37 questions on issues related to the health of our democracy. Results of the survey are now available on the web sit...
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posted on 08/01/2006
LANSING – Michigan’s 15 incumbent members of the U.S. House of Representatives have dominated the political fundraising, according to pre-primary election campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission this week. They have raised $11.4 million, 86.8 percent of the total for ...
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posted on 07/28/2006
LANSING – Michigan’s top political action committees continued to show robust collective growth in their most recent reports to the Michigan Bureau of Elections. The top 150 PACs have raised $30.0 million so far this election cycle, through July 20th. That figure is 26.6 percent ahead of the fun...
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posted on 07/27/2006
LANSING – The Dick DeVos for Governor campaign committee has spent more than $10 million for television advertising in a campaign that began on February 18th. The unprecedented ad blitz has already doubled the previous record for media spending by a Michigan gubernatorial candidate for an entire e...
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posted on 07/19/2006
LANSING -- The June 18th edition of the Sunday Free Press had a story on the DeVos family's prodigious giving to political committees, particularly the state and federal Republican Party committees, and Restoring the American Dream PAC. However, the story neglected to mention Prince-DeVos family con...
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posted on 06/21/2006
LANSING – Three months prior to the traditional beginning of political campaign season and five months before Election Day, Dick DeVos for Governor already has purchased more television advertising than any gubernatorial campaign committee in Michigan history: $5.4 million. DeVos is unchallenged i...
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posted on 06/05/2006
The state’s top 150 political action committees (PACs) are setting new fundraising records so far in the 2005-2006 election cycle. Through April 20, 2006 the top 150 PACs had raised $23,155,591. That figure is 24.0 percent higher than the $18.7 million the top 150 PACs had raised at this point in ...
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posted on 04/27/2006
LANSING – Most of Michigan’s incumbent members of Congress are in a commanding position from a campaign finance perspective according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. As of the end of March, only five of Michigan’s 15 incumbents are being challenged by opponents who have ...
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posted on 04/18/2006
LANSING-State officeholders raised over $10 million in calendar year 2005 but didn't disclose any of it until last week when they filed their 2006 Annual campaign finance reports.
Governor Jennifer Granholm accounted for nearly half that amount taking in total receipts of $5 million. With $8.1 mi...
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posted on 02/06/2006
LANSING – The House Republican Campaign Committee and the Michigan House Democratic Fund led all Michigan political action committees in fundraising for the 2004 election cycle. The House Republicans became the first Michigan PAC to raise $3 million in a two-year election cycle, although the commi...
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posted on 02/04/2005
LANSING -- More than half the money spent on the 2004 Michigan Supreme Court campaign cannot be accounted for, three months after the election.
Data collected by the Michigan Campaign Finance Network from Michigan television broadcasters and cable system operators show two independent groups spon...
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posted on 02/02/2005
LANSING – The top 150 state PACs have raised $29.6 million dollars this election cycle, as of October 20th. That is up by $6 million since the last reports in July. The same group of PACs had raised $23.9 million as of October in the 2002 election cycle, however, 18 of the committees are new this ...
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posted on 10/29/2004
LANSING – For the third consecutive election season, television ads that are not disclosed on any campaign finance report are a prominent feature of the Michigan Supreme Court campaign. Two independent groups – one supporting incumbent Justice Stephen J. Markman, and one opposing him – are run...
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posted on 10/27/2004
LANSING -- With just one week to go until Election Day, the presidential candidates, their parties and supporting groups have spent nearly $34 million for broadcast television advertising in Michigan. Sen. John Kerry and his supporters have outspent President Bush and his allies by 30 percent - $19....
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posted on 10/26/2004
LANSING — Candidates for the Michigan House of Representatives had raised just over $10.7 million as of October 17th, the close-of-books date for pre-general reports for the November 2nd election. Of 256 candidates, 171 have raised money and 85 have filed for waivers indicating that they will not ...
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posted on 10/24/2004
LANSING - The Republican Main Street Partnership has weighed into Michigan's 7th Congressional District Republican primary campaign with $57,200 in independent expenditures supporting former state Sen. Joe Schwarz of Battle Creek. The independent expenditures bought cable and broadcast television ad...
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posted on 07/28/2004
LANSING – The pre-primary campaign finance reports for Michigan's 7th Congressional District primary election show a growing infusion of out-of-state contributions bundled by the Club for Growth PAC being funneled into the campaign of Brad Smith. As of July 14th, Club for Growth had provided Smith...
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posted on 07/16/2004
LANSING -- The six candidates vying for the Republican nomination in Michigan's Seventh Congressional District have collectively raised over $2.6 million through June 30, 2004. Of that amount, contributions from individuals accounted for 60 percent, one-third came from the candidates in the form of ...
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posted on 07/16/2004
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