Posts tagged 2006 News

A Political Reform Agenda for Michigan

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... read more

posted on 11/28/2006

TV coverage of campaigns increased; ads still dominated

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... read more

posted on 11/21/2006

Michigan candidates have raised $117 million

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... read more

posted on 11/05/2006

The DeVos campaign in national perspective

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 ... read more

posted on 11/02/2006

Gubernatorial TV campaigns top $50 million

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 ... read more

posted on 11/01/2006

Top PACs' fundraising hits $47 million

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... read more

posted on 10/29/2006

Mutually assured destruction

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... read more

posted on 10/26/2006

Congressional incumbents dominate money chase

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... read more

posted on 10/16/2006

30 seconds of news, $30 million in ads

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... read more

posted on 10/12/2006

Gubernatorial TV spending passes $26 million

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... read more

posted on 09/28/2006

Midwest Reform Survey - Michigan results

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... read more

posted on 09/14/2006

Ruling disallows co-op lobbying gifts

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... read more

posted on 09/11/2006

Preseason gubernatorial TV ad tab: $16.7 million

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... read more

posted on 08/31/2006

Clean Elections Week: August 21-25, 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, ... read more

posted on 08/21/2006

7th District Republican primary tops $3 million

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... read more

posted on 08/04/2006

Legislative candidates’ fundraising tops $16 million

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... read more

posted on 08/02/2006

Candidate questionnaire explores democracy issues

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... read more

posted on 08/01/2006

Incumbents rule congressional fundraising

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 ... read more

posted on 07/28/2006

Top PACs have raised $30 million

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... read more

posted on 07/27/2006

DDV4G TV tops $10 M

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... read more

posted on 07/19/2006

DeVos dollars and "education choice"

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... read more

posted on 06/21/2006

DeVos TV campaign at $5.4 million

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... read more

posted on 06/05/2006

Top 150 PACs up 24 percent

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 ... read more

posted on 04/27/2006

Incumbents dominate congressional campaign fund raising

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 ... read more

posted on 04/18/2006

Michigan officeholders raised $10 million in 2005

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... read more

posted on 02/06/2006

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