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
