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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
The campaigns of 50 percent of current state lawmakers have paid fees for failure to comply with the state’s campaign finance reporting requirements. The fundraising committees of current lawmakers have paid nearly $100,000 in penalties over the lawmakers’ careers,.
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posted on 06/07/2017
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
If you’re a state lawmaker looking for a free meal, this week may be one of the premier weeks for you, according to the statistics. You’ll just have to head north.
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posted on 05/30/2017
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
With their eyes on 2018, Michigan’s 14 U.S. representatives reported raising $1.62 million over the first three months of 2017, according to campaign finance disclosures due over the weekend. Of that $1.62 million, $1.07 million, about 66 percent, came from political committees, which are usually political action committees (PACs) representing interest groups.
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posted on 04/19/2017
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
