JR Afternoon with Chris Renwick
Gov. Whitmer's Secret Donors
Well, a secret web of big donors, nonprofit organizations helped promote Governor Gretchen Whitmer's policy agenda and championed the efforts all around the state through different avenues, whether it's advertising, social media. And now we're starting to get some of the numbers that since 2020, about $30 million have come in through a Lansing based nonprofit called Road to Michigan's Future. And the annual tax filing for 2023 was due to the IRS on Friday. And Craig Mogher got a hold of it and has been looking it over and wrote a really interesting piece in the Detroit news. And as a result, Craig Mogher joins us this afternoon. Craig, it's good to have you back. Tell us a little bit about what you found. Hey, thanks for having me. Thanks for highlighting the reporting. You know, we found that Governor Whitmer's team, the people around her, the people who are her allies, have been using these nonprofit organizations that have been a topic of much debate and Lansing for many years to agree even more so than some previous officials have used them. I mean, to have raised $30 million over a period of five years through her main nonprofit, Road to Michigan's Future is a huge number. And then the way that her team has been using these is also noteworthy and remarkable. They have been taking money in, directing the money to other nonprofits controlled by her supporters. And they've been running a lot of advertisements promoting Democratic lawmakers to support her agenda and kind of criticizing Republican lawmakers who oppose it. So it's been a way to really try to get more support for the policies she wants to see the lawmakers supposed to be at check and balance to pack. Well, and the laws around knowing exactly who's contributing, it leaves a little ambiguity, right? There isn't a ton of transparency here. What what laws are there in place that really prevent us from knowing who these donors are? I mean, there's essentially no transparency with these organizations. The tax filings that we are able to get are the only documents that they have to release publicly. And all that really shows is how much money they raised, how much they spent, it provides some general details of how they spent the money. And it shows how much individuals, individual contributors gave, but not who they were. So as an example of that, we can see that there were two donors to Governor Whitmer's nonprofit in 2023 as they were passing all of this legislation through the through the Capitol. There were two donors that each gave $500,000. We don't know who those two donors were. Maybe we'll find out one day through some other means, but there's no required disclosure of those donors because these nonprofits don't follow under state campaign finance law. And there's no other transparency policy at the state level to force office holders who are being paid by the taxpayers working on behalf of the taxpayers to show who's funding these accounts for them. I mean, there's there is no policy on it. There are some lawmakers pushing for some type of measure to be enacted on this. And and they've been unsuccessful so far. You know, you've been a really steady watchdog in this in this arena for a very long time. Is there something that jumps out to you in particular? And I know you mentioned that, you know, in past administrations, we haven't seen anything quite to this degree, but is there anything that sticks out to you as as whether it's troubling or just something that you haven't seen before? Yeah, I mean, I think what sticks out to me with this particular instance is the way the money has been moved to a web of other organizations. You know, usually when Governor Snyder had a Governor Rick Snyder, the former governor had a nonprofit like this, he brought in a little bit of money a few hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe a million. And then he used it directly to try to help things around his administration. You know, maybe pay for a staffer that he don't want to hire through the government or do some other things. And those are all things that were noteworthy. This is different though. This nonprofit is bringing in millions upon millions of dollars and then directing because there's some awareness about what this nonprofit is, the Detroit News and others have written about how this nonprofit is tied to the governor. Now this nonprofit is moving the money it receives from anonymous donors to other organizations that, you know, some of them, you know, we had no idea we're tied to the governor in any way. There's a, there is one of these groups that by its name, it's an alliance of parents for school safety. That's the name of the organization. Yeah, the Michigan parent alliance for school safety, my pass. Yeah, my pass. And it was running dozens upon dozens of ads promoting democratic lawmakers. Until we got this tax filing, we had no idea that this was being funded by the governor's nonprofit. You would think it would be a parent alliance, a coalition of parents that was doing this. It was actually being funded by supporters of Governor Whitmer, allies. So when you reached out to these groups, like my pass or or or these other organizations, what did they tell you? I mean, they haven't told me much. I've asked them some questions. They've kind of said, Hey, you know, the generic response we're advocating for our supporters and our causes. One of these groups, clean jobs for Michigan received money from the governor's nonprofit. They kind of said, Hey, we want to see a green job and a green economy. And that's what we're trying to do. Again, other than the governor's nonprofit, unclear where the rest of the money for this entity is coming from, what the strategy is, what they're, you know, what their ultimate goal actually is. But the governor's team is giving money to this organization that it's raised from anonymous donors. And now this organization is also out there running ads on Facebook and through other means promoting democratic lawmakers. And I know when you reach out to the governor's office, they referred to these nonprofits, particularly the road to Michigan's future for requests for comments. So the governor's office staying mum on this. Is there anything inherently wrong with this? Obviously, the lack of transportation or the lack of of of of the ability for us to really understand what's going on is a problem. But is there something inherently wrong with this? I mean, there's nothing in the go the team from road to Michigan's future, the spokesperson for the organization said that the organization follows all of the laws that are on the books at the federal state level. You know, there aren't a lot of laws. I mean, this is something that does not happen in other states to the degree that it happens here with officeholders using these nonprofits to raise money inherently. When you ask the question, what's inherently wrong? I mean, it's a debate over what level of transparency do, you know, the residents of Mission deserve from the people they put into elected office. But it's also, you know, the history that we've had here at late is that there've been a number of criminal investigations into past state officials who have misused these accounts. When you don't have transparency, there are a few guardrails for the public to be able to identify and watch dog what the money is actually going to. Are these protected by FOIA laws or if FOIA requests came in, would they have to disclose where this money came from? No, these are protected by FOIA. I mean, these don't fall under FOIA. There's no way to get at who's donating to them. I mean, the governor's office specifically is also exempt from prison mission as is the legislature. So, even if one donor accidentally sent an email to, you know, a government email account and said, "Hey, how do I donate to your nonprofit?" We wouldn't be able to get accurate that because they don't fall under FOIA. I mean, that's something that possibly could happen in a mayor's office or with the city council, but it can't happen here. Do you think this also speaks to the governor's political power at this point? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the sheer amount of money that she's been able to raise, the level of getting so many donors who are able to write checks of 10,000 to $20,000 to $100,000 to $500,000 checks, she is the leading force and state government, especially over the last two years. We looked at primarily 2023 because that was what it was available. But 2023 and 2024, the Democrats controlled the state legislature and she had a lot of influence over what they were doing. So, she was the most powerful force and state government for that two years. Yeah. And I think it's probably why she has kind of the crown jewel in the Democrats nationally in their crown, her ability to raise money and fundraise and even flip the legislature in 2022, huge deals. Craig, great stuff. Appreciate it. As always, we'll talk again soon. Hey, thanks for having me. Yep. You got it. Take a break. More next. [BLANK_AUDIO]
November 19, 2024 ~ Chris and Detroit News State Politics Reporter, Craig Mauger talk about the secret donors and the non-profits who donated, despite touting transparency.