By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service
A conservative advocacy group has joined forces with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to sue the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
The complaint, Michigan Rising Action v. MEDC (COC Docket No. 24-000146), alleges that the agency repeatedly failed to follow Freedom of Information Act law following an inquiry into its dealings and contacts with a blacklisted military spyware company, Hesai Technology, or American Lidar, what Michigan Rising Action called Hesai’s “Farmington Hills-based shell company.”
The group claims it filed FOIA requests and MEDC did not respond for nearly a month. The agency then responded that it had 1,226 records related to the request. MEDC then requested a good faith
payment to begin what the agency estimated would be a 16-hour effort to process the request, which the group said it promptly paid on July 2.
In its lawsuit, Michigan Rising Action claims that the agency did not produce the documents more than two months later.
“Since then, the MEDC has failed to produce any documents in response to the plaintiff’s request,” the complaint said. “Given the importance of citizens’ ability to understand how government entities are spending their tax dollars, particularly when that spending may be funding a threat to national security, such a lack of transparency is both unacceptable and illegal.”
In a statement, Abby Mitch, executive director of Michigan Rising Action, said the group believes the MEDC has engaged in “a willful effort to conceal from public inspection activities and discussions the MEDC is having that the public may not like.”
“This is a fair concern, as MEDC’s two flagship investments – Gotion and Ford CATL – have received nationwide public backlash,” Mitch said. “But the simple fact is that it should not take the threat of a lawsuit to get MEDC to follow the law.”
The Gotion project has, in particular, become a hot-button political issue because many Republican officials within the state believe the company has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
In the U.S. Senate race to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), Republican nominee and former congressman Mike Rogers has made the Gotion project and MEDC’s role in the matter a key issue, calling it a national security concern.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) has also faced attacks on the issue and said recently more national vetting was needed for the project (See Gongwer Michigan Report, September 9, 2024).
Steve Delie, director of transparency and open government at the Mackinac Center, in a statement said “the lack of transparency shown by the MEDC in this case is deeply troubling.”
“Public records belong to the public. They should be readily accessible in a reasonable time period and at a reasonable cost,” Delie said. “The delays our client encountered make it clear that the MEDC is falling short of that standard.”
Gongwer News Service
A conservative advocacy group has joined forces with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to sue the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
The complaint, Michigan Rising Action v. MEDC (COC Docket No. 24-000146), alleges that the agency repeatedly failed to follow Freedom of Information Act law following an inquiry into its dealings and contacts with a blacklisted military spyware company, Hesai Technology, or American Lidar, what Michigan Rising Action called Hesai’s “Farmington Hills-based shell company.”
The group claims it filed FOIA requests and MEDC did not respond for nearly a month. The agency then responded that it had 1,226 records related to the request. MEDC then requested a good faith
payment to begin what the agency estimated would be a 16-hour effort to process the request, which the group said it promptly paid on July 2.
In its lawsuit, Michigan Rising Action claims that the agency did not produce the documents more than two months later.
“Since then, the MEDC has failed to produce any documents in response to the plaintiff’s request,” the complaint said. “Given the importance of citizens’ ability to understand how government entities are spending their tax dollars, particularly when that spending may be funding a threat to national security, such a lack of transparency is both unacceptable and illegal.”
In a statement, Abby Mitch, executive director of Michigan Rising Action, said the group believes the MEDC has engaged in “a willful effort to conceal from public inspection activities and discussions the MEDC is having that the public may not like.”
“This is a fair concern, as MEDC’s two flagship investments – Gotion and Ford CATL – have received nationwide public backlash,” Mitch said. “But the simple fact is that it should not take the threat of a lawsuit to get MEDC to follow the law.”
The Gotion project has, in particular, become a hot-button political issue because many Republican officials within the state believe the company has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
In the U.S. Senate race to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), Republican nominee and former congressman Mike Rogers has made the Gotion project and MEDC’s role in the matter a key issue, calling it a national security concern.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) has also faced attacks on the issue and said recently more national vetting was needed for the project (See Gongwer Michigan Report, September 9, 2024).
Steve Delie, director of transparency and open government at the Mackinac Center, in a statement said “the lack of transparency shown by the MEDC in this case is deeply troubling.”
“Public records belong to the public. They should be readily accessible in a reasonable time period and at a reasonable cost,” Delie said. “The delays our client encountered make it clear that the MEDC is falling short of that standard.”
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