By Liz Nass
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel held a roundtable with some House Democrats Friday to discuss overall transparency proposals, again taking aim at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and calling for broad policy changes.
Nessel proposed possible alternatives for disclosure in economic development projects amid questions of oversight in the MEDC. She noted that if the projects are good for the state, then it should go through a “regular state agency” like the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
She said if these projects were moved to a state department, then there would be more oversight measures.
Nessel also said if she believes someone in the corporation is doing something she thinks is “flagrantly unethical” then there are no government actors to point to for the purposes of charging them with willful negligence of duty or misconduct in office, because many are government appointees.
She called the MEDC a “black hole” of spending and that there is “no accountability of any kind,” including conflict-of-interest policies. The Michigan Strategic Fund Board, however, does have a conflict of interest policy.
She said while there have been no documented cases of governors going to project leaders to say they will get money from the MSF in exchange for campaign support, the perception still exists.
Nessel said while it is clear that businesswoman Fay Beydoun – who received a grant through the Legislature and has been charged with 16 felonies – used her political connections to get the grant.
Beydoun was a campaign fund bundler for notable Democrats including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Still, Nessel said there's no evidence Whitmer or her office knew Beydoun "planned to misappropriate the money or to spend the money illegally."
Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, said she believes the Legislature needs to rethink the entire notion of the MEDC.
Danielle Emerson, spokesperson for MEDC, said in a statement that there is an important distinction between the MEDC program grants and legislative directed grants. She said the MEDC “supports actions taken in recent years by the Legislature to reform and bring greater transparency to the legislatives direct spending item (LDSI) grant requirements and processes.”
She also outlined the disbursement process of their business development grants which only disburses funding only after the investment from the grant recipient is made. She said that program has a more-than 80% success rate, and the corporation submits reports every year to the Legislature to track the progress.
“Finally, the MEDC and the Michigan Strategic Fund received clean audits of financial statements and related disclosures in a recently released audit by the Office of the Auditor General,” Emerson said.
“We take our responsibility to Michigan’s taxpayers seriously and are proud to have this reflected through an independent, third-party’s audit of our work.”
The roundtable conversation overall touched on multiple transparency efforts the House Democrats would like to see done including the BRITE Act, which includes legislation designed to limit the influence of lobbying and financial interests, put an end to election and campaign finance law violations and require 527s and 501(c)4s affiliated with candidates to disclose their donors and expenditures and opening up the Legislature to the Freedom of Information Act.
When asked by reporters if Whitmer was part of the issue or the solution to moving the legislation they are interested in, Coffia said Whitmer ran on FOIA eight years ago. She said the “invisible hand of Whitmer” is very powerful and she would like to see her deliver some of the things she campaigned on for transparency.
Coffia said Whitmer meets with the caucus very occasionally, and when she did, it was priorities in the economic realm such as the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund. She said it could be a game changer if Whitmer chose to use her power on transparency the way she does with MEDC policy.
Nessel said she doesn’t receive clear communication from the governor’s office on what they don’t like about a bill she might support. Nessel claimed bills her office supports are sometimes halted for seemingly no reason.
Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, said with her immense popularity, Whitmer should put her weight behind priorities.
Stacey LaRouche, spokesperson for Whitmer, said in a statement that Whitmer believes the state government “must be open, transparent and accountable to taxpayers,” and touted her own record in disclosing personal financial information and signing directives of the Michigan Sunshine Plan and the law increasing transparency on legislative earmarks.
“If the Legislature sends us a bill that applies FOIA equally to the legislative and executive branches, she will sign it,” LaRouche said.
With many of these bills stalled, the legislators said they would be open to working on ballot measures to see if they pass, but they also think they shouldn’t need a ballot measure and to pass it in their chambers.
The legislators and Nessel also criticized the Mackinac Policy Conference next week. Nessel saying there is a lot of corruption and quid pro quos at the conference, saying she would rather hold conversations here than take them up to the island next week.
Gongwer News Service
Attorney General Dana Nessel held a roundtable with some House Democrats Friday to discuss overall transparency proposals, again taking aim at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and calling for broad policy changes.
Nessel proposed possible alternatives for disclosure in economic development projects amid questions of oversight in the MEDC. She noted that if the projects are good for the state, then it should go through a “regular state agency” like the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
She said if these projects were moved to a state department, then there would be more oversight measures.
Nessel also said if she believes someone in the corporation is doing something she thinks is “flagrantly unethical” then there are no government actors to point to for the purposes of charging them with willful negligence of duty or misconduct in office, because many are government appointees.
She called the MEDC a “black hole” of spending and that there is “no accountability of any kind,” including conflict-of-interest policies. The Michigan Strategic Fund Board, however, does have a conflict of interest policy.
She said while there have been no documented cases of governors going to project leaders to say they will get money from the MSF in exchange for campaign support, the perception still exists.
Nessel said while it is clear that businesswoman Fay Beydoun – who received a grant through the Legislature and has been charged with 16 felonies – used her political connections to get the grant.
Beydoun was a campaign fund bundler for notable Democrats including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Still, Nessel said there's no evidence Whitmer or her office knew Beydoun "planned to misappropriate the money or to spend the money illegally."
Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, said she believes the Legislature needs to rethink the entire notion of the MEDC.
Danielle Emerson, spokesperson for MEDC, said in a statement that there is an important distinction between the MEDC program grants and legislative directed grants. She said the MEDC “supports actions taken in recent years by the Legislature to reform and bring greater transparency to the legislatives direct spending item (LDSI) grant requirements and processes.”
She also outlined the disbursement process of their business development grants which only disburses funding only after the investment from the grant recipient is made. She said that program has a more-than 80% success rate, and the corporation submits reports every year to the Legislature to track the progress.
“Finally, the MEDC and the Michigan Strategic Fund received clean audits of financial statements and related disclosures in a recently released audit by the Office of the Auditor General,” Emerson said.
“We take our responsibility to Michigan’s taxpayers seriously and are proud to have this reflected through an independent, third-party’s audit of our work.”
The roundtable conversation overall touched on multiple transparency efforts the House Democrats would like to see done including the BRITE Act, which includes legislation designed to limit the influence of lobbying and financial interests, put an end to election and campaign finance law violations and require 527s and 501(c)4s affiliated with candidates to disclose their donors and expenditures and opening up the Legislature to the Freedom of Information Act.
When asked by reporters if Whitmer was part of the issue or the solution to moving the legislation they are interested in, Coffia said Whitmer ran on FOIA eight years ago. She said the “invisible hand of Whitmer” is very powerful and she would like to see her deliver some of the things she campaigned on for transparency.
Coffia said Whitmer meets with the caucus very occasionally, and when she did, it was priorities in the economic realm such as the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund. She said it could be a game changer if Whitmer chose to use her power on transparency the way she does with MEDC policy.
Nessel said she doesn’t receive clear communication from the governor’s office on what they don’t like about a bill she might support. Nessel claimed bills her office supports are sometimes halted for seemingly no reason.
Rep. Carrie Rheingans, D-Ann Arbor, said with her immense popularity, Whitmer should put her weight behind priorities.
Stacey LaRouche, spokesperson for Whitmer, said in a statement that Whitmer believes the state government “must be open, transparent and accountable to taxpayers,” and touted her own record in disclosing personal financial information and signing directives of the Michigan Sunshine Plan and the law increasing transparency on legislative earmarks.
“If the Legislature sends us a bill that applies FOIA equally to the legislative and executive branches, she will sign it,” LaRouche said.
With many of these bills stalled, the legislators said they would be open to working on ballot measures to see if they pass, but they also think they shouldn’t need a ballot measure and to pass it in their chambers.
The legislators and Nessel also criticized the Mackinac Policy Conference next week. Nessel saying there is a lot of corruption and quid pro quos at the conference, saying she would rather hold conversations here than take them up to the island next week.
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