© Postmedia News/The Canadian Press85-year-old billionaire, Matty Moroun has run an aggressive campaign urging Detroit voters to reject a new bridge linking them to Windsor, Ontario. Moroun owns the would-be bridge's main competition: the Ambassador Bridge.
Moroun's ballot committee, the People Should Decide, reported today that Moroun's companies have contributed $26.7 million to the ballot initiative since July 20. Before that, he and his companies had poured $4.7 million into the effort. As of today, the reports filed document only about $20.4 million of what the committee has spent, mostly on TV ads.
"It's pretty stunning," said Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. "This has been a pretty expensive project."
Up until now, the most spent on one side of a ballot proposal was $19.7 million, spent by one of the two sides on a 2004 casino proposal, Robinson said.
The spending does not include the millions Moroun and his companies spent on TV ads opposing the proposed public bridge across the Detroit River to Canada before he launched his ballot initiative this year.
In contrast, the group that supports a new public bridge to Canada and wants to block a requirement for a referendum has raised slightly more than $800,000, records show, leaving it at about a 30-1 fund-raising disadvantage.
Donors to the pro-bridge effort include: General Motors, which gave $500,000; Chrysler Group LLC, which gave $100,000; the Fund for Michigan Jobs, which gave $75,000, and the Alliance of Auto Manufacturers, which gave $25,000. An electrical transmission company, ITC Holdings, and Michigan Paving and Materials Co. each gave $25,000 to the pro-bridge effort, while the Michigan Townships Association gave $20,000.
So far, no direct contributions from Ford Motor Co. have been reported.
The only reported expenditures by the pro-bridge committee are about $85,000 in legal fees.
In other reports filed:
- Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, the main business group formed to oppose Proposal 2 -- a constitutional amendment to enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state constitution -- has raised $19.2 million and spent $13 million, records show. A second business group formed to oppose Proposal 2 and two other constitutional amendments has raised about $6.6 million since July and spent about $5.7 million, according to the newly filed campaign finance reports.
The second business group, Citizens Protecting Michigan's Constitution, received $1.5 million from the Michigan Republican Party and $1 million from the Michigan Chamber of Commerce in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from chamber political action committees and other business leaders, records show.
Most of the spending was for TV advertising. In addition to opposing Proposal 2 to enshrine collective-bargaining rights, the group opposes Proposal 3 -- which would put a new renewable energy standard in the constitution -- and Proposal 4, to provide limited collective-bargaining rights to home health care workers. - Protect Working Families, the union group pushing the collective-bargaining initiative, raised $13.5 million since July, on top of the $8.1 million it raised earlier, records show. It spent $16.25 million since July, on top of $1.15 million it spent earlier.
- Defend Michigan Democracy, a group formed to oppose Proposal 5, a constitutional amendment that would require a two-thirds majority to approve tax increases, has raised slightly more than $2 million and spent about $618,000, records show. Major donors include the American Federation of Teachers, the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, and the Michigan Municipal League. Most of the spending reported so far is to mail literature.
The Michigan Alliance for Prosperity, the group pushing for the supermajority tax vote requirement, raised and spent close to $1.2 million since July, bringing its total raised and spent for the year to about $3 million. - Michigan Energy, Michigan Jobs, the group pushing to increase Michigan's renewable energy standard to 25% by 2025, raised $10.6 million since July - much of it from out of state - and spent $8.6 million. That's on top of $2.2 million it raised and $1.8 million it spent earlier in the year.
- Clean Affordable Renewable Energy for Michigan, the utility-backed group opposing a constitutional amendment to hike Michigan's renewable energy standard to 25% by 2025, raised $16.8 million since July, on top of $5.9 million raised earlier this year. It reported spending $15.4 million since July, on top of $5.7 million spent earlier.
Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care, the group backing Proposal 4, raised $7.1 million since July and spent $6.2 million, records show. Earlier in the year, the group had raised $1.9 million and spent about $1.8 million. - The group trying to repeal Michigan's emergency manager law has raised about $1.8 million since July, bringing its total amount raised to about $2 million. Nearly all of the money Stand up for Democracy has raised has come from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union that represents city employees in Detroit and many other cities and counties.
- Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, the group formed to preserve the controversial emergency manager law that the Legislature passed in 2011, reported raising $100,000 since July, bringing its total to $125,000. The entire $100,000 raised in the most recent period came from the Honigman law firm, according to the report.
- Citizens for More Michigan Jobs, the group that was trying to expand casino gaming across the state but was kept off the ballot as a result of a Michigan Supreme Court ruling, reported raising a little less than $700,000 since July, bringing its total for the year to about $3.4 million.
- Protect MI Vote, the group formed to oppose the casino expansion, reported raising and spending about $2.3 million for its entire campaign.
Couldn't 31 million and change have built a new bridge already?
Lol
Cheers