Dark money is considered backdoor access for major financial conglomerates to manipulate socioeconomic policy development for the purposes of profiting from the poverty industrial complex, otherwise known as privatization.
Unlike the actual vote, the voices being heard are by those who stand to directly profit from an election.
In the case of Moving Michigan Forward, no one knows who is contributing nor what is being done with the money to directly help the people of Flint, except that it is paying for his PR firms whose work so far sucks in crafting a public image legal defense.
This model of dark money is not just in elections, it is also in policymaking of child welfare privatization and thy name is the Michigan Children's Trust Fund.
I wonder if Rick Snyder is going to release the transcripts of his speeches?
Anonymous donors boost Snyder's Flint relief efforts
LANSING — Gov. Rick Snyder has used his nonprofit fund to raise $270,000 for relief efforts related to the Flint water crisis so far this year. But Snyder is not disclosing the names of the individuals and corporations who donated most of the money, despite promises of greater transparency when he shut down his controversial NERD Fund.
Snyder created the Moving Michigan Forward Fund in 2013 in response to widespread criticism of his NERD (New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify) Fund, which had accepted more than $1.6 million in donations from corporations and other donors, with no disclosure about who the donors were and how they might be linked to state contracts or important policy decisions.
"Let’s wind it down and go forward in a fund where all the donors will be disclosed and the information will be online," Snyder told reporters in October 2013.
Of the $295,000 Moving Michigan Forward reported raising in the first three months of 2016, $270,000 was designated for Flint relief, Snyder spokesman Ari Adler said Thursday. But $225,000 — or 76% of the total amount raised in the quarter — came from another Snyder-related nonprofit fund, Making Government Accountable, which does not disclose its donors.
"We don't have true transparency, because the money is being run through other nonprofits that don't really disclose their donors," said Craig Mauger, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
"People are giving to organizations tied to the governor and the public has no idea who they are, how much exactly they're giving, and whether there are any potential returns on that giving."
Making Government Accountable, which Adler said is still active, was formed by Snyder supporters in March 2015 — around the time Snyder was exploring a national tour promoting Michigan's economic comeback and a possible GOP presidential run.
Its donors "are not going to be disclosed because they gave money with the understanding that their information would not be disclosed, in accordance with state law," Adler said.
"No information about MMF needs to be disclosed either, according to state law, but it is (disclosed) because of the governor’s decision to volunteer information and provide more transparency for that fund," he said.
The stated purpose of MMF is reducing the financial burden of state government and improving Michigan's social and business climate.
Early this year, a notice was posted on the MMF website saying every donated dollar designated for the fund's "MMF for Flint" effort would be spent on Flint-related resources, particularly "advocacy efforts aimed to increase awareness of ... where to find water resource sites, bottled water, water filters for individual homes and businesses, replacement filter cartridges, water testing kits and more."
First-quarter donors to MMF who were disclosed include Robert S. Taubman, chairman and CEO of retail giant Taubman Centers, who gave $25,000; Perrigo director and former CEO Michael Jandernoa and his wife, Susan, who gave $25,000; Jackson-based Alro Steel, which gave $10,000; and Kalamazoo-based scrap processing firm Schupan & Sons, which gave $10,000.
Moving Michigan Forward reported spending just over $179,000 on "Flint outreach" in the first quarter of 2016, including direct mail, telephone town halls, automated phone calls, text alerts and billboards.
Snyder officials earlier said that an out-of-state public relations firm hired to assist with Flint, Mercury LLC, would be paid from the MMF and not with taxpayer funds. Adler said the Mercury LLC expenses are included in "Flint outreach."
Mauger said the lack of detail in the MMF reports make it impossible to tell exactly how the money was spent.
Adler said more than $200,000 of the $225,000 that the Making Government Accountable fund donated to the Moving Michigan Forward fund was earmarked for Flint relief.
Despite the new emphasis on Flint, "the MMF is used for other things, as it always has been, including office travel expenses, etc." Adler said.
In 2015, $350,000 of the roughly $410,000 that Moving Michigan Forward raisedcame from a third Snyder-related nonprofit, Celebrating the Power of Michigan, which is used to finance his inaugural events. Snyder releases a list of the names of inaugural donors, but does not say how much each donor gave.
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
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