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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Do Genesee County Commissioners trade deals for campaign donations?
I am told the commissioners accept gifts from agencies. Why doesn't the county require disclosure information of all candidates and elected officials? |
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Fri May 15, 2015 7:55 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Fri May 15, 2015 8:39 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Eclectablog - eclectic blogging for a better tomorrowFollowRSS
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Mon Oct 20, 2014 at 12:10 PM PDT.
MI-Gov - More corruption in the Snyder admin: $26.4MM in no-bid contracts awarded to campaign donor
by
EclectablogFollow .
The Michigan Democratic Party released bombshell news today that the Snyder administration awarded $26.4 million in no-bid contracts to a high-dollar donor to the Snyder reelection campaign.
On June 9, 2014, the owners of J&B Medical Supply, which supplies diapers and other incontinence products to Department of Community Health, hosted a lavish fundraiser for Rick Snyder in Bloomfield Hills which was attended by about 150 contributors, and featured crystal stemware, professional lighting design and custom-made Rick for Michigan candy and water bottles. They raised $73,800 for Governor Snyder's reelection campaign.
There's video from the fundraiser HERE if you want an idea of just how swanky this soiree was.
The very next day following the fundraiser, J&B Medical Supply had an existing state contract extended to the tune of nearly $400,000. This appears to be a violation of the 2005 Michigan Management and Budget Act which requires competitive bidding on state contracts.
Prior to this, in February of 2013, the Snyder administration awarded a new no-bid contract to J&B Medical Supply which added $8,679,958.02 to an existing contract's price. Later, in November 2013, the company was awarded another no-bid contract which added another $17,359,916.04 to the price.
All told, the Snyder administration has awarded 18 months worth of no-bid contracts to J&B Medical Supply, for a total of $26.4 million.
Since 2010, members of the Shaya family which owns J & B Medical, along with their employees, have given at least $65,676.19 in contributions to Rick Snyder's reelection campaign. This is in addition to the fundraiser they held for him earlier this year.
J&B Medical Supplies also benefited handsomely from two Republican bills signed into law in June of 2012 which expanded the use of telemedicine. J&B Medical Supplies offers a full line of telemedicine products and equipment. At the time, Governor Snyder said, "Telemedicine offers an incredible opportunity to easily provide health care to Michigan's elderly, disabled and rural communities. I applaud the Legislature's initiative to use technology to save lives."
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lon Johnson issued this statement about the revelations:
These documents again raise questions regarding whether "pay to play" is standard operating procedure in Rick Snyder’s administration. The governor needs to come clean and explain why he gave special favors to his campaign donors one day after they hosted a glitzy fundraiser for him. The people of Michigan deserve answers from Governor Snyder.
Democratic candidate for Governor Mark Schauer issued a statement, as well:
These new documents raise very serious questions about who Rick Snyder’s administration is really working for. Why has a contract that was competitively bid in 2008 ballooned by more than $26 million without subsequent competitive bids on Snyder’s watch? And more specifically, why did the Snyder administration increase the J&B contract by over $390,000 one day after the company’s executives hosted a lavish fundraiser for Snyder’s re-election campaign?
Michigan deserves a governor who is committed to providing honest and open government to taxpayers. Instead, Snyder has repeatedly demonstrated that he puts his family and friends first. Whether he was giving 80 and 90 percent raises to his top administration officials, or doubling his cousin’s furniture contract to $41 million, it’s clear Rick Snyder’s policies work for the wealthy and big corporations, but not the rest of Michigan.
This is just further evidence that things are quite good for Michigan businesses but only if they are well-connected to the Snyder administration. I'm sure we'll once again hear from Governor Snyder who will attempt to sweep this unethical behavior that betrays his pledge of transparency under the rug and that he will call it "a distraction". Gov. Snyder should never have said "Governments need to make decisions based on competitive bidding and value for taxpayer money" if he had no intention of doing it.
[Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog]
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Originally posted to Eclectablog - eclectic blogging for a better tomorrow on Mon Oct 20, 2014 at 12:10 PM PDT. |
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Fri May 15, 2015 8:41 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Fri May 15, 2015 8:45 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Another day, another revelation of pay-to-play politics in the Snyder administration
By Eclectablog on April 23, 2014 in Corporatism, GOPocrisy, Michigan Republicans, Rick Snyder
Seriously, this is getting ridiculous
MIRS has a damning report out this week about further examples of pay-to-play politics in the Snyder administration. According to their reporting, the Dickinson Wright law firm received a $225,000 contract with the state in July of 2013. The contract was signed by Attorney General Bill Schuette and former state Treasurer Andy Dillon. A week later, Bill Schuette’s reelection campaign received 21 contributions worth $3,500 from Dickinson Wright employees and, five months after that, the four people who signed the contract with the state made contributions to Governor Snyder’s campaign.
MIRS scoured Snyder’s campaign finance records and found that he has taken in nearly $300,000 in contributions of more than $1,000 from people who worked for companies with state contracts.
This information comes on the heels of the revelations of Gov. Snyder’s cousin George receiving preferential treatment in securing an office furniture contract with the state as well as state contractor Integrated Strategies Inc. using their connections with Snyder aide Richard Baird to save their own contract and even expand it. Governor Snyder appears to be using the power of his administration to ensure campaign finance money flows unimpeded into his war chest.
Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, released this statement:
This report clearly shows that the Snyder administration’s web of cronyism runs deep. Over the last four years it’s become evident that Gov. Snyder is just another politician who is more concerned about appeasing his donors rather than helping working families. It’s well past time for him to live up to his campaign promise of being accountable to the public.
From no-bid contracts and protecting family interests while cutting education funding, to a culture of intimidation — the Snyder administration appears to be sitting on a three-legged chair of cronyism. Eventually, as was the case with Chris Christie, these actions will catch up with him and Michiganders will see him for what he is — a typical conservative politician who cares more about his wealthy friends than working people.”
Progress Michigan recently had a billboard in Lansing rejected by Adams Outdoor Advertising because, according to emails from an Adams manager, they “are really trying to continue to maintain good relationships with the governor’s office”. Progress Michigan has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the state to see if Adams has any contracts with the state that may be further evidence of the apparent Snyder administration pay-to-play culture.
I get that people from any company in the state can donate to the campaigns of Snyder administration officials and even to Snyder himself. But the timing on these particular examples is so coincidental as to be hard to see them as anything but the securing of favors in exchange for campaign contributions. That sort of thing may be considered acceptable in the business world that Rick Snyder has done so well in. However, in state government, it has no place and is just one more example of why it’s a huge mistake to elect leaders who think state government should be run like a business. |
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Fri May 15, 2015 8:47 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| I keep being told that Lansing politicians allege that Genesee County is the most corrupt of Michigan's 83 counties. Hard to believe with everything that came out of Wayne County, but still may mean the citizens need to root out the corruption! |
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Thu May 26, 2016 12:01 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| I keep being told that Lansing politicians allege that Genesee County is the most corrupt of Michigan's 83 counties. Hard to believe with everything that came out of Wayne County, but still may mean the citizens need to root out the corruption! |
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Thu May 26, 2016 12:01 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| I keep being told that Lansing politicians allege that Genesee County is the most corrupt of Michigan's 83 counties. Hard to believe with everything that came out of Wayne County, but still may mean the citizens need to root out the corruption! |
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Thu May 26, 2016 12:02 pm |
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