{"id":936,"date":"2023-07-25T12:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-25T16:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/miunitedaction.org\/?p=936"},"modified":"2026-04-06T16:30:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T20:30:27","slug":"ten-questions-on-money-and-politics-in-michigan-with-steve-james-of-the-michigan-peoples-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/miunitedaction.org\/es\/ten-questions-on-money-and-politics-in-michigan-with-steve-james-of-the-michigan-peoples-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten Questions on Money and Politics in Michigan, with Steve James of the Michigan People’s Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ten Questions on Money and Politics in Michigan, with Steve James of the Michigan People\u2019s Campaign<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Q:<\/strong> Steve, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and ideas today. Could you introduce yourself to our readers?<\/span><\/p>\n

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SJ:<\/strong> I’m Steve James, the Movement Politics Director at Michigan People’s Campaign\/Michigan United. I’ve been in politics for over a decade, mostly on the campaign and labor policy side. I’ve also served in several state-side positions as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Q:<\/strong> So you’ve got a good idea on the impact of money in Michigan politics. What\u2019s your take on how money affects government policy in 2023?<\/span><\/p>\n

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SJ:<\/strong> Money matters more in lower information races because it\u2019s more about name recognition than actual policy differences. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I began my career, candidates running in a state house race didn’t need to raise more than $100k. Those that reached that amount usually ended up with a leadership position based on their fundraising skill. Now $100k is the bare minimum to run a successful campaign in any sort of challenging district AND you have to have a separate leadership PAC with $100k raised in it to be considered for a leadership position. More money is filtering through the party to produce mailers and advertisements on behalf of candidates because of lax laws which require candidates to raise even more money to pay that \u201cloan\u201d back.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Q:<\/strong> What is the current state of campaign finance reform in Michigan?<\/span><\/p>\n

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SJ: <\/strong>Progress MI has made big attempts to restructure disclosure in the state, particularly from lobbyists and legislators, however there\u2019s a lot left to do. Recently, contribution limits have gone up and a loophole was exploited that allowed a sitting governor to raise unlimited amounts when faced with the threat of a recall–of course the recall never happened, but the chatter was out there which allowed it to continue.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Q:<\/strong> Republicans had a tight hold on the legislature for over a generation. What is their legacy when it comes to campaign finance?<\/span><\/p>\n

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SJ:<\/strong> Republicans never made it \u201cunfair\u201d per se, but they did make it more accessible for those with money to give more. They made sure that contribution limits were increased \u201cto match the times\u201d (our salaries sure as f*&% haven\u2019t increased \u201cto match the times\u201d) and they created the structure that allowed the Citizens United to be codified throughout our state campaign finance system. That decision, made by the US Supreme Court in 2010, ruled that corporations and unions have the same free speech rights as individuals, allowing them to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Republicans in Michigan introduced leadership PAC\u2019s and 501(c)(3) accounts. These are commonly called \u201ccorporate accounts\u201d because they allow corporations to contribute to a legislator\u2019s \u201cpublic welfare\u201d non-profit. Leadership PACs are disgusting and are routinely abused in my opinon, but the state lacks oversight into them. Politicians aren\u2019t going to change that.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Q:<\/strong> What\u2019s going on with Senate Bill 296? Last year, Michigan People\u2019s Campaign was part of an effort to hold DTE and other MI companies that do a lot of business with the state accountable for contributions to anti-democratic candidates and ballot initiatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

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SJ:<\/strong> Yeah – it\u2019s sitting in Government OPs (the Government Operations Committee) right now – my guess is that the utilities have a vested interest in that not ever seeing the light of a hearing\u2026aka why it\u2019s in gov ops.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Q:<\/strong> Let\u2019s dig into that. Do you think a BCBSM or DTE really pays attention to and understands that their money supports these efforts? Are they willingly giving to anti-democratic politicians? Or do you feel they think the politics are background noise in relation to lobbying?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Steve James (SJ):<\/strong> Having worked for a member who was the minority vice chair of the house energy policy committee during a huge overhaul of the state\u2019s energy priorities, in my personal experience DTE cares about one thing: their bottom line. If a bill is going to cost them any amount of money to implement they are going to have an opinion on it. This is where they demonstrate their influence. They have a very good lobbyist who is extremely adept at getting things like”mandates” mysteriously transformed into “goals.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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