The founder's would be rolling in their grave after witnessing the devolution of the Republican party.
At issue are two dark money non-.profits, Moving Michigan Forward and Celebrating the Power of Michigan, that Snyder uses to accept corporate donations to fund various projects, including paying out-of-state P.R. firm Mercury to manage public relations related to Flint. Snyder hired Mercury in the wake of escalating disclosures that he and a series of “emergency managers” he appointed to dictate policy to the struggling city ended up exposing Flint’s children to elevated levels of lead in their drinking water.
Snyder claims the two dark money funds — and a predecessor called “the NERD fund” that he shut down under pressure before he faced reelection in 2014 — allow him to “transform Michigan” without drawing on the limited resources of the state. But some of those dark money funds have paid for the privatization of state and local resources, like schools and parks and Detroit’s water system. So it’s easy to see the funds as a way for private corporations to pay the governor to implement the policies that benefit them.
"One of the first things Snyder did when he took office was give business a big tax cut while raising taxes on the seniors and shifting revenue sharing away from cities. He basically gave the rich tax breaks while making the less fortunate pick up the slack. That big tax shift accompanied Snyder’s efforts to make “fiscally responsible” cuts in cities like Flint and Detroit.
The same billionaires who are getting a tax cut are also getting their preferred policies. Amway founder Dick DeVos (net worth $6.9 billion) has been pushing many of these privatization schemes for years and Quicken Loans owner Dan Gilbert (net worth $3.7 billion) has benefited from some of Snyder’s privatization schemes in Detroit — while emergency managers cut government services for the less fortunate"
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