Money in the 2010 Michigan Elections

The Grand Rapids Press has two front-page stories in today’s paper about candidate fundraising in Michigan. One article provides some data on how much money has been raised in the Michigan Governor’s race and a second article looks at the Congressional candidates running to fill Rep. Pete Hoekstra’s seat.

According to the Press article on Gubernatorial candidates, Rick Synder has raised the most money so far ($3.3 million), followed by Mike Cox ($1.8 million), John Cherry ($1.36 million – dropped out), Mike Bouchard ($888,149), Pete Hoekstra ($475,807), Tom George ($199,791), John Freeman ($84,688 – dropped out), and Alma Wheeler ($36,245). This means that all the candidates have raised a combined $8 million thus far.

The Press article on the amount of money raised by candidates for governor provide a brief summary from the candidates on their financial status, with little information on who has donated money to the various candidates at this point. The article also mentions that Rick Snyder plans to air a TV ad during the Super Bowl this Sunday. According to one Lansing-based Republican consultant, “It’ll give him a boost and will get people to look at his campaign when nobody else is on the tube.”

The story on the amount of money raised by those seeking the seat that Rep. Pete Hoekstra will vacate also focuses on the lead fundraiser. To date, Jay Riemersma has raised the most ($352,050), followed by Bill Cooper ($206,722), Bill Huizenga ($151,387), Wayne Kuipers ($57,915), and Fred Johnson ($7,291). Besides monies raised the story focuses on what candidates and other political insiders think about why the “non-traditional candidates” are raising more money.

What are excluded from these stories are two main issues for voters. First, there was no information on the platforms of candidates or the voting record of candidates who have or currently serve in office. Secondly, there is no investigation into why certain individuals, organizations and political action committees have donated to specific candidates and what they expect in return if their candidate is elected. To ignore this is to ignore a great deal of how politics works in this country.

GRIID plans on following the political races for 2010 and will attempt to provide some analysis of the media coverage as well as investigation into candidate platforms and campaign finances. For those wanting to investigate the data on their own you can go to the Michigan Secretary of State’s office for campaign finance updates or check out the monitoring work of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.