Most State Legislators who voted for the new Super PAC bill, have received lots of money from the DeVos Family

Last week Governor Rick Snyder signed into law what is being referred to as the Super PAC Bill.

In some ways, this new bill mirrors the federal election funding trend of Citizen’s United. However, as the Michigan Campaign Finance Network (MCFN) has noted: 

The bill goes further, specifically allowing candidates to solicit unlimited contributions to supposedly “independent” Super PACs. It also allows candidates and Super PACs to share certain vendors, like attorneys or other campaign consultants.

So while an individual donor can give up to $1,000 to a state House candidate’s campaign. The candidate could ask the same donor or a corporate entity to give a much larger check to a Super PAC that is going to support the candidate. Because Super PACs can accept corporate contributions, the original sources of their money are notoriously hard to trace.

What this all ends up meaning is that the wealthy capitalist class will have an even greater influence in both electing candidates and legislation that is put forth by the candidates that those with economic power have put in place.

In Michigan, according to the MCFN, the number one non-corporate entity to contribute to candidates for state government has been the DeVos Family. Therefore, we thought it would be useful to look at which members of the Michigan Senate and the House of Representations have received money from the DeVos Family and which of them voted for the Super PAC bill.

The Senate Bill 335 passed by a margin of 23 – 12. Of the 23 that voted for the bill, 18 of them have received substantial amounts of money from the DeVos Family during their time in office. Here is the list of those who voted for the Super PAC bill and have received money from the DeVos Family: 

• Darwin Booher (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Jack Brandenburg (R) has received $14,000 from the DeVos Family
• Tom Casperson (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Pat Colbeck (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Mike Green (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Goeff Hansen (R) has received $16,000 from the DeVos Family
• David Hildenbrand (R) has received $21,000 from the DeVos Family
• Ken Horn (R) has received $3,000 from the DeVos Family
• Joe Hune (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Marty Knollenberg (R) has received $21,000 from the DeVos Family
• Mike Kowall (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Peter MacGregor (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Jim Marleau (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Arlan Meekhof (R) has received $54,000 from the DeVos Family
• John Proos (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• David Robertson (R) has received $7,000 from the DeVos Family
• Wayne Schmidt (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Tonya Schuitmaker (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family

In the Michigan House the Super PAC bill passed by a margin of 62-45. Of the 62 that voted for the measure, 31 have also been recipients of DeVos Family money over the years. Here is that list:

• Chris Afendoulis (R) has received $4,500 from the DeVos Family
• Sue Allor (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Tom Barrett (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• John Bizon (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Tommy Brann (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Edward Canfield (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Lee Chatfield (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Kathy Crawford (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Diana Farrington (R) has received $8,000 from the DeVos Family
• Ben Frederick (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Daniela Garcia (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Joe Graves (R) has received $17,200 from the DeVos Family
• Beth Griffin (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Roger Hauck (R) has received $7,000 from the DeVos Family
• Pamela Hornberger (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Gary Howell (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Holly Hughes (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Brandt Iden (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Larry Inman (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Bronna Kahle (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Klint Kesto (R) has received $18,000 from the DeVos Family
• Beau LaFave (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Jim Lilly (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• James Lower (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Steve Marino (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Jeff Noble (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Daire Rendon (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Jason Sheppard (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Curt VanderWall (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Rob Verheulen (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family
• Jason Wentworth (R) has received $9,000 from the DeVos Family

In most of the cases where members of the Michigan Legislature didn’t receive money from the DeVos Family and did vote for the Super PAC bill, they did receive substantial amounts of money from Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Michigan Farm Bureau, both of which lobbied for the legislation.

In addition, there were also numerous cases where legislators who did not receive funding from the DeVos Family, but did receive funds from other families who are part of the West Michigan Power Structure; such as the Meijer Family, Peter Secchia, Michael Jandernoa and John Kennedy. 

However, it seems clear that the DeVos Family, a family who stands to benefit from the new legislation, which will allow for more individual campaign contributions and PAC money to be raised for candidates, will be one of the real winners of the new bill signed last week by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Lastly, so as not to forget Governor Snyder’s relationship to the DeVos Family, he has received $142,830 from them since he first ran as Governor for Michigan.