DeVos money in the 2020 Elections: Part II – Even at the local level, DeVos money bankrolls candidates

In Part I of this series, we looked at how two of the companies the DeVos family owns, Amway and RDV Corporation, have provided significant funding to candidates in the 2020 Election.

In Part II, we take a look at candidates who have received funding from candidates at the local level, often candidates who are not on the public radar, and how much funding they have received from DeVos family members.

Before looking at the data, it is important that we recognize that the DeVos family does not give money to candidates in a random fashion, rather they are very strategic with their money. It would be easy and a mistake to say that they fund all GOP candidates, but this would be a mistake. The DeVos family funds certain GOP candidates because of the strategic role they play in politics. While we may find the DeVos influence repulsive, they are not stupid.

Kent County Sheriff

In August of 2019, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ended their 8 year contract with Kent County. This was certainly a victory for the immigrant justice movement, yet some might see this as a tactical decision by Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young. The first female Sheriff in Kent County made a decision, after the Jilmar Ramos-Gomez case made national news, to require ICE to have a judicial order to have people detained at the Kent County Jail. What we wrote in August, challenged that narrative, making it clear that the immigrant justice movement, led by Movimiento Cosecha, made the ICE contract public and pressured the county to end that contract. The County would not end their contract and made clear that they would continue to cooperate with ICE officials.

With that context in mind, it was instructive to look and see who some of the big campaign contributors were to Michelle LaJoye-Young. According to the county clerk’s data, the following members of the DeVos family gave money to Sheriff Young’s bid to stay in her position in Kent County:

• Doug DeVos $2,000

• Maria DeVos $2,000

• Suzanne Cheryl DeVos $2,000

• Pamela DeVos $2,000

• Daniel DeVos $2,000

• Richard DeVos $2,000

That is $12,000 that the DeVos clan contributed to Michelle LaJoye-Young’s campaign, and if you include another $2,000 from the Executive Director of RDV Corporation, Steve Ehmann, then that total is $14,000.

Kent County Clerk

Lisa Posthumus-Lyons is running for re-election for the Kent County Clerk position, a position that wields a significant amount of power. According to data from the Kent County Clerk’s office, the following members of the DeVos family contributed to her re-election campaign:

• Doug DeVos $2,000

• Maria DeVos $2,000

• Suzanne Cheryl DeVos $2,000

• Pamela DeVos $2,000

• Daniel DeVos $2,000

• Richard DeVos $2,000

That makes $12,000 that the DeVos clan contributed to Lisa Posthumus-Lyons campaign, and if you include another $2,000 from the Executive Director of RDV Corporation, Steve Ehmann, then that total is $14,000. See a pattern? 

Also worth noting is the fact that Peter Secchia contributed $7,100 to Posthumus-Lyons as well.

Kent County Treasurer

The race for county treasurer is also a strategic battle for the DeVos family. The GOP candidate, Peter MacGregor, has been the beneficiary of lots of DeVos money over the years. In fact, as a State Senator, the DeVos family has been the number one campaign contributor to MacGregor, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

According to the clerk’s data, Peter MacGregor has received funding from the following members of the DeVos family:

• Doug DeVos $2,000

• Maria DeVos $2,000

• Suzanne Cheryl DeVos $4,000

• Pamela DeVos $2,000

• Daniel DeVos $2,000

• Richard DeVos $2,000

The total here is $14,000 from the DeVos family to Peter MacGregor, as he seeks to win the seat for the Kent County Treasurer. 

There are also 19 Kent County Commission races,  but the only ones we could find where the DeVos family contributed were in 2 races. The first was to Mandy Bolter, who is the current Chair of the Board of Commissioners. This makes sense, again, from a strategic point of view, that the DeVos family would fund her campaign, since Bolter gets to influence the agenda for the county. Here is a list of the eVos family members who contributed to her campaign:

• Doug DeVos $1,000

• Maria DeVos $1,000

• Suzanne Cheryl DeVos $1,000

• Pamela DeVos $1,000

• Daniel DeVos $1,000

• Richard DeVos $1,000

In this race the Executive Director for RDV Corporation, Steve Ehmann, also contributed $1,000, making the total DeVos contributions to Many Bolter $7,000.

The only other Kent County Commission candidate to receive campaign contributions from the DeVos family was Lindsey Thiel, who is currently the commissioner for the 11th District. Only one DeVos family member contribute to her campaign, Dick DeVos, who gave $1,000 to Thiel.

When we add up all the money that the DeVos family contributed to races at the Kent County level, they contributed $50,000 to influence the outcome. This may not seem like a great deal of money local elections, but their contributions as a group were more than any other private entity, with only the Kent County Republican Party contributing more in some of the county races.