Before you vote on August 6th in Kent County, check out these resources

For several weeks now GRIID has been posting articles focusing on campaign finance information for candidates and ballot initiatives.

Following the money is always important, since those individuals with deep pockets and Political Action Committees (PACs) are always trying to influence the outcome of elections to protect and expand their interests.

Grand Action 2.0, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and a few other capitalists have raised nearly half a million dollars in 2 short months in the hopes of convincing people to vote for the so-called Hotel Tax. The Destination Kent Committee is also being deceptive in their campaign literature.

The money behind the Grand Rapids Mayoral race is dominated by donors to David LaGrand. Check out who is backing him and the other candidates for Mayor.

The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce and the Grand Rapids Police Officers Association PAC are also trying to buy candidates in the 1st and 3rd Ward races in Grand Rapids.

In Kent County, see who is bankrolling the Sheriff, Treasurer, Clerk and Prosecutor, along with all of the Kent County Commission races.

The State Representative races in West Michigan also have lots of corporate PAC money involved, plus see my piece on which West MI families are the largest donors to the Republican Senate and House Committees in Michigan.

The largest campaign contributor to 3rd Congressional Rep. Hillary Scholten re-election campaign is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Also, two additional voter information sources should be useful for people. The first is the new Local Democracy, Transparency and Accountability Project work being done through the Community Owns Safety Coalition. So far they are providing campaign finance records for local candidates, but they will also be tracking voting records for the Grand Rapids City Commission the Kent County Commission and the GRPS School Board.

The other new source is a voter guide for Grand Rapids and Kent County candidates and ballot initiatives for 2024 produced by the Urban Core Collective. This voter guide was created by the BIPOC members of the Urban Core Collective.