Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids – Segment #5

One of the 10 principles of journalism is that it must serve as an independent monitor of power.

Now, I don’t claim to be a journalist, more of a media watchdog, but I do engage in movement media. Movement media is reporting and documenting what social movements are doing, which is what I have been trying to do with GRIID since 2009.

However, since I have been monitoring what I call the Grand Rapids Power Structure for nearly two decades, I thought I would start a new segment – Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids. 

The Monitoring the Rich and Powerful in Grand Rapids segments will offer brief commentary on those who have power over others in this community. These segments will not replace my regular reporting on the Grand Rapids Power Structure, since those stories will offer more in depth writing. 

As we navigate a second Trump Administration with the likes of Elon Musk, it seems like a perfect opportunity to shed some light on rich and powerful of Grand Rapids, or to frame it the way that radical media from the 60s and 70s would do regarding the Capitalist Class, using the phrase, “up against the wall motherfucker!”

Our first example comes to us from an announcement from the West Michigan Policy Forum, stating that former State Representative Jase Bolger is the new President & CEO of the West Michigan Policy Forum.

Bolger left political office a few years ago and formed the Tusker Strategies LLC group, which represents groups working on public policy changes in Michigan. According to the Tusker website, the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF) was Bolger’s only client. In addition to representing the WMPF, Bolger also joined the board of the Great Lakes Education Project, the entity created by Betsy DeVos to undermine public education across the state.

Last November, GRIID posted an article about Bolger and Doug DeVos, who had a video conversation with the WMPF board member Doug DeVos, where they talked about dismantling public education. In that video, Bolger bragged about what he had done to attack public education in Michigan through the state legislature, such as:

• Expanding School Choice options in Michigan, which has always been about the dismantling of Public Education.
• Undermining teachers retirement plans by getting the state to move public school district teacher pensions to a 401K plan, claiming the district would be able to spend more on students.
• Putting in place a system to attack teachers for “under-performing”, based on students grades. 

In our second example, there has been more uncritical news coverage of the new DeVos-owned coffee shop, known as the Foxtail Coffee Co. The MLive story does not mention that the cafe is owned by the DeVos family, only that it is part of the Baton Collective.

The Baton Collective is actually owned by Cheri DeVos, which is a commercial real estate and business management company. Cheri also is the founder of Michigan Sports Academies, plus she recently added Otter Air Services as part of the Baton Collective portfolio, which offers concierge charter air travel services. Like the rest of the second generation of the Amway family, Cheri DeVos is always interested in expanding her wealth. 

Below is a graphic that has been circulating on social media for a few months, which has a fabulously harsh message for the DeVos family.