I recently received the following E-mail from Senator Peters:
The Great Lakes are more than an economic engine and ecological treasure: they are simply in our DNA as Michiganders. That’s why I was alarmed when the Coast Guard told me that they were unprepared to deal with oil spills that occur in freshwater environments – and that more science and research was needed around the issue. This puts the Great Lakes, and the businesses and communities that depend on them, at risk.
As a result, I set out to create a new Coast Guard National Center of Expertise – to help us learn more about cleaning up oil spills in freshwater. After my bill establishing the Center was signed into law, I secured the funding needed to get the Center up-and-running.
On the Senator Peters’ website, it states that he secured $4.5 
million for this project, which will be a collaboration between a few universities and the US Coast guard. Nothing is his E-mail or his post from October 21st, says anything about the Enbridge Corporation and its history of previous oil spills in the Great Lakes region, particularly the massive Enbridge oil spill in the Kalamazoo River in 2010.
The Detroit News reported on Peters securing $4.5 million for the Coast Guard, plus they cited Peters as saying that the new research center had to “be near critical crude oil pipeline infrastructure.” However, once again, the Enbridge Corporation is not mentioned in the article.
MLive also reported on the new research center and did mention Line 5, but made no mention that it was owned and operated by the Enbridge Corporation. The article does quote a few environmental groups, along with a comment from Whitney Gravelle, chairperson for Bay Mills Indian Community, who stated:
“While I am happy that they’re undertaking the work, I think it also highlights the current dangers that we are in, which is that we don’t have a proper response to oil spills in freshwater here in the Great Lakes, and yet we have a pipeline running through our waters in the Straits of Mackinac.”
What is instructive about the MLive post from October 20, is the fact that it doesn’t mention the action that took place on the same day, where an activist actually shut down Line 5 before being arrested.
For years there has been an effort to shut down the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline in Michigan, which has wide support throughout the state. If Senator Peters really wanted to do some good, why is he not calling for the complete shutdown of Enbridge’s Line 3 and Line 5, both of which will negatively impact the Great Lakes and further the climate crisis. Securing another military contract will do nothing to reverse course in the fight against Climate Change. We don’t need to be better prepared to respond to Enbridge oil spills in the Great Lakes, we need to prevent them from ever happening again. The only way to do that is to shut down Line 3 and Line 5 immediately.
Which Grand Rapids residents will get to decide how to spend $2 million in the City’s Participatory Budgeting project?
It has been roughly 5 months since the City of Grand Rapids announced that residents will be able to have a more direct say in how to spend $2 million.
In June, the City of Grand Rapids announced it would begin a participatory budgeting pilot project, using $2 million in funds, money from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act.
At that time, we asked the question of whether this process would be a way to practice radical democracy or would it simply be another form of managed democracy. We pointed out that the funding already has some pre-determined parameters for how it could be used, that City Commissioners would appoint 2 representatives from each ward to act as steering committee members, and a short timeline.
In August, we wrote a follow up story about what sort of progress the project members had made. We noted that the City staff who were involved in the project admitted that the initial timeline was grossly in adequate and that in order for there to be a participatory budgeting process it would take time. We also noted that there wasn’t any consensus amongst City Commissioners on what the pilot project would ultimately look like. For instance, during the August Commission discussion, the issue of how to get people to participate came up. It was argued that not only is it critical to have people participate, but to have people who are not normally engaged to participate in the decision making.
The City now has a more realistic timeline, with public input beginning in January of 2022, project proposals developed in February/March, and project voting in April of 2022.
However, the big issue is still centered around the matter of who is actively being recruited to participate and what plans does the City have to get substantial participation?
The Grand Rapids Business Journal ran a story about the project on November 1st, but there hasn’t been lots of other commercial media coverage, now that the timeline has been firmed up. Plus, the Business Journal generally isn’t read by people who are the most marginalized in the community, people you want input from.
The City of Grand Rapids has online information about the Participatory Budgeting project, along with ways for people to sign up to be involved. The City also has a Facebook page specifically for this project, but the City has not shared their plans for how to actively recruit people to be involved in the decision making process with this money. Will the City of Grand Rapids provide a stipend to people for their participation, particularly for those whose voices are the most marginalized in this city? Will there be transportation provided, child care, food and other incentives that would demonstrate to people how committed the City is to getting as much input as possible? On the City’s Facebook page for this project, they are asking people to share the information, but there is no additional information or plan on how to get people involved.
On last thing to point out about this project it the fact that the timeline has people voting on the proposed project ideas in April, with submitted proposals going to the City Commission for approval in May/June 2022. This raises two question for me. First, the City of Grand Rapids usually has public hearings around the same time for the City’s Budget. Will the timing of the participatory budgeting process divert attention away from the larger City Budget process for residents and will the City promote public input on the annual budget on top of the participatory budgeting pilot project? The second issue gets to the question of who ultimately decides. It seems that City Commissioners will either approve or reject proposed projects. Why not let the public vote on the proposals for each city ward, instead of giving all the power to commissioners? Again, do we want managed democracy or a more radical democracy?
For more insight into radical municipal politics, we encourage our readers to check out the book, Fearless Cities: A Guide to the Global Municipalist Movement, along with a fairly recent report on how Participatory Budgeting is spreading across the world.
When community activists and organizers demand justice, the response from the City of Grand Rapids is further GRPD repression
On October 11, the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU) sent a letter to the Mayor of Grand Rapids, all 6 City Commissioners and City Manager Mark Washington.
The letter, which is included in its entirety below, was sent to Grand Rapids City officials because GRATU members were appalled at the ridiculous number of GRPD officers deployed because GRATU was holding a Press Conference with several tenants who live at the Grand View Place apartments.
GRATU Letter
On Wednesday, September 29, members of the Grand Rapids Area Tenant Union (GRATU) were invited by tenants of the Grand View Place apartments located at 936 Front Ave NW here in Grand Rapids.
GRATU had been working with tenants on issues such as safety, sanitation and threats of eviction that the property manager was using against tenants any time they made formal complaints.
GRATU was invited by tenants on September 29th to participate in a Press Conference to talk about the concerns mentioned previously.
Shortly after GRATU members arrived and met tenants outside of the building, they were approached by the property manager and a GRPD officer. GRATU members were asked to leave the property, even though we were there by invitation of the tenants. GRATU members did move to the public sidewalk, where they planned on holding the Press Conference.
Within minutes of being asked to leave the property, GRATU members witnessed 4 additional GRPD cruisers pass by, with one parking across the street next to a building, in order to observe what GRATU and the tenants were doing.
The police officer who had been with the property manager was leaving the property in his cruiser, but before leaving, pulled up and asked what we were doing. GRATU members stated clearly that they were simply holding a Press Conference with the tenants who wanted to share their grievance with the news media.
GRATU members are well aware of the ongoing discussion about GRPD funding and their claims of being short staffed. However, upon seeing 5 different GRPD cruisers show up to a GRATU/tenant press conference we have to ask why were so many police cruisers dispatched to a press conference?
If the GRPD is so short staffed, why would they dispatch 5 police cruisers to a press conference, where tenants were sharing their grievances with Grand View Place apartments to news media?
Several tenants expressed their frustration with having the police show up for something that was not only legal, but for something they had every right to participate in. Tenants from Grand View Place apartments also felt intimidated with such a heavy police presence.
GRATU members are asking for answers as to why so many GRPD cruisers were dispatched to deal with tenants who were involved in a press conference. This incident not only made tenants feel intimidated, it demonstrated that the GRPD acted on whatever message that the property manager of Grand View Place apartments without considering the concerns of some of the tenants.
Not only was the GRATU Press Conference purely an informational event, there was nothing about it that warranted police presence at all. However, as we have documented in recent years, anytime that activist groups hold meetings, press conferences or other informational events, the GRPD has been sending a significant number of cops to harass and intimidate activists. One example, is GRPD officers coming inside a church, where Movimiento Cosecha GR was holding a Press Conference in 2018.
GRATU sent the letter on October 8, some three weeks ago, and has only received one response so far. The one response, which came from Mayor Bliss’s office on October 11, was actually not much of a response. The message was from Mayor’s assistant who wrote, “I have relayed it to her directly and she has asked the City Manager to follow up with the Chief regarding this matter.”
GRATU responded immediately by saying, “We would like feedback, from the Chief and the Mayor on how they could justify sending so many cruisers to an event that was so non-threatening.”
Since the GRATU response of October 11, there has been no response from the Mayor, other City officials, not the Grand Rapids Police Chief.This lack of response has come to be the general response to City officials, when they are confronted by community-based groups that are making demands.
This kind of non-response is similar during City Commission meetings, where they have made it clear that City Commission meetings are not the time to have a dialogue about critical issues in the City of Grand Rapids. Activists are repeatedly told that this is how it has always been done. This means that the regular forum to practice participatory democracy, City Commission meetings, is not the time nor the place for dialogue.
The question then is, when is the time for City officials to really practice participatory democracy? It seems to this writer that the answer is never. Sure, there have been a few commissioners who have said that they are available to meet and discuss issues with people before commission meetings, but those discussions happen behind closed doors. Those discussions are not public and are not recorded or broadcast through the same means that regular City Commission meetings happen. Again, my answer then is that the Grand Rapids City Commission is NOT interested in practicing real democracy, since they provide no forum for this to really take place.
This is one of the reasons why community activists and organizers have been engaging in a variety of tactics and strategies to confront City officials on their failure to meet the demands of the community. Activists and community organizers have confronted the City on issues related to immigration status & ICE, on the unhoused, lack of affordable housing and gentrification, and on the way that the GRPD practices policing in this city. In each of these cases the City has always had a clear response, which has been to send lots of GRPD officers to harass, intimidate, monitor, arrest and abuse those who have no other real options for which to make their demands known to City officials. The sad thing is, that this response from the City of Grand Rapids has nothing to do with democracy, it has to do with power, plain and simple.
Peter Meijer, Campaign Finances and the 2022 Election: Corporate paymasters and GR Power Structure member contributions
As of last weeks quarterly campaign finance reporting, Rep. Peter Meijer has raised $1,083,457 for the 2022 election cycle.
The Democratic Party has yet to announce a challenger to Meijer, but looking at who has already contributed to his re-election campaign, any challenger will have a difficult task in trying to unseat the son of the wealthiest family in West Michigan.
According to the Center for Responsible Politics, there are three clear campaign contribution categories for Rep. Peter Meijer, corporate contributions, wealthy individuals who are part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure and Political Action Committees (PACs).
Here is a list of some of the major corporate contributions to Peter Meijer’s re-election campaign so far:
- Meijer Inc. – $23,500
- Edward C Levy Co. – $23,200
- Ford Motor Company – $13,700
- Bissell Inc. – $11,600
- Dempsy Ventures – $11,600
- Gordon Food Services. – $11,600
- Wolverine Oil & Gas. – $11,600
- Blue Cross/Blue Shield. – $10,850
- New York Life Insurance. – $10,000
- Gerson Lehman Group – $10,000
Political Action Committees, often referred to as PACs, are some of the most aggressive campaign contributors in recent decades. Here are a few that have contributed to Peter Meijer’s re-election bid:
- Future First Leadership PAC – $10,000
- Eye of the Tiger PAC. – $10,000
- Continuing America’s Strength & Security PAC – $7,500
- Ginger PAC. – $5,800
- Unite American. – $5,200
- Cowboy PAC. – $5,000
- New Pioneer’s PAC. – $5,000
- Making America Prosperous – $5,000
- With Honor PAC – $5,000
Lastly, there are individuals and entities that make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure, which have also contributed to Peter Meijer’s re-election campaign:
- Autocam Corp/John Kennedy – $11,600
- Van Andel Institute. – $11,600
- Amway. – $5,000
- CWD Real Estate – $4,583
- Rockford Construction. – $3,271
- Michael Jandernoa LLC. – $2,900
- RDV Corp. – $2,900
- Pamela Roland (wife of Dan DeVos). – $2,900
This is just a partial listing of major contributors so far, but we all know that millions more will pour in before the November 2022 election. In the meantime, it is always important that we follow the money and understand what really drives the US system of electoral democracy.
Ryan Kelley’s new political ad is filled with misinformation, unsubstantiated claims, and wrapped in White Supremacist rhetoric
On Friday, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley, released a new political ad for his campaign to become the next Governor of Michigan.
As we noted last week, the Whitmer campaign has raised a ton of money a full year before the November 2022 election. In the same post, we also noted that the primary Republican Gubernatorial candidate, in terms of fundraising, is James Craig. Craig is getting money from corporate sources, wealthy families and numerous influential people within the GOP.
Ryan Kelley, on the other hand, is not raking in the big money at this point, with only $80,000 raised in his campaign. When comparing his campaign fundraising totals to Craig, Craig has raised about 15 times more money and Craig entered the race months after Kelley.
While campaign contributions are central to elections in the US, it is also important to look at the platforms and messaging coming from candidates. This brings us back to Ryan Kelley’s most recent political ad and why I want to provide a deconstruction of the ad from the co-founder (or as Kelley like to call “a founding father) of the far right group known as the American Patriot Council.
The political ad is 2 minutes and 50 seconds long and is only being shared on social media, especially since he hasn’t raised the necessary funds to run ads on commercial media. I will use a mix of images from Kelley’s ad, along with a narrative for the deconstruction.
Kelley then states that the Michigan Democratic Party has attacked him and tried to discredit him. While there may have been some criticisms from Michigan Democrats, most of the criticism has come from individuals and autonomous movements that exposed Kelley for his roll in organizing the anti-lockdown protests that began in Lansing in April of 2020.
At 40 seconds into the ad, Kelley then claims that during the lockdown, “we didn’t back down.” This of course really means that Kelley and the American Patriot Council invited far right Michiganders to come to Lansing with assault rifles and enter the Lansing State Capitol, while Kelley was texting with Senator Majority Leader Mike Shirkey. In a blog post on the American Patriot Council, which has since been removed, Kelley wrote:
“The irony is that the American Patriot Rally was organized with one thing in mind: to encourage the senate to vote no on extending Whitmer’s emergency declaration, which they did. It was a victory. If Sean had taken the time to be a journalist, he’d have known that we got exactly what we came for.”
Kelley had then invited Sen. Shirley to speak at an American Patriot Council-organized anti-lockdown rally in Grand Rapids in May of 2020, which we reported on. It was always clear that the anti-lockdown protests were organized in conjunction with Republican elected officials, and was being co-ordinated by the Council for National Policy across the country.
At 52 seconds into the ad, Kelley then talks about how people have had enough of politicians who lie just to get elected and then never do anything to benefit the people. While I would agree with Kelley’s comment here, since most politicians don’t do much that benefits most people, he is only using these comments to the lead up beginning at 1:10 in the video. At this point Kelley turns the focus on the “failures” of the Whitmer administration, with Kelley standing right in front of Gov. Whitmer’s home.
At the 2 minute mark in the video, there is footage of Ryan Kelley with his wife and children, talking about how there are efforts to destroy the nuclear family. This is followed by more rhetoric about integrity and standing up for people’s rights. The political ad ends with Kelley saying that he and other gave people hope, saying all of this while standing in front of the Lansing State Capitol. Kelley is clearly appealing to his base, those who supported his role in the anti-lockdown protests.
Like all political ads, Kelley uses vague rhetoric and appeals to traditional conservative values. However, Kelley also uses lots of misinformation, unsubstantiated claims and a great deal of fear-mongering, all of which have become the norm with political ads. More importantly, Kelley offers no concrete plans for what he would do that would actually benefit the majority of Michigan residents, specifically around economic policy, public health, the environment and housing.
Lastly, it is clear that the only things Kelley can appeal to are the things he has personally been involved in, such as the anti-lockdown protests, the defense of the Confederate statue in Allendale, opposing COVID vaccinations and whining about the 2020 election results. All of these issues, it must be said, are wrapped in the ideology of White Supremacy, which is what Ryan Kelley has demonstrated he is committed to, since he became a public figure in April 2020.
There is a war on BIPOC people in Kalamazoo: An Interview with Monica Washington Padula
In early October, the City of Kalamazoo sent members of the Kalamazoo Police Department to a houseless encampment to evict those who were staying at the encampment. You can read some context of what took place on October 8th, from this article on the site NowKalamazoo.
The Kalamazoo Police also arrested Monica Washington Padula, an Afro-Indigenous activist who was present on October 8 in a supportive capacity for the unhoused community. Recently, we had the opportunity to hear Monica’s story about what happened that day, which not only provides even more context, but Monica’s narrative gives us a first hand accounting of how the City of Kalamazoo is waging a war against BIPOC people in that community.
We have seen this same dynamic happen in Grand Rapids, with the ongoing harassment, intimidation and arrests of groups like Justice for Black Lives, Defund the GRPD and Movimiento Cosecha GR. In addition, the City of Grand Rapids evicted a housing encampment at Heartside Park last year and has continued to harass other unhoused encampments around the city.
Our interview with Monica is roughly 36 minutes and we encourage people to watch the video, then share it.
We’re Rich and We Do What We Want: A DeVos Family Reader
In Howard Zinn’s monumental book, A People’s History of the United States, he constantly juxtaposes the amazing things that people did to fight for liberation and the people behind the systems of oppression that social movements were fighting against.
This is exactly why I have spent years monitoring, investigating and critiquing the DeVos Family. They are the most recognizable and powerful manifestation of the systems of power and oppression in West Michigan. Now, I know there are plenty of people who share the belief that without the DeVos Family, Grand Rapids wouldn’t be where it is today. I fully agree with that belief, but for reasons that are the exact opposite of those who hold the most powerful family in West Michigan in high regard.
When Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel founded the Amway corporation, they did so by embracing some of the most deeply entrenched lies about this country. Rich DeVos has written numerous books that promote his values. In his book Believe, DeVos, in talking about freedom, states, “that call of freedom went forth from a rugged wilderness, and Europe and Asia and Africa sent their sons of adventure to hew out a new society in a land of forests and savages.”
This statement from DeVos is essentially an affirmation in his belief of Manifest Destiny. For those who don’t know, the company that DeVos founded with Jay Van Andel, was originally going to be called The American Way, but was changed to Amway so as to abbreviate their take on Manifest Destiny.
In addition to believing in Manifest Destiny, Rich DeVos is also deeply committed to the values of capitalism, or what he likes to refer to as the free enterprise system. In his book Believe, DeVos states, “The free-enterprise system has outperformed, outproduced any other in the world. It is a gift of God to us, and we should understand it, embrace it, and believe in it.”
The above statement is the perfect encapsulation of what the patriarch of the family, Rich DeVos, believes and is firmly committed to. The DeVos Family is a deeply religious family, regardless of how one defines religious beliefs. The family comes out of the Calvinist tradition and are members of the Christian Reformed Church. However, the DeVos Family, in many ways embraces a form of Christian Reconstruction. Those who practice Christian Reconstruction theology believe that society should be governed by biblical values, rather than secular values. This is exactly why the family has for decades developed relationships and funded organizations that are deeply committed to homophobia, anti-reproductive rights, patriarchy, white supremacy and free market capitalism.
The DeVos Family not only supports these religiously motivated values by their support of certainly organizations, but by their deep commitment to influencing public policy. The family has been one of the largest donors to the Republican Party for several decades now, at the federal, state and local level, as is documented in this collection of articles. In addition to supporting the Republican Party and GOP candidates, they also contribute to organizations that are committed to influencing public policy. In West Michigan, the DeVos Family has been involved in the financing, planning and development of groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Acton Institute and the Right Place Inc. These groups all embrace the capitalist economic system and public policy decisions, which benefits and expands the power of those who make up these groups, including the DeVos Family.
What is ironic about the candidates and public policy that the DeVos Family endorses, is that those same policies end up negatively impacting communities of color, those who identify as LGBTQ, those experiencing poverty and immigrants. The irony is that the DeVos Family foundations end up contributing millions to West Michigan non-profits that provide services to the very same people who are negatively impacted by these neoliberal economic policies.
These are the kinds of themes that are explored in the DeVos Family Reader. In addition, we look at how the local news media has reported on the most powerful family in West Michigan, which has played a role in creating public misinformation. We also look at the strategic function of ArtPrize and what impact it has had on West Michigan. We argue that in many ways, ArtPrize functions has a great PR tool for the DeVos Family and its goals. In fact, such a belief was confirmed early on in the evolution of ArtPrize, when Sam Cummings, co-founder of CWD (of which the DeVos Family is part of) said, “Our long-term goal is really to import capital – intellectual capital, and ultimately real capital. And this (ArtPrize) is certainly an extraordinary tool.”
Lastly, we look at Betsy DeVos’ ascent to the White House as Secretary of Education in the section listed as Betsy DeVos Watch.
As I stated at the beginning of the introduction, I have spent years monitoring, investigating and critiquing the DeVos Family. This is an ongoing project and the DeVos Family Reader will continue to be updated. The contributions to the DeVos Family Reader have come from a variety of sources such as the Grand Rapids People’s History Project, an Indy newspaper from the 90s called The FUNdamentalist, Media Mouse and the Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy.
Also, as stated before, I believe that in order to promote collective liberation and social justice for those most marginalized, we have to understand and resist the systems of power and oppression in this community. Looking into the history and practices of the DeVos Family, provides us with a clear example of how systems of power and oppression function in this community. I am deeply indebted to those who have been involved in this struggle and it is my hope that the DeVos Family Reader can be a useful tool in the ongoing struggle for justice.
Over 500 pages on the DeVos family are in our reader, which you can access at our Documents section, then clicking on DeVos Family Reader.
Follow the Money: Campaign Finance reports and notable West Michigan Campaign Contributors
The deadline for this quarter’s campaign finances were due on October 25th. As always, if you want to understand electoral politics you have to follow the money.
Campaign contributors, especially those with economic power, only contribute in order to gain access and often to get politicians to adopt policies that are beneficial to their interests. For example, at the federal level, the Oil & Gas industry has contributed just over $790 Million since 1990. This industry is not contributing just for the fun of it, they are expecting easy access to politicians, but more importantly, they want politicians to propose and pass legislation which will benefit their industry.
There are other reasons for campaign contributions. People sometimes contribute to a candidate for ideological reasons, or they contribute because they just want the opposing candidate to lose. However, the dominant reasons for contributions are access and to influence policy.
Michigan Governor’s Race
MLive recently reported that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had raised $3.1 Million in the last quarter. The article also noted that since Whitmer is facing a recall, the amount that individuals can contributed exceeds the normal limit. The largest contributor to Whitmer’s campaign this quarter was, “William Parfet, a businessman and heir to Upjohn Co. founder W.E. Upjohn, and retired Western Michigan University Professor Timothy Light, who each gave $50,000.”
There are several Republican candidates running for Governor, with James Craig raising the most during this quarter, at $1.4 Million. Some of the notable contributors to Craig’s campaign are Timothy Schowalter (CEO of Pioneer Construction) $14,300, former Michigan Governor John Engler $7,150, Michele Engler $7,150, Mark Murray (Engler administration, former President of GVSU and the Meijer Corporation) $7,150, and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure – Sam Cummings (CWD) $2,500, John Kennedy (Autocam) $1,039, and Michael Jandernoa (42 North Partners) $1,000.
28th Senate District
The 28th Senate District is on the ballot in November, since Peter MacGregor vacated the seat to run as Kent County Treasurer. Republican Mark Huizenga is the top candidate in fundraising, with over $60,000 from the Michigan Catholic Conference and thousands of dollars from several members of the DeVos family.
According to the most recent quarterly filings, Huizenga also received $5,000 from the Grand Rapids Fire Fighters Union. I sent the union a message on Monday asking why they had contributed $5,000 to Huizenga’s campaign, but have not received an answer as of this posting.
Huizenga’s Democratic challenger is Keith Courtade, who has only raised $450. It seems that the Democrats have already conceded this race, thus allowing the GOP to continue to control the Michigan legislature,.
Other notable contributions
The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, like all Chambers, have a long history of contributing to candidates. For this quarter, the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce has contributed to numerous state races, mostly GOP candidates, but one Democrat. The GR Chamber also contributed twice to a Kentwood City Commission candidate, Jessica Ann Tyson, who is the sister of Kent County Commissioner Monica Sparks.
Power Over or Power With: A Power Analysis of the top 200 most powerful business leaders in West Michigan, according to the Grand Rapids Business Journal
The Grand Rapids Business Journal recently released their list of The 200 Most Powerful business Leaders in West Michigan.
The brief editorial comment about this list (page 12) states:
But have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you live in Grand Rapids? It’s a big country and there are plenty of great places to live. Yet, you chose West Michigan. Why? I suspect it has a lot to do with the 200 people profiled in this magazine, even if you don’t know them personally or even by name.
There are a few more quaint comments from the editor of the Grand Rapids Business Journal (GRBJ), Tim Gortsema, but he ends his comments by saying, “I would argue that these 200 people (and countless others just like them) are the reason you chose to live in West Michigan. In the end, living in West Michigan is more about the people than it is about cool things to see and do.”
Unfortunately, the GRBJ never provides a definition of what they mean by powerful, even though it is the title of the document, The 200 Most Powerful Business Leaders in West Michigan. There are certainly a lot of people on this list who have a great deal of economic, political and social power. This kind of power can be identified as having power over people, because of their wealth, businesses, influence in politics and other social dynamics. In fact, many of the people in the GRBJ list of 200 are either part of the first or second tier in the Grand Rapids Power Structure.
The most powerful people in Tier 1 are those who are millionaires or billionaires, such as members of the DeVos, Van Andel and Meijer families. In addition to their wealth, the make a great deal of their wealth off of those who work for their companies and institutions. Then there is the dynamic of these families and individuals who contributed a great deal of money to politicians and political candidates, with the goal of influencing public policies that benefit their economic and ideological position.
Another reason why these people are part of Tier 1 of the most powerful, has to do with the fact that many of them have their own foundations, which not only works to hide some of their wealth from being taxed, the foundations allow these powerful people to engage in population management. Foundation funding generally has strings attached, so that non-profits which apply for grants will not be able to use the funding dollars for addressing the root causes of social issues, but simply to manage the individuals who access specific non-profit resources. This dynamic is what social theorist and anti-racist organizer, Paul Kivel, refers to as non-profits acting as a buffer for those in power. One last dynamic that the Tier 1 most powerful engage in, is to sit on the boards of organizations to further influence social, economic and political outcomes. Some of the entities that Tier 1 people act as board members would be the West Michigan Policy Forum, the Right Place Inc., the Acton Institute, and the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce.
Tier 2 members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure often work in leadership positions of the businesses or the organizations that Tier 1 people have created. Many of these people also sit on the boards, along with often acting as participants and cheerleaders for the kinds of policies and social outcomes that Tier 1 members will champion. Tier 2 members could also be identified as part of the managerial or professional class and generally have less wealth than those in Tier 1.
Tier 2 people also consist of local politicians, police chiefs and even some of the directors of non-profit organizations that are fundamentally not committed to social justice or challenging systems of power and oppression. Some of these people are Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss, the police chief, the Kent County Sheriff, and non-profit leaders like Phil Weaver with Hope Network or Bridget Clark Whitney with Kids Food Basket.
There are a handful of people who could be considered powerful people, but in this case it is power with others and not power over others. Some examples might be George Bayard, the Executive Director of the Grand Rapids African American Museum and Archives, or Jazz McKinney, the Executive Director of the Grand Rapids Pride Center.
Most of the people identified as part of the 200 most powerful in West Michigan, according to the Grand Rapids Business Journal, are those that practice power over others. In fact, it would be my contention that the current wealth gap in this community is in large part due to most of those on this list of 200. Most of these people have tremendous wealth, while tens of thousands are living in poverty.
Most of the people on this list are the perpetrators of systemic racism in West Michigan, along with being the beneficiaries of systemic racism. Most of the people on this list of 200 are also responsible for much of the gentrification in Grand Rapids, the tremendous amount of food insecurity, and the general maintenance of business as usual in this community. In fact, most of the top 200 most powerful on this list are the primary obstacles to the ability of grassroots groups to achieve social justice in this community. This is why, in social movement work, we name what we did in this article, as a Power Analysis.
Betsy DeVos and her husband, Dick DeVos, have been at the forefront of the anti-public education movement for more than three decades. They both embraced the Heritage Foundation’s effort to undermine the public school system, which began during the Reagan years.
In 2000, Betsy DeVos led a campaign to put the issue of school vouchers on the ballot in Michigan. That ballot initiative failed, but DeVos did not give up. Betsy made the decision to diversify the kind of tactics that the so-called School Choice movement. These tactics included financially backing candidates at the state and federal level, candidates who would push for an anti-public education platform.
A second tactic employed by Betsy DeVos, was to attack public teacher unions. This involved putting out misinformation about public school educators, but it also meant that policies would be adopted that undermined teacher unions and hurt them financially, forcing school districts to diminish public school teacher benefits.
A third tactic used by the former US Education Secretary was to work with far right think tanks like the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the Acton Institute, and any other think tank that was a member of the State Policy Network. This tactic was useful in that this network of think tanks would craft position papers, engage in public misinformation campaigns and work to influence state legislators on public school policies. In addition, Betsy DeVos and other members of her family would make significant financial contributions to these think tanks, along with acting as members of the Board of Directors.
One last tactic that Betsy used, a tactic that began right after her 2000 School Voucher ballot initiative was defeated, was to create her own front group in Michigan, known as the Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP). GLEP became a primary mechanism to influence state legislators and to attack public education and public school teachers unions.GLEP has been instrumental in weakening public school districts across Michigan, with Detroit being one of the best examples.
In 2006, Dick DeVos ran for Governor of Michigan, which included a “school choice” platform. Dick DeVos lost that election, but ten years later, Betsy DeVos would land an even bigger political position, becoming the US Secretary of Education in the Trump administration. As Secretary of Education, DeVos used her position to continue to push for education policies that would further undermine public education and promote charter and other private or religious schools. One major policy initiative that Betsy DeVos pushed was Education Freedom Scholarships, which would allow public money to be used for private and religious education. The legislation that Michigan adopted last week, is essentially what Betsy DeVos intended with her Education Freedom Scholarships, which would allow individual states to determine the use of public money for private and religious education.
Michigan Legislators passes bills to further the DeVos education agenda
On Tuesday, MLive reported:
Senate Bills 687 and 688 and House Bill 5405 passed Tuesday morning through House and Senate education committees and were approved by the Senate 20-16 shortly after. The House voted 55-48 Tuesday afternoon on a separate, similar package.
Republican sponsors of the legislation say it would offer more flexibility and choices in education and would address disparities in educational options available to students.
These bills will allow for public money to be used for private and religious education. In laying out the tactics used by Betsy DeVos above, you can see how those tactics were utilized in the passage of these new bills last week.
First, the DeVos family and their friends have contributed millions to state legislators to make sure they will introduce and vote for legislation that undermines public education.
Second, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, was one of the main proponents of the education bills passed last week.
Third, the DeVos-created Great Lakes Education Project, on the same day as the anti-public education bills passed, posted a statement in support of these same bills.
Last year, after the November Election, we posted an article talking about why it is important to continue to monitor the activities of Betsy DeVos, even after she stepped down as Secretary of Education.
What happened in Lansing last week, with the adoption of these set of bills that will further erode public education, clearly demonstrates that the influence of Betsy DeVos and her vast network are just as effective as having her in the Trump cabinet. The question for all of us is, how do we further prevent this type of attack on public education in the future?
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 