FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
August 10, 2017
Contact: Hugh Madden, hugh@progressmichigan.org
Progress Michigan Cleans Up the Clean Michigan Campaign
Committee cleans up its campaign finance filings after Progress Michigan complains
LANSING — In response to a complaint by Progress Michigan, Lt. Governor Brian Calley’s Clean MI campaign has cleaned up its own house. Progress Michigan’s complaint that alleged MIPAC placed seven ads that should have been reported as in-kind contributions to the Clean MI Committee. In response, MIPAC now says it will report the ads as in-kind contributions in its July campaign finance filing and the Clean MI Committee also will report them as in-kind contributions. This is a clear win for accountability and transparency for Michigan voters, none of which would have occurred without Progress Michigan blowing the whistle.
“Lt. Governor Calley had the audacity to try to position himself as an outsider who was riding in to clean up the ‘mess’ Rick Snyder has made during his two terms, but this shoddy reporting by a committee supporting him is more of the same from the folks who brought us the Flint Water Crisis, crumbling schools and poor roads,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “We are glad these pro-Calley groups will ensure full and complete transparency, but waiting until they were called out is too little too late to restore any faith the people had in Calley’s ability to run a clean and transparent ballot measure.”
The complaint filed by Progress Michigan is another example of the turmoil that has beset this ballot measure campaign since its launch in front of lobbyists and other political insiders at the Mackinac Policy Conference in May.
“After nearly seven years as Lt. Governor and a Harvard education received while he missed Senate sessions, one would think Brian Calley would have a better grasp at simple management,” Scott continued. “We’re glad our complaint got his committees to take action. We only wish he had listened to the complaints of Flint residents, parents and motorists too.”
###