Group aiming to sabotage Whitmer’s Covid policies funded by dark money

[Jimaz]

Group aiming to sabotage Whitmer’s Covid policies funded by dark money

Non-profit affiliated with utility DTE Energy funded effort to repeal Michigan governor’s emergency order powers

A dark money non-profit linked to power utility DTE Energy funded a group behind the effort to repeal the emergency order powers of Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and end the state’s Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

Internal Revenue Service records revealing a $100,000 donation made in 2020 were not publicly available until late 2021, and show the funds were contributed to another dark money non-profit that served as a primary funder of the Unlock Michigan repeal campaign.

Industry observers say utilities generally opposed lockdowns: during the first wave of Covid restrictions, many voluntarily or were required to stop shutting off service to financially struggling customers.

Unlock Michigan was ultimately successful, complicating Whitmer’s efforts to order restrictions and ending any serious discussion of shutoff moratoriums that included DTE, the state’s largest energy utility.

“DTE is willing to use an incredible amount of money by any means that they have to try to control our state’s politics,” said Art Reyes, director for We the People MI, a consumer advocacy group that campaigns for utility industry reform.

Michigan was a global flashpoint in the cultural and political fight over how governments should handle Covid. Whitmer’s lockdowns were effective at controlling the virus’s spread, but rightwing opposition to the restrictions culminated with multiple protests and armed protesters storming the state legislature in mid-2020.

Against this backdrop, the DTE-affiliated dark money group made its contribution....

[Danny]

Not going to work.

[oladub]

The opinionated term "dark money" is used 11 times in this article.

Open Secrets' Definition for 'dark money': "Dark Money refers to political spending meant to influence the decision of a voter, where the donor is not disclosed and the source of the money is unknown."

That may be the case here but is that illegal and does the Michigan Constitution require that all legislation be made by the legislature like Art.1. Section 1 of the US Constitution or does it allow emergency orders and executive orders? All i could find was Art4, Sec. 1 "The Legislative power is vested in a Senate and House of Representatives." [[period) I couldn't find anything about emergency powers or executive's legislation with executive orders.

[mkd]

Cool, thanks DTE

[Richard]

It’s a utility,how are they going to “sabotage” anything,they pass it all down to the consumer anyways,if they incurred losses they can make them up by increasing rates.

So were they looking to minimize current losses in order to not have to increase future costs,COVID or not everybodies power bill has increased imagine how much they would be had the lockdowns been extended.

Utility companies are evil but at the end of the day they are a business that cost money to operate,the options are,government control which the countries that have that have lower costs but power if and when the government chooses.

Stop using their services and stick it to them.

Its easy to support extended lockdowns when you are getting paid to stay home,how many would have still supported it if they had not received those funds,businesses were no different then the public,haveing no money coming in is a great incentive to look for ways to have it coming in.

With utility companies,not only was the money not coming in,they still had to incur the costs to produce the power in order to supply the increased demand,of course they are going to look for ways to minimize the losses,no different when the public was looking for a check in the mail in order to not lose everything they owned.

[jiminnm]

It’s a utility,how are they going to “sabotage” anything,they pass it all down to the consumer anyways,if they incurred losses they can make them up by increasing rates.

No, those costs would not be passed to the consumer. There are strict accounting rules about utilities separating utility and nonutility revenues and costs. The MPSC would not allow those costs to be charged to electric customer.

[Richard]

No, those costs would not be passed to the consumer. There are strict accounting rules about utilities separating utility and nonutility revenues and costs. The MPSC would not allow those costs to be charged to electric customer.

They have good accountants,they will figure out a way to make it up somewhere else.

I used 25% less energy same month as last year but my bill is 40% higher with another increase due next month,even though people are using less energy they still figured out how to increase rates.