The Michigan utility companies have been making some very strategic donations to state politicians. | Stock Photo
The Michigan utility companies have been making some very strategic donations to state politicians. | Stock Photo
The Michigan utility companies made notable donations to several Michigan legislators as they disputed an industry analyst for key House leadership offices, according to Energy News Network.
Records indicate that Consumers Energy, DTE Energy, SEMCO and ITC Holdings together gave more than $50,000 to Democratic primary opponents of Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D-Ann Arbor), who is House floor leader, the caucus’s second-ranked position.
The donations are notably large sums for state legislature races. However, the totals don’t include dark money contributions, numbers which aren’t available to the public.
Rabhi, a well-known energy industry critic, led the resistance to the utility-backed energy package that was presented in 2016. Additionally, Rabhi cosponsored legislation presented in 2019 to reverse major components of previous 2016 bills that didn't allow for the growth of the solar industry in Michigan.
Officials for the Energy & Policy Institute say the utility companies use donations to ensure that their legislative agenda is pushed through.
“It’s another example of the utility industry spending money to make sure that its agenda is in some ways protected in statehouses,” said Matt Kasper, research director with the Energy & Policy Institute, according to Energy News Network.
The Michigan Campaign Finance Network confirmed Kasper's assessment of the situation.
Donations to candidates are based on “a specific set of policy priorities that it pushes, and when a legislator opposes it, the legislator can draw the industry’s ire," said Simon Schuster, director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, according to Energy News Network. "Generally, industries that have a really good market position want to preserve that market position, and that’s what you can see Consumers doing in this instance.”
Former Michigan Rep. Gary Glenn (R-Midland) says that the utility companies have made many politicians very timid and fearful of opposing them.
“By hanging my hide on the wall, utilities will intimidate even more legislators. Many legislators walk around scared of their own shadow when it comes to utility lobbyists,” Glenn told Energy News Network. “I am more disappointed in that than I have been about having lost the race — the fact that they’ll be able to intimidate other lawmakers by pointing to what they did in my race.”
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