Tag Archives: Governor Rick Snyder

Michigan voters spoke, but Morouns don’t seem to listen

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Jack Lessenberry | November 16, 2012

DETROIT — Suppose the day after the presidential election, Mitt Romney had his spokesman announce that he didn’t accept the verdict, that he now believed President Obama wasn’t a legitimate president because he was born in Kenya, or maybe on Pluto, and that he might sue to prevent Mr. Obama from staying in office.

Sound farfetched? Well, no more so than the latest antics from Michigan’s least-beloved billionaire, Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel Moroun. After months of trying to preserve his monopoly with a shameless and misleading ballot proposal campaign called “Let the People Decide,” the people did, indeed, decide.

The Morouns didn’t like the verdict one bit.

On Election Day. Michigan voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposal 6, a state constitutional amendment designed to protect the Moroun family’s monopoly on moving billions of dollars’ worth of goods across the Detroit River.

Mr. Moroun, his wife, Nora, and son Matthew are the sole owners of the Ambassador Bridge, the only place between Buffalo and Port Huron, Mich., where heavy automotive components and other freight can be hauled across the Detroit River.

The Ambassador, which was built in 1929, is showing increasing signs of wear, including holes in the pavement and roadbed. For years, political and business leaders have argued that a new bridge is needed.

This year, they did something about it. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a pro-business Republican, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a deal in June to build a second bridge, tentatively called the New International Trade Crossing, about two miles south of the Ambassador Bridge.

The deal was an amazing bargain for Michigan. Canada agreed to cover, upfront, all of Michigan’s costs, an estimated $550 million. They would be repaid only when the bridge is built years from now, out of the state’s share of tolls.

Additionally, Washington agreed that the Canadian cash can be used as matching funds for a federal highway grant, meaning Michigan should get $2.2 billion in badly needed money to fix the state’s roads, free of charge.

But if that was a good deal for citizens, it enraged the 85-year-old Mr. Moroun, who is believed to make as much as $140 million a year from tolls and sales of gasoline and items from his duty-free shops. He has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Michigan lawmakers’ campaigns and pet causes, and was able to block any bridge bill from coming to a vote in the Legislature.

However, Governor Snyder found a clause in the state Constitution that enabled him to bypass the Legislature by making an “interlocal” agreement with Canada. The Morouns then spent at least $34 million to try to muscle an amendment protecting their monopoly into the state Constitution.

First, they paid out-of-state firms to collect the needed signatures to put the proposal on the ballot. Next, they flooded the airwaves with incessant commercials that the nonpartisan Michigan Truth Squad said were “flagrantly foul,” as in, false.

Canada’s consul general in Detroit, Roy Norton, was peeved that Michigan business interests, primarily the Detroit Three automakers, didn’t fund an ad campaign to counter Mr. Moroun’s.

It wasn’t needed. The voters didn’t buy Mr. Moroun’s lies.

Those who went to the polls rejected the Moroun amendment by a stunning 844,000 votes. Yet the next morning, Moroun spokesman Mickey Blashfield acted as if the election never had occurred.

“It would be a mistake to assume taxpayers support a flawed government bridge that puts taxpayers at risk,” he said. He then charged the proposed new bridge was going to be built over “unstable salt mine foundations.”

The salt mine charge was dismissed with a laugh by a spokesman for the governor, who said of the bridge project: “It’s full steam ahead.”

But Sandy Baruah, president of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, said he expects the Moroun family to file more lawsuits to stall the new bridge.

“They use the court system like I use the bathroom,“ Mr. Baruah told Crain’s Detroit Business. Mr. Baruah, a supporter of the new bridge, added that for the Morouns, flinging even hopeless lawsuits makes sense. If they can delay a new bridge even a year, that means millions of dollars more in profit for their monopoly.

Even in a best-case scenario, ground for the new bridge is unlikely to be broken before late next year. The soonest a new bridge could open is 2017.

Meanwhile, the Morouns are attempting to confuse things further by alternatively saying a new bridge isn’t needed, and that they intend to build a second one next to the Ambassador anyway.

Canadian government officials say they never would allow that to happen, because environmental concerns and traffic congestion. They also openly loathe and distrust Mr. Moroun.

What may be most baffling is why an 85-year-old man whose net worth is at least $1.5 billion thinks he needs more money, or whether the thrill is in the power a monopoly brings.

Perhaps not even Mr. Moroun really knows.

Jack Lessenberry, a member of the journalism faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit and The Blade’s ombudsman, writes on issues and people in Michigan.

Tempers Flare Over Villain-In-Chief At Southwest Detroit Bridge Permit Hearing

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Nov. 14th | Deadline Detroit

It was supposed to be a routine state permit hearing in a Southwest Detroit school, but nothing that involves Matty Moroun is routine.

Neighborhood residents shouted at pro-Moroun speakers who rode in a chartered bus to a hearing on Ambassador Bridge company plans for a second span, reports WXYZ’s Tom Wait, who calls the session “bizarre and definitely very heated.” reports.

Local attendees, including a Democratic state legislator, accused the bridge company backers of being paid shills.

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (right), who represents the area around the Ambassador Bridge, lashed out at Matty Moroun’s bridge company for bussing in the supporters.

When we asked those people who paid for their ride and why they came to the hearing we were referred to a spokesman for the group. He told Action News the group was not paid, and that they were only in attendance because they cared about the bridge issue.

Everyone in the group who spoke during the hearing delivered pro-Moroun testimonials to the state officials holding the session.

Bridge company president Dan Stamper told Wait: “These are some of the community groups we work with on other issues.”

The Department of Environmental Quality hearing at Western High involved the Moroun company’s request for renewal of construction permits.

Stamper told Action News Moroun has not given up on building a new bridge of his own, despite plans by the state and Canada to construct a new span.

Matty Moroun Could Sue To Stop New International Trade Crossing, Spokesman Hints

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November 8, 2012 | Huffpost Detroit

Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun couldn’t stop a new international bridge from being built in Detroit with a ballot measure. Now he may be counting on lawyers to do what voters wouldn’t do on election day.

On Tuesday poll-goers rejected Prop 6, a measure that would have required a statewide vote for state money to be spent on new international bridges. (Click here to see a HuffPost Blogger debate on the issue). Following that defeat, Mickey Blashfield, a Moroun spokesman who headed up The People Should Decide ballot committee supporting the proposal, hinted at a legal challenge to the planned international bridge between Detroit, Mich. and the Canadian border city of Windsor, ON.

“If the governmental proposal doesn’t collapse from the weight of legal and congressional scrutiny, the NITC will never be built over unstable salt mine foundations, where land speculators are lining up to get rich on the government’s tab,” Blashfield said in a statement published by the Huffington Post.

“Similar and serious financial, legal and logistical questions have already been raised regarding the viability of the NITC — questions Governor Snyder and his administration have still refused to answer directly,” he said in another statement released by the Detroit News.

The New International Trade Crossing, which is supported by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and the Canadian federal government, would compete with Moroun’s Ambassador Bridge for traffic and tolls.

On Wednesday Gov. Snyder said there might be “shovels in the ground” for the new bridge project in two to six months, the Detroit Free Press reports. A spokesman later clarified that the governor was speaking metaphorically about getting a U.S. Presidential Permit to go ahead with the project, adding that construction would likely take about two to three years to begin.

Moroun’s business, the Detroit International Bridge Company, spent more than $40 million opposing the new bridge through television ads and its support of the Proposal 6 campaign, according to The Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

“We are happy with the investment made in this campaign on behalf of taxpayers and the 5,000 families employed by Ambassador Bridge family of companies,” Blashfield said of the campaign in release published by The Huffington Post. “Like any family business, we would do it again – and will in different ways – to defend economic freedom and limited government.”

Matty’s money pit

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Curtis Guyette | MetroTimes

As the election results arrived last week, few outcomes gave the malcontents here at the Hits more satisfaction than Manuel “Matty” Moroun’s Proposal 6 had been thoroughly rejected by voters.

We don’t care whether that rejection was the result of confusion caused by a surplus of ballot measures and a mass of conflicting advertising that prompted voters to say “no” to all measures.

It’s enough that one billionaire and his family — the owners of the Ambassador Bridge — couldn’t con the people of this state into voting against their own best interest in order to help the Morouns maintain their virtual monopoly over cross-boarder truck traffic between Detroit and Windsor.

Instead, voters, in a roundabout way, provided support to Gov. Rick Snyder and his efforts to build a publicly owned bridge (that would be financed by the Canadian government!) downriver in the Delray area.

By some estimates, the Morouns spent as much as $40 million to have their greedy way with us, and they failed spectacularly.

But anyone who thinks the rebuke is going to stop the Morouns from continuing to fight the new bridge doesn’t know Matty, a guy who apparently never learned the meaning of the word “no.”

Once the election results were in, Mickey Blashfield, director of government affairs for the Moroun’s bridge company and head of the ballot committee that attempted to halt construction of what’s now being called the New International Trade Crossing (NITC), issued a statement that, in part, declared:

“It is clear the voters resisted amending the constitution, but it would be a mistake to assume taxpayers support a flawed government bridge that puts taxpayers at risk. Proposal 6 successfully invited public scrutiny of the $3.5 billion government proposal. We have full confidence that the citizens, legislature, and financial community will continue to hold any bridge to its promises of ‘not one dime of taxpayer money.’”

He concluded by saying:

“If the governmental proposal doesn’t collapse from the weight of legal and congressional scrutiny, the NITC will never be built over unstable salt mine foundations, where land speculators are lining up to get rich on the government’s tab.”

The salt mine issue is, by all appearances, another bridge company red herring.

We’re more interested in the phrase “legal and congressional scrutiny.”

We’re not sure that even Matty and his well-heeled kin have enough cash to purchase a majority of Congress, but we do know that, whether he has any real foundation, he is more than willing to spend his money tying things up in court as long as the courts will let him get away with it.

In the long run, we don’t think this is a battle he can win. But that’s not gong to stop him from fighting on and on and on.

With Mich. bridge building amendment blocked; new span is in works

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David Patch | Blade Staff Writer

DETROIT — With an amendment to Michigan’s constitution that potentially would have blocked construction of a new bridge to Canada soundly defeated Tuesday, officials leading the project now are waiting for the issuance of various government permits before the so-called New International Trade Crossing project proceeds.

Ken Silfven, deputy press secretary to Gov. Rick Snyder, said Michigan’s application to the U.S. Department of State for a president’s permit to allow a new border crossing, filed in August, is one of several such steps that needs to be completed before land acquisition and other project development.

Although the border-crossing permit could be issued yet this year, “realistically, it could go into next year,” Mr. Silfven said Wednesday, a day after Michigan voters defeated the constitutional amendment. It was petitioned by a citizens’ group, The People Should Decide, organized and bankrolled by billionaire Manuel “Matty” Moroun, whose company owns the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

Mr. Silfven said a U.S. Coast Guard permit for building a structure in a navigable waterway — the Detroit River — also must be secured, along with a “Buy America” waiver to allow use of Canadian-made steel to build the part of the bridge located in the United States. A governing board for the new bridge needs to be appointed too, he said.

It will be “a good year or two” before any actual construction begins, the gubernatorial spokesman said, adding that “we do expect the Ambassador Bridge owners will stick to their playbook” with further litigation.

Roy Norton, Canada’s consul general in Detroit, shared Mr. Silfven’s perspectives both on the project’s timeline and the likelihood of further conflict with the Moroun-owned Detroit International Bridge Co.

Legislation pending in Canada’s Parliament would make the Canadian permitting process for the new bridge immune from legal challenge once it is completed, Mr. Norton said, with the intended goal of keeping the project from being subjected to extended litigation delays.

“The permits won’t be issued until after the legislation passes,” which Mr. Norton said may also occur by year’s end. “We’ll bulletproof the permits before they’re issued,” he said.

The consul general said that while polls taken close to the election showed a likely defeat for the constitutional amendment, “nothing suggested a 20 percent margin, and that’s a pretty pronounced rejection of the Moroun effort.

“The voters have spoken. Hopefully, a potential major impediment has been averted,” Mr. Norton said, before adding, “We anticipate litigation, because that’s what the Morouns do.”

Telephone calls Wednesday to the Detroit International Bridge Co. were not answered.

A study by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor estimated 12,000 jobs would be created for each of the four to five years of construction, and more than 8,000 permanent jobs would be created in southeast Michigan once the bridge is open.

Companies in Ohio that have Ontario operations or customers also are expected to benefit from faster, more reliable travel times.

Mr. Norton is to be in Toledo today to meet with Mayor Mike Bell, with discussion likely to include the bridge project and mutual economic development issues.

“I think the vote is great,” Mr. Bell said Wednesday.

“One of the reasons I think that is that we are constantly talking about developing the corridor from here all the way up to the Canadian border, so the idea that there is the potential for a new bridge that is a bit closer to the city of Toledo, that could increase the commerce we are doing in Canada as well as northern America, and that is a benefit to everybody.”

The new bridge, which would cross the Detroit River from Windsor’s Brighton Beach neighborhood to the Delray section of southwest Detroit, is expected to cost about $4 billion to build, including toll and Customs plazas, land acquisition, and approaches on either side.

It would connect with I-75 at the Delray end and Ontario Highway 401 in Canada, bypassing not only the Ambassador Bridge but also Windsor’s stoplight-ridden Huron Church Road.

The construction agreement that Governor Snyder and Stephen Harper, Canada’s prime minister, announced in June calls for Canada to finance the project completely, then recoup Michigan’s $550 million share of construction costs through toll collection.

That arrangement bypassed any appropriation of funds by the Michigan Legislature, where Mr. Moroun’s political allies had blocked funding.

The Ambassador Bridge, completed in 1929, is Canada’s busiest border crossing and the only one in the Detroit area suitable for large trucks.

An artery for an estimated $100 billion in annual automotive trade alone, it is prone to congestion during peak hours and when lanes are closed for maintenance, and its age worries business leaders who fear the cost and delays they would incur should it ever be closed or restricted to heavy vehicles.

Even without a catastrophe, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that by 2030, congestion will cost U.S. and Canadian industry $17.8 billion per year.

“Any time you get hung up, it costs you time and certainly costs you money,” Bill Ford, Jr., executive chairman of Ford Motor Co., told reporters during a June ceremony to announce the agreement. “This will be a huge boost to us as we send parts, powertrains, and vehicles back and forth across the border.”

The Detroit International Bridge Co. has proposed building a second bridge parallel to the Ambassador — a bridge still depicted on the Ambassador’s Web site, even though Canada has repeatedly denied permit applications.

Mr. Moroun’s campaign against a publicly built bridge has argued that it would destroy his private business and cost Michigan taxpayers theoretical construction overruns and operating expenses.

Mr. Norton disputed Wednesday that cross-border traffic is a zero-sum game: “Anything that will help the regional economy is going to cause traffic to grow.” He also proposed that The People Should Decide’s $33 million advertising campaign running up to the vote was counterproductive because it made people question how Mr. Moroun could afford to spend so much on the matter.

“They drew too much attention to themselves by spending grotesque amounts of money,” the consul general said.

Staff writer Ignazio Messina contributed to this report.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.

Michigan Bridge Project Clears Election Day Hurdle

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Ryan Holeywell | November 7, 2012

Money can’t always buy elections.

That’s the takeaway after Michiganders rejected a constitutional amendment backed largely by a single family that felt threatened by the prospect for a new international bridge advanced by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Snyder and Canadian officials earlier this year agreed to a plan for a new internatinoal crossing between Detroit and Windsor that offered Michigan a stunning opportunity: The costs of the $950 million tollroad would be fronted entirely by the Canadian government.

Backers of the project, known as the New International Trade Crossing, called it a big victory for both state taxpayers and Snyder, ensuring Michigan would have access to expanded infrastructure integral to its economic future while not saddling them with the financial risks of such an ambitious project.

But the wealthy Moroun family, which controls the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge and would see reduced traffic — and revenue — from a competitng structure, backed a multi-million dollar campaign that threatened to sideline the project.

That campaign, known as The People Should Decide, backed a proposed constitutional amendment that would have required a statewide vote on any new international bridge.

The campaign, which took in nearly $28 million according to campaign finance records, was financially backed almost entirely by a Moroun-controlled holding corporation. Voters rejected that amendment by a 60 percent margin, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“People made clear in Tuesday’s election that they believe in Michigan’s future and support the governor’s vision of moving forward so we can grow our economy and create jobs,” Snyder spokesman Ken Silfven said. “It’s a great win for Michigan because we get thousands of short- and long-term jobs, and a modern international crossing, at no cost to our taxpayers thanks to the generosity of our Canadian friends. You can’t beat that.”

Governing was unable to reach Kenneth Dobson, the Ambassador Bridge’s director of governmental affairs, by phone Wednesday morning.

The campaign for the proposal drew strong rebukes from a variety of observers, including many of the state’s top newspapers, which called its advertisements misleading. The effort was “a blatant attempt to bamboozle Michiganders into protecting the selfish interests of a single family,” according to a Lansing State Journal editorial.

Still, the defeat of the amendment doesn’t mean the bridge will open — or even begin construction — anytime soon. A bridge authority charged with soliciting bids must be formed. The structure of a deal with a private partner needs to be determined. Enviromental reviews need to be completed. Land needs to be acquired. And state officials say they fully expect a slew of lawsuits related to the project, which makes it challenging to predict a timeline.

Silfven says state officials are hoping to soon get a federal permit for the bridge, which is required for all new international border crossings. “Once that happens, other pieces can start falling into place.”

Manufacturers praise Ontario-Michigan bridge vote

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Hank Daniszewski & John Miner | The London Free Press

LONDON, Ont. — Manufacturers are breathing a sigh of relief after an attempt to block a new bridge between Windsor, Ont., and Detroit, Mich., was shot down by Michigan voters Tuesday.

The voters turned down a proposal to require a referendum on the issue despite an intense media campaign by the billionaire-owner of the Ambassador Bridge.

In an amendment to the Michigan state constitution, Proposition 6 would have required a state-wide vote before a new bridge could be built.

Many auto parts plants and other manufacturers in the London, Ont., area depend on exports to the U.S., most of if passing through the Windsor-Detroit corridor.

Andy Mavrokefalos, chairman of the London Region Manufacturing Council, said a second bridge is essential to keep goods flowing freely from manufacturers on both sides of the border.

“We need that bridge. This will be very positive for both Canada and Michigan,” he said.

A total of 2,091,763 Michigan voters rejected the proposition while 1,339,460 voted in favour, according to unofficial results posted on the Michigan Department of State website Wednesday morning.

The Detroit Free Press called the results “a stinging rebuke” to Manuel Moroun, the 85-year-old businessman fighting the planned New International Trade Crossing bridge.

The Ontario Trucking Association has been one of the most vocal groups lobbying for a new bridge. OTA president David Bradley said Michigan voters “got it right.”

“It looks good on the people of Michigan. There has been so much misinformation bandied about but they weren’t buying it. It restores your faith in democracy.”

Bradley said even if the Ambassador Bridge is not backed up with traffic, the route requires driving through downtown Windsor and Detroit.

“When you drive a truck from Toronto to Miami you go through 16 stoplights, and 15 of them are in Windsor,” said Bradley.

A new freeway approach is already under construction in Windsor to provide a direct connection to the future bridge.

Bradley said he expects Moroun will continue to launch court actions to delay the project.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed a deal for the bridge in June under which Canadian taxpayers bear much of the upfront cost of the $3.5-billion project. The cost would be recovered through future toll revenue.

Harper called the new bridge the most important public works project his government will build, and said it’s worth the risk and investment.

“Whatever battles lie ahead, this bridge is going to be done,” Harper predicted.

Moroun reportedly spent $33 million fighting the bridge. Michigan airwaves were saturated with ads claiming the state’s taxpayers would be stuck with paying for the bridge for generations to come.

MDOT director in Midland: Canada will incur all bridge expenses

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Midland Daily News

By John Kennett

Michigan Department of Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle paid a visit to Midland on Friday.

Steudle, who previously served as state transportation director, touched on a variety of topics headed by Proposal 6, which addresses the New International Trade Crossing (NITC) from Detroit to Windsor, Ontario, when he spoke at the Midland Area Chamber of Commerce’s Wake Up! Midland event. The bridge would be built in addition to the Ambassador Bridge to handle the volume of trade that crosses the border.

“We need a new bridge and frankly, it needs to happen sooner rather than later,” said Steudle.

However, Manuel ‘Matty’ Moroun, who owns the Ambassador Bridge, has spent millions on television ads opposing the building of the new international crossing, stating that the citizens of Michigan will be responsible for the cost of the bridge.

But the agreement that Gov. Rick Snyder signed with Canada states that Canada will incur all expenses.

“This campaign season, if nothing else, should educate people that we can’t believe everything we see on TV,” said Steudle. “At the bottom of page one of the agreement, the very last sentence says, ‘The State of Michigan is not responsible for any costs of this crossing.’”

Presently, $70 billion of trade flows between Michigan and Canada.

“One in eight jobs in Southeast Michigan is tied to trade,” said Steudle. “In Mid-Michigan and West Michigan, it is one in seven jobs that is tied to trade. Trade is very important to us.”

On a national level, almost $600 billion in trade passes between the U.S. and Canada.

“Thirty-four other states depend on the border crossings of Michigan,” said Steudle. “If this bridge and border crossing closes, 34 states are going to feel it and they are going to feel it fast. It is the largest bottleneck in the Pan-American corridor all the way down to Florida.”

Instead of traversing through the streets of Windsor and Detroit, the NITC would provide a freeway to freeway connection.

“From a logistic standpoint this is essential,” said Steudle. “It is not dumping into a city street in Windsor. Would you want to double the amount of traffic in your city, into your main street or downtown Midland?”

The NITC is not the first time that Canada and Michigan have entered into an agreement to build a bridge.

“Fifty years ago, we did this exact same thing in Sault Ste. Marie with the International Bridge,” said Steudle. “For that bridge, Michigan sold the bonds, Michigan bought the bonds, Michigan paid for the bonds. It took us 40 years of toll revenue to pay the bonds back.”

The NITC will be built, financed and eventually managed by private companies, meaning 10,000 construction jobs.

“When you have the whole thing built, we will have 30,000,” said Steudle. “(The NITC) will attain an additional 25,000 long-term jobs. It is a tremendous opportunity for us to put a national piece of infrastructure in our backyard that will help our businesses all across this state.”

Click here to read the full story.

Michigan’s public interest and proposal 6

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By Jack Lessenberry, Special to The Windsor Star

The most important election in Michigan this fall may not be the contest between Ba-rack Obama and Mitt Romney.

This fall, voters will also decide whether one incredibly rich man can blatantly and cynically buy state government for his own selfish interests, crippling the state to make his family even richer.

His name is Manuel J. “Mat-ty” Moroun, and so far, he is winning. He owns the aging Ambassador Bridge, the only way heavy freight can be moved across the Detroit River.

Canada wants a new bridge so much it is willing to pay all the costs. Industry unanimously agrees the bridge, which would create thousands of jobs, is needed. Michigan’s last five governors agree.

Gov. Rick Snyder insists that a new bridge is absolutely necessary for Michigan to be economically competitive over the next century.

Economists on both sides of the border agree.

But for years, Moroun has stalled the bridge. He has lavished nearly a million dollars on “campaign contributions” to state legislators and some of their pet causes. As a result, his allies in the legislature made sure the bridge didn’t even come up for a vote.

Eventually, Snyder found a legal loophole allowing him to make an “interlocal” agreement with Canada to construct the New International Trade Crossing. But Moroun was already hard at work on his next effort to protect his monopoly.

The Morouns – Matty, wife Nora and son Matthew – paid at least $4.6 million to canvassers to collect enough signatures to get a state constitutional amendment (Proposal 6) on the November ballot to prevent any new bridge from being built without a two-thirds vote of the legislature or an expensive statewide referendum.

Presumably the Morouns are confident their legislative allies can always prevent either development from occurring.

On top of that, the family, also spent several million more to successfully get a second constitutional amendment on the November ballot – one which could effectively destroy state government’s ability to respond to any crisis.

Proposal 5 would prevent any new taxes from ever being raised, no matter what the circumstances, unless first approved by a similar two-thirds vote of the legislature, or a statewide vote that could only be taken in November.

Virtually every responsible civic group strongly opposes the tax limitation idea as bad and risky. But alarmingly, polls show that if the election were today, voters would overwhelmingly vote to pass Proposal 5 – possibly because they’ve been hammered with anti-tax rhetoric for years.

What is this all about? Rich Robinson, the executive director of the non-partisan, non-profit Michigan Campaign Finance Network, said “It almost seems like Moroun is saying, ‘If I can’t have my way on the bridge, I am going to destroy the state.’ “

Polls now show the bridge vote too close to call. But the Morouns are pouring millions of dollars into what may be the most blatantly deceptive TV commercials in state history.

State records show that before the end of July, the Mo-rouns already had spent $9.4 million in television ads designed to convince voters that the new bridge is not needed and will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars. The nonpartisan Center for Michigan’s truth squad has analyzed the ads and said they were “flagrantly foul.”

Yet the ads keep running. Robinson estimates the Mo-rouns are likely to spend another half a million dollars a week on reality-distorting anti-bridge ads between now and the election.

“It bothers the hell out of me,” said Robinson, who has devoted his career to attempting to increase transparency in the political process.

He finds it hard to imagine that there isn’t more outrage. The League of Women Voters has been trying to get citizens to do something about false campaign advertising.

Susan Smith, president of the Michigan branch, said “the League is dismayed by the number of misleading statements and untruths that are used in many of today’s campaign ads.”

Without specifically citing the bridge ads, she said “We are urging our members and the general public to fight back by contacting their TV station(s) and asking the manager to take down specific misleading and untrue ads.”

As she notes, no station is required to accept questionable advertising. But the Morouns pay well, and any public outrage seems nonexistent.

Whatever else happens, on Nov. 6, Michigan voters will decide whether one billionaire can buy their government to further enrich himself, even when that is clearly against the public interest.

If that isn’t frightening, it’s hard to say what would be.

Jack Lessenberry teaches journalism at Wayne State University and writes about people and issues in Michigan.

Governor Rick Snyder guest-hosts Paul W. Smith Show, discusses auto industry comeback and NITC

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Governor Rick Snyder guest-hosted the Paul W. Smith Show yesterday and discussed a wide range of topics including the comeback of the auto industry in Michigan and the importance of the New International Trade Crossing. Click on the links below to listen to the podcasts.

Interview with Bill Ford, Executive Chairman of Ford Motor Company

Interview with Roy Norton, Consul General of Canada