- A proposed ballot inititive to overturn Michigan’s solar siting law pits farmers against local control and anti-renewable energy interests.
- Our Home Our Voice’s $53,000 donation to a ballot initiative raises Michigan campaign finance concerns.
- A $50,000 Farm Bureau’s donation angers some members who say the organization is betraying the interests of farmers.
A ballot initiative to repeal Michigan’s renewable energy siting law has raised campaign finance concerns after it reported a February donation from a dark money nonprofit.
Planet Detroit previously reported on ties between Our Home, Our Voice spokesperson Kevon Martis and fossil fuel interests.
Now, a Planet Detroit investigation shows that 501(c)(4) nonprofit Our Home Our Voice donated $53,000 to the Citizens for Local Choice ballot initiative in January.
Mark Brewer, an attorney working with Our Land Our Rights, a group opposing the ballot initiative, questioned the legality of the donation.
“If the (nonprofit) raised that money for the purpose of simply transferring it to the ballot question committee, that’s illegal,” said Brewer. “They’re basically hiding donors.”
Martis, a Lenawee County Commissioner and co-founder of Our Home Our Voice, didn’t respond to emails asking if the nonprofit raised money for the sake of the ballot initiative or if he had disclosed who these donors were. He also declined to comment when reached by phone.
Although 501(c)(4)s are generally under no obligation to disclose donors, using such a group to hide donations could be a crime if the nonprofit was fundraising specifically for the ballot initiative, according to Brewer.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel recently charged two individuals in connection with a scheme to use these organizations to hide the donors for the “Unlock Michigan” ballot committee, which she said violated the transparency required by Michigan campaign finance laws.
Alan L. Canady, a Michigan campaign finance and election lawyer, said that a qualified 501(c)(4) is not necessarily required to list contributors and wasn’t aware of anything keeping them from contributing to a ballot initiative. But he said Facebook appeals for donations from late 2023 could signal a campaign finance violation.
“That raises a question, and that would be some, at least tangential, evidence that they’re soliciting specifically for this,” he said. “That could be an issue.”
According to records, the Michigan Farm Bureau also donated $50,000 to the campaign in January, angering some farmers who say the organization has betrayed their interests.
The ballot initiative seeks to overturn Michigan’s recently passed siting law for large renewable energy developments, which gives the Michigan Public Service Commission the final say over site approval for these projects.
The law could allow energy developers to overcome restrictive local ordinances that block large-scale wind and solar projects from being built, helping Michigan meet its 100% clean energy goal by 2040.
Those supporting the ballot initiative say they want to keep decisions over large renewable energy projects in local hands. Opponents say restrictive local ordinances have blocked projects that could be a lifeline for struggling farmers and restrict property rights. They have also raised concerns about fossil fuel interests backing the ballot initiative.
Dark money and Michigan campaign finance
Brewer said Our Home Our Voice’s contribution to the ballot initiative resembled the dark money scheme connected to the “Unlock Michigan” campaign to repeal the emergency powers Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used during the COVID pandemic.
Last month, two people involved in that operation, Heather Lombardini and Sandy Baxter, were charged in connection with soliciting $2.7 million in contributions for the ballot committee through two nonprofits without disclosing donors. Lombardini pled not guilty to three misdemeanor charges of violating Michigan campaign finance law and one felony charge of creating a false document. Baxter is scheduled to be arraigned for one count of perjury on April 17.
Nessel also connected former Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) to the scheme but did not charge him because he didn’t have an official role in either of the nonprofits.
Brewer, who helped bring forward the complaint against the Unlock Michigan organizers, said someone would have to make a similar complaint against Our Home Our Voice and provide evidence for the Michigan Department of State to consider whether an investigation is warranted.
Brewer said that if such a complaint cannot be resolved, it may be forwarded to the AG for criminal enforcement. He said that with the Unlock Michigan case, he put together circumstantial evidence about the movement of money from the nonprofits to the ballot question committee that arrived just in time to pay the committee’s bills. Cheri Hardmon, spokesperson for the MDOS, said no complaint has been filed about OHOV to date
Our Home Our Voice was incorporated last year and is not required to file financial paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service until May.
However, there are indications that Our Home Our Voice has used the ballot proposal to raise funds. On November 21 and 23, Citizens for Local Choice committee member Norman Stephens posted messages on various anti-wind activist group pages soliciting donations for OHOV that appeared to support the ballot initiative.
“We’re exploring a very costly statewide approach with an estimated seven-figure expense. You saw that right, a SEVEN-FIGURE EXPENSE,” the group wrote.
Stephens did not respond to Planet Detroit’s requests for comment.
Martis previously said the ballot initiative would cost between $7 and $10 million. To get the question on the 2024 ballot, the group will likely need to hire costly signature gatherers to collect the 356,958 signatures needed by May 29.
Martis is a senior policy fellow at the Energy and Environment Legal Institute, which has received backing from coal companies. The ballot initiative also reported a $10,000 donation from Thomas Rastin, an executive at the Ohio-based Ariel Corp., a manufacturer of natural gas compressors. Rastin was involved in a successful Ohio effort to define natural gas as “green energy.” Rastin did not respond to a request for comment from Planet Detroit.
Attracting more donors with fossil fuel interests could be the key to success for Citizens for Local Choice. Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University, previously told Planet Detroit that interest groups generally fund ballot initiatives.
For example, the 2018 Promote the Vote ballot initiative received 86% of its funding from the Michigan and national American Civil Liberties Union branches, while only 2% of the funding came from small donors.
‘Duped’ by the Farm Bureau
The $50,000 donation from the Michigan Farm Bureau to the ballot initiative has also angered some farmers who say the organization is undermining the interests of its own members.
“The whole point of the farm bureau is to protect farmers from this kind of stuff, to give them an opportunity to utilize their property in an economically viable way,” said Dick Farnsworth, who owns a farm in Montcalm County and is involved with Patriots for Montcalm, a group supporting landowners who want to put renewable energy projects on their property.
Farnsworth said he felt “duped” by the organization and was considering dropping his membership.
In a February 17 letter to Michigan Farm Bureau President Carl Bednarski, Montcalm County landowner Laura Engel suggested that the organization may be increasingly trying to cater to “associate members” or non-farmers who may be looking to take advantage of insurance programs rather than serving farmers. According to a report from Bridge Michigan, farmers represented less than 25% of the group’s membership in 2017.
Engel lives in Douglass Township with her husband, who farmed wheat, corn, and soybeans. The couple have been Farm Bureau members for over 50 years. Although they have no plans to put wind turbines on their property, Engel supports renewable energy as a climate solution and because it could help other small farmers financially.
“The farmer is challenged, and there are farmers who really could use the income from leasing a turbine,” she said, adding that tax revenue from turbines could be important for schools, the fire department, and Montcalm Community College.
Matt Kapp, government relations specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau, told Planet Detroit that the group supported the ballot initiative because it opposes any action that would eliminate local control for siting commercial renewable energy projects.
“We support getting this initiative on the ballot to put the power back in the hands of locally elected officials,” he said.
Engel said she hopes that the ballot initiative fails. She said she was surprised by the animosity she experienced at township meetings where ordinances restricting renewable energy were being discussed, an experience common for those supporting wind and solar.
“An individual told me I was a narcissist and I had sold my soul,” she said, noting that this was someone she knew.
Engel said the MPSC handles the siting for major infrastructure like pipelines and has the capacity to handle wind and solar power.
“Projects like this are large enough that I think you need some expertise that we don’t necessarily have,” she said.