LANSING, Mich. — Allies of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used millions of dollars from secret donors and a web of nonprofit organizations to promote her policy agenda and celebrate Democrats who joined in championing it, according to a tax filing obtained by The Detroit News.

Since 2020, supporters of Whitmer, a Democrat, have raised about $30 million through a Lansing-based nonprofit called Road to Michigan's Future. The group's annual tax filing for 2023 was due to the Internal Revenue Service on Friday, and it showed $4.89 million in new contributions from backers who, under state and federal laws, didn't have to be publicly identified. Eight individual donors gave at least $200,000 each, including two that gave $500,000 each, according to the tax document.

Meanwhile, in 2023, Road to Michigan's Future sent $590,000 to three other nonprofits that ran advertisements touting Democratic lawmakers who favored Whitmer's preferred bills on energy, taxes and gun control. One of the recipients also supported an economic development project sought by the governor's administration in Marshall, according to a review by The News.

The money flowed while Democrats who control the state Legislature declined to shine light on the donors to nonprofit accounts tied to officeholders in Michigan, noted state Rep. Tom Kunse, the top Republican on the state House Ethics and Oversight Committee.

"The state government in Michigan has less transparency than your local library board," Kunse of Clare said. "That is a travesty. That is not acceptable.”

Overall, Road to Michigan's Future reported spending $3.1 million in 2023 with $1.4 million, 46%, going to other organizations, according to the tax filing.

Whitmer's spokesman, Bobby Leddy, referred a request for comment about the nonprofit to Road to Michigan's Future.

The nonprofit is "proud to support" other groups that share its mission "whether it be creating good-paying jobs, lowering costs for Michigan families, promoting common-sense gun safety initiatives, reducing dangerous pollution and tackling climate change or improving the quality of life for everyday Michiganders," said Mark Fisk, spokesman for Road to Michigan's Future.

"We follow all IRS rules and requirements to the letter of the law and will continue to do so," Fisk said.

Fisk, a Democratic political consultant, didn't directly answer a question about whether Whitmer herself had helped raise the money.

Among its expenditures, Road to Michigan's Future gave $400,000 to the Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools (MIPASS), which formed in Michigan as an organization in March 2023, according to filings with the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

"Our coalition is made up of passionate and committed parents who believe in the power of grassroots advocacy," the MIPASS website says.

In 2023, MIPASS ran dozens of ads on Facebook thanking Democratic state legislators for supporting Whitmer-backed proposals on gun safety and demanding that Republicans vote in favor of the bills.

"The Michigan Legislature is voting soon on crucial bills to establish common sense gun safety solutions," one of the Facebook ads said. "Make your voice heard by contacting your elected leaders in Lansing and demanding they take action to reduce gun violence."

Guns and energy

Many of the MIPASS ads spotlighted individual lawmakers, like state Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, and Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly. The group ran ads on Facebook mentioning 20 different lawmakers, according to the social media site's ad library.

The ads about Democrats generally told viewers to thank the legislators for their efforts.

"Rep. Rachel Hood is fighting in Lansing for common sense gun safety solutions and to keep our community safe," one ad on Facebook said.

The ads about Republicans were different.

"Tell your senator, Ruth Johnson, to support common sense gun safety legislation," one ad said.

The ads were posted on social media in March 2023, as bills were moving through the Legislature to expand background check requirements for firearm purchases and impose storage standards for guns kept in homes where children are present. The measures eventually made their way to Whitmer's desk, and she signed them into law on April 13, 2023.

On Monday, Johnson, a former secretary of state, said she believes people have the right to know who's funding accounts that benefit elected leaders.

"To say that there is no expectation of influence when you are allowed to anonymously give millions of dollars to someone in a position of power like the governor just doesn't square with common sense," Johnson said.

Road to Michigan's Future also gave $40,000 to Prosperity Michigan, which ran ads promoting Whitmer's plans to decrease taxes on retirement income and boost a credit that benefits low-wage workers, and $150,000 to Clean Jobs for Michigan, which credited Democrats who supported a Whitmer-backed energy law overhaul.

In 2023, Clean Jobs for Michigan ran positive ads about 17 Democratic lawmakers, according to Facebook's political ad archive.

"Gov. Whitmer and Sen. Sean McCann are thinking big about Michigan’s future by working to pass clean energy legislation," one of the ads said. "This plan is both eco-friendly and will save us money, sparking big results."

McCann, D-Kalamazoo, is the chairman of the Michigan Senate Energy and Environment Committee.

On Nov. 28, 2023, Whitmer signed bills into law that impose a 100% clean energy standard for Michigan utilities to hit by 2040 and shift power to authorize large-scale wind and solar projects from local governments to the state's Public Service Commission.

One of the ads urged Facebook users to call and thank Rep. Betsy Coffia, D-Traverse City, for supporting the wind and solar siting legislation. Coffia won reelection earlier this month in a northern Michigan district that's historically been represented by Republicans.

Clean Jobs for Michigan

Jim Lamb, a lawyer who's worked with Democratic campaigns in the past and is based in Washington, D.C., filed paperwork to form a nonprofit called Jobs for Michigan with the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs in March 2023.

Two months later, the group began operating under a different name: Cleans Jobs for Michigan.

"Clean Jobs for Michigan is building a future we can all be proud of," the organization's website says. "Through advocating for clean water, clean energy and good-paying clean jobs, we’re working to build a Michigan that will sustain our natural resources and hardworking Michigan families for generations to come."

The nonprofit's president is Democratic former state Rep. Rudy Hobbs, who now works for the Lansing-based lobbying firm Michigan Legislative Consultants. Hobbs declined to talk about the organization on Monday and referred a reporter to a spokesperson for Clean Jobs for Michigan.

"At Clean Jobs for Michigan, we are proud of our many supporters who share our commitment to creating Michigan jobs by making our state a leader in the growing clean energy sector," said Mario Morrow Sr., spokesman for the nonprofit.

Clean Jobs for Michigan reported raising $1.8 million in 2023. Road to Michigan's Future was the third largest donor with someone else giving $750,000 and another entity giving $500,000, according to its tax filing.

Clean Jobs for Michigan spent $1.1 million in 2023 with the majority, $693,832, going to "digital communications," the filing said.

In addition to supporting Whitmer-backed energy proposals, Clean Jobs for Michigan has also aided the push for a battery manufacturing project set for Marshall.

Whitmer touted the Ford Motor Co. development, said it would create 2,500 good-paying jobs and signed, in March 2023, a spending measure to direct about $630 million for the preparation of Marshall area farmland for it.

Some Marshall area residents have opposed the project and formed a group called "Committee for Marshall-Not the Megasite" in an attempt to stop it. But, on July 6, 2023, Clean Jobs for Michigan gave $100,000 to a committee in support of the project, Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Opportunity, according to a local campaign finance filing.

What is Road to Michigan's Future?

The 2023 tax filing of Road to Michigan's Future provides little information about which consultants the organization has been paying.

However, the phone number listed on its submission belongs to Heather Ricketts, who is Whitmer's campaign treasurer. Also, a source with knowledge of the group's activities but who declined to be identified for not being authorized to speak publicly said, in the past, Amanda Stitt, who served as the Whitmer campaign's chief strategist, has been involved in raising money for Road to Michigan's Future.

The organization's website also features promotional photos of Whitmer.

"The Road to Michigan’s future is proud to keep our state headed in the right direction under the leadership of Governor Gretchen Whitmer," the website says.

The president of Road to Michigan's Future is Richard Wiener, a retired Lansing lobbyist who served as chief of staff for Democratic former Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Since forming in 2020, Road to Michigan's Future has raised about $30.3 million, according to annual filings.

Of its $3.1 million in spending in 2023, Road to Michigan's Future said $1.2 million went to what was described as "program service expenses" and $200,363 went to salaries and wages.

"A team of professionals drive fundraising on behalf of our group so we can support Gov. Whitmer’s agenda, make a positive impact on public policy debates and help make Michigan a better place to live, work, raise a family or start a small business," the nonprofit's spokesman Fisk said.

The group also gave $525,762 to an account of the Michigan Democratic Party.

Nonprofit debate

The Whitmer-tied organization has brought in millions of dollars each year amid an ongoing debate in the Michigan Legislature over whether nonprofits connected to government officeholders, which have been widespread in Lansing, should be able to raise money in secret.

Currently, the nonprofits can fund officials' travel, meals, political efforts and consultants without having to report to the public which interest groups or donors were the original source of the cash.

Throughout 2023, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, was investigating former House Speaker Lee Chatfield, a Republican, for allegedly using his nonprofit money inappropriately. In April 2024, Nessel unveiled 13 criminal charges against Chatfield, who had a nonprofit organization called the Peninsula Fund.

Nessel said on April 18 that her office's probes had made it clear that "powerful interests" have avoided disclosure while working to sway elections and public policy.

"I hear it every day in Lansing how we can't pass basic, popular, critical legislation our constituents desperately require because some big-monied, unreported donor will shut off the supply of massive and unlimited contributions that voters are never permitted to know about," Nessel said.

One of Chatfield's nonprofits, the Peninsula Fund, reported spending $142,266 on travel and entertainment for public officials in 2020 alone. It raised $753,483 from secret donors that year, his final year as the House's leader. Chatfield has denied wrongdoing.

Some Michigan lawmakers have pushed for reforms. However, a proposal to require nonprofit organizations, directed by lawmakers, to register with the Michigan Secretary of State's office — but not disclose their donors— hasn't been voted on in the Democratic-led Michigan state House.

Kunse, the top Republican on the House oversight committee, has been calling for additional nonprofit disclosures and for subjecting the Legislature and governor's office to the state's freedom of information law. Michigan has long been one of only two states in the nation where lawmakers and the governor are exempt from public records requests.

"You know the Democrats are afraid of transparency because they won't pass the disclosure bills," Kunse said. "It's disappointing, and there is no excuse for their inaction "

The Freedom of Information Act bills passed the Democratic-controlled Senate in June but haven't advanced in the House.

Staff Writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.

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