Quicken Loans Gave More Cash to Lawmakers Ahead of ‘Gilbert Bills’ Than Originally Reported
Quicken Loans gave a lot of money to lawmakers as tax incentive bills made their way through the Legislature.
There’s a new state law that gives tax incentives to developers who build on blighted or undesirable land. Those incentives can potentially save developers millions of dollars.
Politicos around Lansing often referred to the Legislation as “The Gilbert Bills,” referring to Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert who stands to benefit greatly from the change.
The Michigan Public Radio Network and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network dug into campaign finance reports earlier this year and found several large companies, including Gilbert’s Quicken Loans, gave a lot of money to lawmakers as these bills made their way through the Legislature.
This week, new campaign finance statements filed with the state show the pattern of giving by Quicken Loans officials and associates was much more generous than originally reported.
Michigan Campaign Finance Network Executive Director Craig Mauger and Michigan Public Radio Network State Capitol Reporter Cheyna Roth join Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to talk about the contributions and what they mean.
Click on the audio player above to hear the full conversation on Detroit Today.
Here is an updated report from Mauger and Roth:
According to new campaign finance disclosures, Quicken Loans spent more on lobbying state government in the first seven months of 2017 than it had spent in previous years.
“What’s noticeable is that Quicken Loans employees gave contributions to such a large number of House members compared to their giving in past years,” said Campaign Finance Network’s Craig Mauger, a reporting partner on this project. “It likely shows that Quicken Loans employees were connecting with a larger number of individual House members in the run-up to votes on the incentive bills than they had previously.”
More than half the members of the Michigan House received campaign donations from Quicken Loans between January and July of 2017.
That’s significant because in 2016 the legislation, commonly referred to in Lansing as the “Gilbert bills,” failed to gain traction. In 2017, the bills were rebranded to reduce the emphasis on big cities like Detroit, and contributions ramped up.
House and Senate leaders passed the legislation within three months – a relatively breakneck speed compared to the previous year. By June of this year, Gov. Rick Snyder had signed it into law.
According to the latest campaign finance disclosures, five Quicken Loans employees gave a total of $35,975 to 56 Michigan House members’ committees between January and July of 2017. Of those 56 lawmakers, 48 voted yes on the main bill in the Brownfields package. Eight voted no.
This year, more money was spread out to individual lawmakers as opposed to previous years where donations focused on party committees or only a handful of lawmakers.
Quicken Loans spent more on lobbying state government in the first seven months of 2017 — $159,475 — than it had spent in an entire year previously. Quicken Loans ranked as the 16th largest spender on lobbying in Michigan for the first seven months of the year, according to state data.
The giving was bipartisan. Republicans and Democrats alike received donations that ranged from $150 to $4,000. Mauger said donations at this scale stand out.
“The leadership of Quicken Loans had a very specific financial interest in the bills that were before the Legislature around the time these contributions were made,” he said. “They also stand out because these individuals were giving at levels they hadn’t previously given at. Some of them work in government affairs specifically, so they have interests in state policy.”
Quicken Loans did not return a request for comment.
Lawmakers interviewed for this story say they voted “yes” on the legislation because it would help their districts.
“I believe that northern Michigan needs to get a piece of this action, too,” said state Rep. Daire Rendon (R-Lake City), who received $250 on May 5th and $500 in June.
To read more on this story, see Craig Mauger’s article for the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
