MichMash: Michigan campaign finance reform shows no progress

It’s been a while since we’ve discussed campaign finance reform, and that’s because there has been no movement in the legislature on the issue, despite several former officials being charged with campaign finance-related crimes.

On the latest episode of MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Alethia Kasben sat down with Craig Mauger of The Detroit News to talk about why campaign finance laws take so long to establish.

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In this episode:

• The history of campaign finance reform
• Why it’s taking so long to create new reforms
• Public opinion on campaign finance laws

Mauger has been covering campaign finance reform for a long time and says a big question in people’s minds is why the reform hasn’t happened yet.

“When I came here about a decade ago and was talking about money and politics and the use of nonprofits to shield where money was coming from and where it was going…. there was a fundraiser who used to come up to me and say ‘If it’s so bad why isn’t anyone being criminally charged? Why aren’t there crimes being uncovered?’ And for a long time there weren’t,” said Mauger.

That was until earlier this year, when the Michigan Attorney General’s office charged several fundraisers and political leaders for alleged wrongdoings.

Mauger says a law to reform campaign finances would bring transparency to the legislature and be favored by the public.

“There’s a huge public hunger on both sides of the aisle to stop this type of swampy tactics that are going on raising money in secret,” he said. “I think the public would support it if it was on the ballot. There’s not a path right now; when does the path happen? I don’t know.”

More from WDET:

• Former aides to Michigan House speaker face trial on embezzlement charges
• MichMash: Will Chatfield embezzlement charges push legislature to act on financial disclosures?
• How expensive are Michigan’s political campaigns?

More from Gongwer:

• SOS compares Chatfield reports to AG records, flags potential errors