MichMash: Lame-duck session to determine fate of FOIA expansion bills
Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager for the Michigan Press Association, joined the show to help examine the status of the bills in the state Legislature.
The Michigan Legislature has been stagnant on expanding the state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to cover the governor’s office, and there isn’t a clear explanation as to why. This week on MichMash, host Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow sat down with Lisa McGraw, public affairs manager for the Michigan Press Association, to examine the status of the bills.
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In this episode:
- The history of FOIA expansion in Michigan
- The likelihood of bipartisan support with FOIA after lame-duck
- Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s gubernatorial bid as an independent
The governor’s office and state legislature are exempt from FOIA requests under current Michigan law, making the state’s government among the least transparent in the country, according to the Center for Public Integrity.
McGraw says the battle in the Legislature to expand FOIA laws has been fought for a long time, and because of the history of both parties showing the lack of political will to follow through, she doesn’t have much faith that there will be bipartisan buy in.
“I actually have spoken to my members about what our next steps are. I plan to meet with my public policy team in the near future to discuss what our public policy priorities will be next year, and I’m afraid [FOIA] might not be one of them,” she said. “Speaker-elect [Matt] Hall said he supports it so we’ll see. The governor has also expressed support, but we haven’t heard from her at this time.”
Duggan makes independent bid for governor
Gorchow and Roth also discussed Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s announcement this week that he’ll be running for governor of Michigan in 2026 as an independent.
They both went back and forth with ideas and thoughts as to why he made this decision. Gorchow share that Duggan may be making this decision based on political history.
“Men have done very poorly in Democratic primaries where a woman is running in the last three decades,” he said. “In U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races in the last 30 years, a man has not won since 1994”
Duggan, the city of Detroit’s 75th mayor, will conclude his final term in 2025.
More from WDET:
- MichMash: State Sen. Jeremy Moss seeking more transparency in Michigan government
- Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan will run for Michigan governor in 2026 as independent
- MichMash: Potential ‘difficult lame duck session’ looms for Democrats
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