The governor is responding to our investigation into the so-called political dark money, private secret donations that are now paying for 2 PR firms to help the governor survive this crisis.
The governor does not like the terms dark, secret funds, but they are and as the 7 investigators have been showing you now for years, the governor is not changing how he uses them.
Ross Jones began our investigation with the NERD fund.
Back then the governor used the NERD fund to pay for the penthouse suite for his handpicked Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr and paid a top, personal aide to the governor, Rich Baird.
There was no answer when we asked 3 years ago.
Fast-forward to today - Rich Barid is on the state payroll and the governor’s new man in charge relocating to Flint for the water crisis.
Baird would not talk with us today.
We found the governor is using two new, funds through which private, secret contributions are being made, the Moving Michigan Forward fund and the Celebrating the Power of Michigan fund.
Both funds are paying for 2 high-powered PR firms.
Today there was PR gold, the governor met with the outsiders who got it right in the water crisis – a water expert and doctor, only to be discredited and ignored by state officials.
The governor appointed them to serve on a panel for 3 years.
The governor never answered if they will be paid and how much, nor how much he’s paying his 2 PR firms.
But they got the image they wanted on your TV and in your mind: The governor fixing and teaming up with the people who got it right.
