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Campaign Cash Likely to Find its Way to Kalamazoo County

Tom Arthur/Wikicommons

The Director of a campaign finance watchdog group says voters in Kalamazoo County should prepare for a barrage of political advertising this fall. 

Michigan Campaign Finance Network Director Rich Robinson says the 20th state Senate race is one of the few competitive races in the state Legislature this fall. So he says outside groups will likely try to influence the income. 

Robinson says Democratic state Representative Sean McCann's campaign has raised more money than that of Republican Representative Margaret O'Brien. But Robinson says the Republican Senate Campaign Committee has more money than Senate Democrats for the fall campaign. The Legislative caucus PACs do disclose their donors and expenditures. But Robinson says most of the money spent by other non-profit groups will probably not be disclosed. 

richrobinson16-web.mp3
Interview with Rich Robinson - air version

Asked how this campaign is likely to stack up against other off-year (non Presidential) elections, Robinson says it won't come near the record for a gubernatorial election set in 2006. He says Republican Dick DeVos' spending on his own campaign helped drive up the price tag on that campaign. Robinson says Democrat Jennifer Granholm also had a strong fundraising campaign that helped her win re-election. Robinson says dark money from the Democratic party also made it a race that stands out.

"The cardinal rule in politics, you don't spend money if you know you're going to win, or you know you're going to lose."

Robinson says it's still unclear if this year's U.S. Senate race in Michigan will be close enough to draw large amounts of outside money. He says some independent groups that had been supporting Republican Senate Candidate Terri Lynn Land have been putting their money elsewhere. Robinson says a planned advertising buy was canceled by Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, which he calls "the mother ship fundraising arm" of the Koch Brothers family of non-profit independent committees. Robinson says "the cardinal rule in politics, you don't spend money if you know you're going to win, or you know you're going to lose."

Looking at both statewide races (Governor and U.S. Senate) Robinson says most of the money spent on political advertising is coming from independent groups. And he says most of that is not coming from the candidate campaign committees. And Robinson says much of that spending is not disclosed to the public. 

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.
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