Whitmer team, Michigan Democrats tied to Marshall mystery money in Ford battery plant fight

MARSHALL — At first, Rick Sadler didn’t think the mailing was a huge deal.

Sure, it went to residents all over Marshall this spring. And it did call him, his wife and others "disgruntled." But at least this one did not label him and others who oppose a massive local Ford development “radical activists,” like a different flyer.

This mailing did include his photograph, though. With a big red X over his wife’s face, and his own. The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. And more worried.

“That’s just not something that you do to other people. ... To me, that’s an attack on me and my family,” said Sadler, 62, a manager at a Family Dollar in Battle Creek who dotes on his two Yorkie-poos, Sophie and Bella.

“I’m just Joe Schmo. … It’s not fair, because they’ve got basically unlimited pockets and I think I have $10 in my wallet right now.”

The flyers and handouts are part of a larger campaign to shout down opponents of a $3.5 billion Ford electric vehicle battery project planned near Marshall, a small community located just a few miles east of Battle Creek. The development is arguably the crown jewel in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s new economic development strategy, and is set to receive more public subsidies than almost any other project in state history.

The company already broke ground on the large site, with plans for the facility to operate by 2026. However, some local residents oppose the project; their reasons vary, but they largely agree such a massive project will bring unwanted change to the community.

Efforts by local residents to reverse a land transfer, while unlikely, could derail the entire project. And they face pushback funded through shadowy organizations that are not required by law to provide very specific information about donors.

But a Detroit Free Press investigation into the fight over the project revealed connections to Democratic influencers, including Whitmer’s campaign lawyer and his colleague, both of whom repeatedly represented the governor on controversial election issues in the past.

In addition, a robocall effort blasting opponents of the Marshall site included a phone number used by Whitmer’s reelection campaign, which still appeared on her political website as of publication of this report.

A political organization used a portion of a $100,000 “dark money” contribution to pay for flyers, a video and other activities that encouraged Marshall residents to oppose a petition drive that could cripple the project, records show. The same organization used more of that money to hire the lawyers with Whitmer ties, shifting some of their strategy from a public relations battle to a legal fight.

In response to Free Press questions, Whitmer spokeswoman Stacey LaRouche would not say whether the governor or her campaign was involved with the dark money groups or advertisements, or explain how the governor’s campaign phone number was used in a robocall.

Instead, LaRouche emailed a statement earlier this month touting the Marshall project.

“Thanks to Gov. Whitmer’s leadership, Marshall will be home to an iconic American company through Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park, creating 2,500 good-paying jobs,” LaRouche said in the statement.

“This is possible because residents in Marshall supported the project and as a result the bipartisan Marshall City Council and Marshall Township voted to welcome this historic investment with open arms.”

As for Ford, spokesman T.R. Reid said the Dearborn automaker is “absolutely not” involved with the dark money groups or political committee in Marshall.

Whitmer campaign connection ‘alarming’

The money used in this case is considered “dark” because it comes from a group not required to disclose much information about the source of the funds or its leadership structure.

Nick Pigeon, executive director of the nonpartisan nonprofit Michigan Campaign Finance Network, reviewed the Free Press findings. He noted dark money operations are common, and frequently used to shield prominent people or companies from political scutwork.

“I would say the connection to Whitmer’s campaign lawyer is alarming and an example of behind the scenes maneuvering that campaign finance law allows for,” Pigeon said in an email.

“There are too many connections to Democratic insiders to ignore in this case but the degrees of separation campaign finance law allows obscures the true picture.”

Marshall Township residents attempted to recall a local trustee who supports the project. Elsewhere in the state, at least two other small-town officials face recall efforts due to their support of large development projects. All three hired the same high-priced Whitmer-connected lawyer to defend themselves.

Although it appears separate dark money groups with seemingly benign names — Clean Jobs for Michigan and Jobs for Michigan — are leading the charge against the locals opposed to the Ford project, state records show the two are actually the same organization. Their incorporator is a Washington, D.C., lawyer who previously worked for political action committees supporting Hillary Clinton, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and other Democrats.

The same entity also hired a public relations consultant who worked for Whitmer’s reelection campaign, and its board is comprised of three people with ties to Michigan Democrats.

The political committee that supports the Ford site, Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Opportunity, used some of the $100,000 donation to hire a well-known Democratic consulting firm to perform “education and field services,” according to records.

During the height of the pandemic, this same firm landed the Whitmer administration in hot water after it received a no-bid contract, prompting inquiries from the state Legislature and the Michigan attorney general.

'I’ve never heard of anything like that'

The governor and her administration routinely champion their own initiatives, including criticizing opponents. But using dark money and mysterious groups is more common for attacking political rivals, not average taxpayers protesting something, experts said.

“I’ve never heard of anything like that ... that’s pretty wild,” said Nathan Jensen, professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin who’s focused on economic development deals with public subsidies across the country.

Although the coordinated pushback to the Amazon second headquarters deal in New York City is a recent example of communities sinking big projects, Jensen said, it’s highly unusual for these types of organizations to do the heavy lifting advocating for these deals.

“It is a questionable strategy by a governor. … You already have this ability to communicate a message. You wonder why they’re not using this public strategy, and whether it’s some sort of negative campaign that they don’t want to be directly associated with, or a message that they don’t want to stand behind,” Jensen said, elaborating on the idea Whitmer or her team are behind the effort.

“Why not just give a speech, visit the community and listen to them?”

While Whitmer appeared with Ford executives to announce the deal and helped shepherd subsidies through the Legislature, she has not visited Marshall to hear from the community after details emerged about the project. LaRouche did not answer questions about why the governor has not visited Marshall for the project, or whether she plans to do so in the future.

Jim Durian, leader of the local economic development agency that helped secure the Ford project, said his organization had no part in the advertisements or the dark money groups. He said opponents of the development engaged in threats and harassment instead of civil dialogue, something Ford spokesman Reid also mentioned.

In Marshall, the ads created a picture of outside agitators and disgruntled residents trying to foment dissent in a tight-knit community. In reality, longtime local residents who supported a petition to potentially end the Ford deal said even if the tone of the campaign did not surprise them, they felt attacked.

Glenn Kowalske, a self-described “pretty simple guy” who’s taken on a leadership role in coordinating opposition to the development, also discussed the Free Press findings. He said he feels confident that Whitmer or her allies are involved in the campaign against those who dislike the Ford project.

The retired engineer who has lived in Marshall Township for the past 37 years says his experience fighting the Ford project opened his eyes to the darker side of politics.

“It’s the governor, from the standpoint of the political process for sure. Whether that’s a direct connection or if it’s indirect through these … business elements that are accomplishing the mission,” Kowalske said.

“If I think about the emotional part, I think it makes most of us both angry and also, I don’t want to say, hopeless. But from the standpoint that things are completely out of our control, and that the opposition is massive.”

Chris Bowman and his family have lived in the Marshall area for years, including several in Marshall Township directly across the Kalamazoo River from the planned development site.

Recently, he said his son brought him an ad he’d seen on YouTube championing the site. Mike Buss, who lives down the street from Bowman, saw a separate ad on social media. He saved it, because he thought it was so funny that he and others who disapprove of the site would be labeled radicals.

“They’re trying to frame (the opposition) as some sort of outside conspiracy theorists,” said Bowman, who dislikes the site and plans to move if the project comes to fruition.

The lawyers, and other projects 

Providing billions of tax dollars to entice business relocation or growth is a top priority for the governor in her second term. Since reelection, Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature allocated roughly $4 billion to these deals, generally predicated on companies spending lots of money in a community and creating new jobs.

That includes roughly $1.7 billion, in state and local subsidies, for the large Ford-related facility just outside Marshall. Gotion Inc., a Chinese manufacturer, agreed to invest $2.4 billion for a new electric battery factory in Green Charter Township, outside Big Rapids, in exchange for $715 million in tax benefits.

A third project planned for Eagle Township, a rural community outside Lansing, never came to fruition. But records show Whitmer and state officials in September 2022 offered roughly $28 billion in direct subsidies, tax abatements and other incentives to a large company that ultimately picked New York for its facility.

Whitmer and state economic development officials say projects they pursue are supported by local communities. But in Marshall Township (the Ford project is slated for land in the township, not Marshall proper), Green Charter Township and Eagle Township, an array of vocal and active neighbors oppose the deals for a variety of reasons.

In all three communities, that opposition manifested in separate pushes to oust local elected leaders. In the Marshall area, local residents also pursued a ballot initiative and filed a lawsuit.

And in each of those cases, the township officers facing potential recall turned to at least two lawyers: Chris Trebilcock and Vincent Sallan.

Trebilcock and Sallan work for Clark Hill, a firm with more than 700 lawyers in Michigan and across the country. While the firm routinely represents local governments, Trebilcock repeatedly worked for the same high-profile client: Whitmer.

When Whitmer faced scrutiny in 2021 over a private jet she took to Florida at the height of COVID-19 restrictions, Trebilcock represented the governor and her campaign. He also represented a secretive nonprofit affiliated with the governor that initially sought to cover the cost of the flight.

Trebilcock also represented a series of Whitmer-aligned initiatives, including an organization created to fight conservative efforts to gather signatures for a petition aimed at stripping her of some executive powers.

These lawyers are not cheap. Although neither would tell the Free Press their hourly rates, a 2021 bid Clark Hill submitted to represent a city suggested lawyers with similar titles cost at least $250 to $350 an hour.

A Marshall Township trustee earns $3,636 annually, plus $60 for any special meetings, according to the clerk. The Eagle Township supervisor makes $18,576 per year, according to the clerk’s office. In January, the Green Charter Township board voted to pay the supervisor a salary of $22,257.02 from the general fund.

Trebilcock and Sallan's work in Marshall goes beyond representing a Marshall Township trustee. They also represent the political committee that recently received $100,000 as part of the campaign to support the Ford project; Trebilcock also represents the group in a lawsuit against the local residents who oppose the plant, court records show.

In a statement, Trebilcock declined to say whether anyone affiliated with Whitmer, Ford or others asked him to represent the officials or the Marshall political committee. He also would not say who’s paying for his services.

“I have always been proud to represent local elected officials who are subject to unwarranted political attacks simply for standing up and doing what’s right for their constituents and communities, especially when those doing the attacking refuse to follow the law,” Trebilcock said last week in the emailed statement.

“Our retention of clients is subject to the policies of our firm and rules of professional conduct governing all attorneys. We strictly follow these in all cases.”

Trebilcock also represents the township supervisor in Eagle Township, court records show. Both Sallan and Trebilcock represent the Green Charter Township supervisor, according to court records. Sallan did not respond to requests for comment.

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The Eagle Township supervisor and Marshall Township trustee did not return requests for comment.

Green Charter Township Supervisor James Chapman declined to say how he’s paying his lawyers. He said he learned of their expertise from conversations with friends, but declined to name any of them.

“Whatever I’m doing and how I’m paying for it is my business,” Chapman said, adding if he’s paying for the lawyers with campaign funds he’ll include the expenditure in his campaign filings.

The organization opposing the Ford development has its own relatively prominent attorney. Robby Dube works for a firm out of Minnesota, known for helping locals in North Dakota scuttle a potentially huge development in their community. Dube also represents a comparable group in Mecosta County that opposes the Gotion facility near Big Rapids.

On Wednesday, Republican-turned-Democratic operative Jeff Timmer publicly released documents showing a staff member for Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, is helping a separate committee working to recall Chapman. Nesbitt and many other Republicans have openly criticized the Gotion project for months.

That criticism runs from unsubstantiated allegations of meddling by China and environmental concerns to frustration over the size of the public subsidy for the project.

The political committee and dark money groups

They sound innocuous: Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Opportunity, Jobs for Michigan, Clean Jobs for Michigan.

But they’re all relatively newly created organizations working in coordination while relying on lax regulations that enable spending unlimited sums of dark money to influence politics at the local and state level.

Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Opportunity paid for the flyer with the big red X, and a separate one that called local residents “radical activists.” It also paid for at least one television advertisement that blasts "radical extremists and special interests," according to a recording obtained by the Free Press.

Aaron McKean, legal counsel for the national nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said this is a classic example of wealthy special interests shielding their identities using a menagerie of means that ultimately deprives voters of the truth.

“It’s almost like a stereotypical story at this point,” said McKean, the campaign finance expert.

“What we’ve also seen is the massive increase in the types of groups named 'Americans for America,' or 'Americans for Apple Pie.' Everyone wants good jobs in their community. …That is part of the whole story: obscuring where that money comes from.”

In Marshall, residents who oppose the Ford site tried to gather signatures for a petition to force a citywide vote on a local zoning decision that provided hundreds of acres for the project. They hope to overturn that decision and potentially derail or change the Ford development.

The Marshall clerk determined the petition failed on numerous grounds, but opponents sued, arguing her decision was inaccurate. That legal matter is ongoing, and could impact work currently occurring at the site.

Trebilcock represents Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Opportunity, a committee created to oppose that effort. Its treasurer is Warner Ball, a Marshall resident who works for a progressive advertising company that did work to support Whitmer’s 2022 reelection.

In a statement, Ball declined to say whether anyone connected to Whitmer or Michigan Democrats asked him to create the committee. He also would not say how he became aware of the organization that gave his committee a large donation, or whether the source of that money matters.

“We are very proud of the work in our community that led to this very rare opportunity to bring good jobs to the area,” Ball said in his statement.

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In July, Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Opportunity reported receiving $100,000 from Clean Jobs for Michigan, its only contribution.

In comparison, the group that opposes the Ford development has raised about $29,000. Most of the donations are small contributions from Marshall-area residents, records show.

They did receive $5,000 from a local nonprofit, run by Kowalske and two other local residents, records show. While this type of nonprofit is typically not allowed to make political contributions, there are exceptions under Michigan campaign finance law and Internal Revenue Service rules for donations to a committee created to support or oppose a ballot initiative.

Clean Jobs for Michigan and Jobs for Michigan have separate websites with slightly different messages. However, both are registered to the same P.O. Box in Jackson and state business records show the groups are the same company, organized by Washington, D.C., attorney Jim Lamb.

Lamb, a longtime Democratic supporter, referred comment to Mario Morrow. Morrow is a Detroit political consultant who worked for both former-Govs. Rick Snyder, a Republican, and Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat. More recently, Whitmer's reelection campaign paid Morrow's firm $75,000 in 2021, according to state records.

Morrow said there are three members of the Clean Jobs for Michigan Board: Rudy Hobbs, Stephen Purchase and Price Dobernick. Hobbs is a former Democratic state lawmaker; Purchase is a spokesman for a union, and Dobernick is a leader in a separate union. Both unions endorsed Whitmer in the past.

Morrow did not answer a question about whether Whitmer or entities with which she has ties had a hand in founding the organizations nor did he provide detailed information about the source of the $100,000 provided to the Marshall committee.

“We will comply with all reporting requirements as required by law when these reports are due,” Morrow said in a statement.

The political committee reported spending a little more than $32,000. About $20,000 of that went to K2K Consulting, a Grand Rapids-based agency with deep ties to Michigan Democrats.

In early 2020, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services awarded a no-bid contract for contact tracing related to fighting COVID-19 to the same company. The health department's then-leader, Robert Gordon, said the department nixed the contract at Whitmer’s behest before any work was performed, but he told state lawmakers investigating the arrangement the administration “made a mistake” in providing the contract.

The head of K2K Consulting, Mike Kolehouse, did not return a voicemail seeking comment.

A fourth organization, Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Progress, did not file campaign finance reports at the state or local level and does not appear to have a website. However, local residents received robocalls, purportedly from the organization, that advocated for the Ford project.

After roughly 30 seconds of asking people not to sign the petition opposing the project, the message indicates it’s paid for by “Marshall Citizens for Jobs and Progress,” according to a copy obtained by the Free Press. After that, it lists a phone number.

The Whitmer campaign used the same phone number to file for reelection. It remains on her campaign website. The Free Press repeatedly called the number and left messages, but none were returned.

Contact Dave Boucher at dboucher@freepress.com or on X, previously called Twitter, at @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer team, Michigan Democrats tied to Marshall money in Ford fight