Michigan utility aided sabotage of Covid lockdown policies, documents reveal

The Guardian

6 days ago

Newly released court documents show power utility DTE Energy knowingly contributed $100,000 to a dark money non-profit that helped sabotage Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer's Covid lockdown policies.
The documents contradict previous DTE statements that claimed the utility was not involved with the donation.
In January 2023, the Guardian detailed how a DTE-affiliated dark money non-profit financially contributed to the successful repeal of Whitmer's emergency order powers. The campaign, coordinated with state Republican leadership, helped bring about an end to Covid lockdowns and policies.
Peter Ternes, then a DTE Energy spokesperson, twice emphatically denied the company's involvement. In late 2022, he told a Guardian reporter, 'DTE unequivocally is not financially supporting' the campaign to kill Whitmer's emergency order powers, led by Unlock Michigan, and made an almost identical statement when asked in 2020.
New emails, however, show a DTE employee coordinated the $100,000 contribution. The dark money non-profit and Unlock Michigan leadership referred to it as a 'DTE donation' and '$100,000 DTE check', emails show.
The emails are part of a criminal case over alleged Unlock Michigan campaign finance violations and are not directly related to DTE.
The 'revelatory' emails illuminate how DTE 'deploys dark money in Michigan', said Karlee Weinmann, research and communications manager with the utility industry watchdog Energy and Policy Institute. The group detailed the emails in a new report.
'The emails raise questions about the appropriateness of DTE's political spending and activity,' Weinmann added.
Michigan was a global flashpoint in the cultural and political fight over how governments should handle Covid. Whitmer's lockdowns were effective at controlling the virus's spread, but rightwing opposition to the restrictions culminated with multiple demonstrations and armed protesters storming the state legislature in mid-2020.
While the Covid restrictions are over, dark money groups remain powerful players in state and national politics, and the emails show how lax transparency laws shield them as they move funding for politicians or causes.
Utilities generally opposed lockdowns in 2020, industry observers have said. During the first wave of Covid restrictions, many voluntarily stopped or were required to cease shutting off service to financially struggling customers.
Sources initially alerted a Guardian reporter to the donation around the time it was made in late 2020, but no public record of it was available at the time.
Internal Revenue Service records confirming the donation became public in late 2021. They show the funds went from a DTE-affiliated dark money group, Michigan Energy First (MEF), to another dark money non-profit called Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility (MCRF). The latter served as a primary funder of the Unlock Michigan campaign, donating about $1.8m in 2020.
Though DTE lobbyists served on MEF's board, then DTE spokesperson Ternes had steadfastly insisted it was a separate entity and there was no coordination between the two. Ternes also said DTE did not give donations to MEF.
In an email sent on Wednesday, DTE spokesperson Jill Wilmot conceded that the company gave money to MEF, representing a shift from its past statements. Still, DTE denied that it knew what MEF did with the donation.
'While DTE has contributed to Michigan Energy First (MEF) in the past, we can't speak on behalf of MEF or the contributions the organization makes,' the spokesperson said.
However, the new emails show DTE did know how MEF would spend the money. The company's corporate and government affairs chief of staff, Pam Headley, in 2020 facilitated the $100,000 donation from MEF to MCFR, emails show.
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MEF's board president at the time was Renze Hoeksema, a now-retired DTE lobbyist. Headley was a DTE employee with no known role with MEF.
Headley sent an email from her DTE email account during business hours to MCFR with the subject line 'RE: Contribution from Michigan Energy First'.
The email shows how Headley coordinated the DTE donation: 'Renze asked me to let you know that today the Michigan Energy First Board approved a $100,000 contribution to Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility.' She included a request for an invoice and closed out the email with her DTE email signature.
The criminal filings also include emails between MCFR and Republican Senate leadership working with Unlock Michigan. They refer to the donation as being from DTE Energy.
One email states, 'I think I'm getting the $100,000 tomorrow from DTE.' Another from the following day states, 'Unlock Michigan update: $100,000 DTE check arrived today.'
In 2022, DTE's Ternes told the Guardian: 'DTE has worked hand-in-hand with the governor to protect our customers, employees and the public throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The actions taken by the state have slowed Covid transmission and death rates.'
The utility industry widely uses dark money to influence policy across the country, and the donations have been at the center of recent scandals, including two in neighboring Ohio. MEF also donates millions each election cycle to a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including to Whitmer's affiliated Pac.
The donations show DTE 'has power and wields influence over parts of people's lives that they don't want DTE to have influence over', said Eli Day, communications director for the We the People Action Fund, which has been involved in utility affordability campaigns.
Donations like this are made through dark money channels because companies know their political donations would generate blowback, Day added.
'Ordinary people who are outraged can have a real impact and change their lives for the better, and DTE is terrified of that,' he said.