Time to 86 MEDC?
MEDC is the acronym for Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and “86” is restaurant slang meaning to “get rid of something.” Years ago, the hapless TV secret agent Maxwell Smart was Agent 86. Wikipedia says MEDC is “a public-private partnership agency and economic development corporation in the U.S. state of Michigan.” Operating under the slogan “Pure Michigan,” MEDC attempts to encourage the tourism potential of the state and foster business relocations to Michigan.” It may be Michigan, but Pure it ain’t.
The recent scandal, involving former MEDC Board member Faye Bedoun and a $20 million grant that allegedly went astray, poses hard questions about oversight from CEO Quentin Messer, and the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who rubber-stamped the grant in the budget. Add this to longstanding concerns about MEDC and you’ve got a recipe for budget hawks.
Created in 1993 under then-Gov. John Engler as the Michigan Jobs Commission, MEDC hails from the era of aggressively competitive state recruitment of business. We wanted to diversify from auto dependence, so we joined the nationwide bidding game for firms to come locate here. From the start, the key questions were ‘why must we subsidize business to locate in Michigan, especially by paying dollars taxed from existing businesses? Shouldn’t we eliminate the disincentives that deter investment in the first place?”
But dropping MEDC was seen as unilateral disarmament in the recruitment wars. So MEDC remained, derided as “Corporate Welfare” by more Libertarian types, as a big boondoggle by others. Only one of every 11 jobs promised by Michigan politicians and public officials actually gets created, according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Former Governor Jennifer Granholm’s “Green Reset” was an expansive fizzle. An arm of the MEDC, trying to lure large out-of-state corporations to locate in Mundy Township, Genesee County, is responsible for buying and tearing down hundreds of perfectly fine homes there (in the midst of a purported housing crisis, no less), using money from established Michigan businesses. They have nothing to show for it, and it’s very possible they never will.
Honest Boondogglery is one thing, but a great big pile of money waiting to be ladled out with minimal oversight can attract predators, especially ones with inside connections. The Beydoun alleged scandal is a perfect example. Is MEDC really just a slush fund for politicos to hand out pork to fads or favored friends, that doesn’t really provide jobs? If so, why not write “86” and line it off the menu permanently? Support for that idea is the ultimate proof of the hoariest of cliches — “politics makes strange bedfellows.” It’s that rare issue where the Democratic progressive Left (think Rep. Dylan Wegela) meets and shakes hands with conservatives and the Hard Right (think Rep. Steve Carra).
Former Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, the independent candidate for governor this year, has said Michigan can’t afford NOT to have something like the MEDC, but the way the corporation is structured is all wrong. If elected governor, he says he would do a big overhaul. He might start by renaming it. The title MEDC s toxic.
All the other gubernatorial aspirants in both major political parties have been either silent on the subject, equivocal, mealy-mouthed, or have failed to get any “reform MEDC” message out in a way that makes sense.
We’ve got a big election coming up, and let’s see where all the wanna-be governors line up on what should be a critical issue. The electorate should demand nothing less.
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Aric Nesbitt and Mike Cox have both unequivocally said they would end the MEDC, full stop. Tom Leonard would also end MEDC, but replace it with a business concierge service.
MEDC – like the U.S House Bank – needs to be folded up and forgotten.
Political slush funds need to end.
Speaking of political slush funds, the Democratic money machine is collapsing in plain view
From the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, dated April 20th:
“ActBlue employees invoked their Fifth Amendment right at least 146 times in depositions with congressional committees investigating alleged donor fraud on the fundraising platform, according to an explosive report released Monday.
Two ActBlue officials, one of whom formerly served as VP of customer service, and three of its former lawyers “declined to answer a single one of the Committees’ substantive questions,” stated the interim staff report from the House Administration, Oversight and Judiciary Committees.
“Their unwillingness to testify only amplifies the Committees’ concerns,” the report added of the depositions between July and December 2025, also citing ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Wells’ seemingly “false statements to Congress” and withholding of documents pursuant to a subpoena for records.”
Inside Investigator, June 1, 2025 published “Acting Blue: Evidence of Fraudulent Political Donations Targeting Retirees”.
The article reports that:
“Dominic Rapini, a cybersecurity professional and 2022 candidate for Connecticut’s Secretary of State, has been investigating straw donors – individuals who pose as a second party and fraudulently make a donation in their name – and has identified $2 million in donations through ACTBLUE made in the name of 18 different Connecticut residents, most of them elderly or retired.”
All signed affidavits certifying that the recorded FEC elections history does not accurately reflect their respective donations histories.
The $64.00 question is who made these campaign contributions?
Check YouTube to view Haley Stevens’ address of the April 19, 2026 Michigan Democratic Party endorsement convention – she was roundly booed and heckled with the phrase “Shame on you” by convention delegates.
U.S. Senate candidate Stevens has accepted large donations from corporate political action committees (including those formed by Ford and General Motors) – as well as AIPAC and other pro-Israel PACs.
Dr. Abdul Elsayed received a standing ovation at the same convention venue by asserting he accepting no corporate political action committee funding and, further denounced the influence of both corporate PACs and AIPAC in the American political election process.
Are Michigan Democrats rebelling against big money in electoral processes?
Manuela Garza says
(Edit)Yes.
That said, Garlin Gilchrist raised the most funds of any candidate in the Secretary of State Democratic race.
It was frankly very refreshing to see Dr. Elsayed give a frank speech and eschew vested interests such as GM and Ford.
U.S. Representative Haley Stevens is learning the hard way that being a slave to PAC donors ruins your standing with Democratic rank-and-file. Israel support in the Democratic Party is dwindling as it was in the 1970s and 1980s for South Africa among Democratic members of Congress. John Dingell likewise became derisively known as the “Congressman from General Motors” after initially winning kudos for his role in the Clean Air Act.
Speaking further of Democratic political slush funds which need to be destroyed, a grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama returned an indictment yesterday charging the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.
Turns out they were financing white supremacists because there are just not enough sui generis hate crimes to stimulate the SPLC’s donor base. Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $ 3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including:
Ku Klux Klan
United Klans of America
Unite the Right
National Alliance
National Socialist Movement
Aryan Nations affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club
National Socialist Party of America (American Nazi Party)
American Front
The National Socialist Movement was a Michigan operation in its heyday. It is still the biggest Nazi outfit in America with its largest chapter in SE Michigan.
According to the indictment, the objective of the SPLC scheme was to obtain money via donations through false representations about what the donated funds would be used for.
The cherry on top? SPLC financed and organized the infamous 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. Their agent ‘F37’ was paid $ 270,000 to set up that fraud. I’m betting that F37 is a Michigan man.
Anyone care to speculate whether our commie media will question Secretary of State and candidate for Governor Jocelyn Benson about her role in this criminal fraud?
Jason Roe just did a piece linking Jocelyn Benson to SPLC.
The Indictment of SPLC and that of James Comey over “86/47” are simply evidence of how far the DOJ is going to go to satisfy the political vendetta of Donald Trump. Todd Blanche knows neither is going to hold up, but he likely hopes the charges will earn him the permanent AG appointment. The Indictment does not say what you write. No funds went to the extemist organizations in the SPLC case. Payment to informants were made to expose the plans of those organizations. Motions filed by the SPLC advise that SPLC met with Blanche and went over information the SPLC had given the DOJ over planned violent acts leading to thrwarting the attacks and convicting the planners, but Blanche went ahead on right wing media and lied about that history time after time. The claim that donors were defrauded is ludicrous. The Indictments are an embarrassement to the DOJ, and would be laughable if it wasn’t so tragic.
” …The Indictment does not say what you write. No funds went to the extemist organizations in the SPLC case. Payment to informants were made to expose the plans of those organizations….”
The 14 page Alabama Middle District Northern Division grand jury indictment says precisely what I wrote:
“…Between 2014 and 2023, the SPLC secretly funneled more than $ 3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups including:…”
The indictment:
“To secretly funnel donated money to the Fs [“field sources”], individuals at the SPLC, including a person who would become the Chief Financial Officer (“Employee-1”) and a person who would become the Director of the Intelligence Project (“Employee-2”), among others, opened a series of bank accounts at Bank-1 and Bank-2 in the name of various fictitious entities, including, but not limited to, the following: Center Investigative Agency (“CIA”), Fox Photography, North West Technologies (“North West Tech”), Tech Writers Group (“Tech Writers”), and Rare Books Warehouse (“Rare Books”).”
This is a simple to prove wire fraud and money laundering case which documents 11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to federally insured banks, and conspiracy to commit & conceal money laundering.
Good edition Bill. Not sure your readers went off on Act Blue because that’s wholly unrelated to MEDC. Duggan is right- we need to restructure and rename it.
Nice article, Bill. I have written before on this topic in earlier TBRs, and my opinion has not changed.
I last wrote about it on August 24, 2025 (when Mr. Crehan chided me for interrupting my response for dinner). MEDC’s structure was flawed from the very beginning. Then again, it was designed to be flawed. In that regard, it’s a complete success. As I wrote then, “MEDC WAS DESIGNED AS A WORK AROUND CIVIL SERVICE. GOVERNOR ENGLER WANTED TO FIND A WAY TO USE TAXPAYER MONEY TO “ATTRACT BUSINESS” WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY PAYING FOLKS RUNNING THE AGENCY WHO SHOULD BE IN THE CIVIL SERVICE AT CORPORATE-LEVEL COMPENSATION, AND JUST AS IMPORTANTLY, AVOID PUBLIC SCRUTINY.” Basically, how can we find a work around to avoid civil service pay restraints, rules and public scrutiny. Mr. McLellan and others came up with this, and we continue to pay the price.*
Can it be fixed? Maybe. The real question is whether there is the political will to do so. Judging by what has gone on in this legislative session, it is highly unlikely considering the games being played between the Governor, Majority Leader Brinks of the Senate and Speaker Hall, all of whom seem to confuse activity with accomplishment. But in the interest of public service, here I go:
MEDC BECOMES A REAL, ACTUAL, HONEST-TO-GOODNESS AND REAL STATE DEPARTMENT OR TYPE ONE AGENCY. This means there is a Director named by the governor. THE OTHER STAFF FALL UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF CIVIL SERVICE. As a State Agency, the workers would most likely fall in the Business and Administration unit and not be unionized (to keep the right wing happy). This means that the staff is paid under the Equitable Classification Plan (ECP). No more ungodly salaries for what has become minimal production.
FUND ONLY THE MEDC STAFF IN THE ANNUAL BUDGET: The legislature would only fund the staff, office supplies and the like. Lansing and Detroit have plenty of state owned and rented space. Put them in a government office building. Save the people some money.
MEDC GRANTS FOR SPECIFIC PROJECTS WOULD REQUIRE LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL FOR EACH AND EVERY GRANT. Any grants MEDC wants to give out would require separate, individual appropriation(s) from the legislature. This would entail hearings and testimony, hopefully under oath. Then we find out how much money the business entities want and how many jobs they promise to get that money. This would require legislation and the grants can then be tailored so that if the promised jobs do not appear, money is clawed back and a penalty imposed on the company or corporate entity that is the grant recipient. The grant becomes an enforceable contract. This is what oversight and transparency look like. This is what accountability looks like. For the executive and legislative branches. After all, it’s the people’s money. If a private entity wants some of the people’s money, the promises they make to us to get the money are written down and enforceable. If businesses find this unacceptable or intolerable, they probably inflated the number of jobs they were going to create. And if the employees of MEDC don’t their job, they are subject to the civil service rules, just like the other state employees. Gee, what a novel concept.
This is not an exhaustive list, but it can be a starting point for any candidate who wishes to try and fix, reform or modify the MEDC. Nothing I’ve written is copyrighted, so feel free to use it.
And if Mr. Crehan is reading this issue of the TBR, I wrote this before dinner.
*For more on my responses then, please refer to the August 24, 2025 issue of TBR where I go into more detail.
MEDC became perceived as a slush fund available for sweet deals Democratic Party insiders such as Michigan Democratic Party Vice-chair Faye Beydoun and her pal Quinton Messer.
The Michigan Democratic Party last night gave a stern rebuke to insiders when its delegates enthusiastically picked idealistic young nominees over the once-powerful interests of labor unions and pro-business moderates.
Progressive liberals such as Amir Makled and Eli Savit are now the new face of the Michigan Democratic Party. GOP insiders are scratching their heads and trying to analyze the impact of this realignment.
Within hours after the Michigan Democratic Party endorsement convention, in which Amir Makled, a young civil rights lawyer of some note in Wayne County, was voted in as a Democratic Party nominee to a University of Michigan seat, the GOP nominees for the same two seats, Lena Epstein and Michael Schostak, sent out separate e-mail blasts to GOP leaders and activists denouncing Makled’s conduct in [raising Hezbollah in now-deleted social media posts.
Karen McDonald raised over $1 million for her campaign and received impressive labor and insider political endorsement for her Michigan Attorney General campaign – and lost to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor who was an outspent progressive liberal relying largely on minority and youth delegate votes in the convention.
Virtually all Dem endorsees at the 4/19/2026 convention were progressive liberals.
Realignment is too dull a word to describe the direction of the political center of Michigan Democrats.
Spot on.
Footage at the Michigan Democratic Party convention proceeding show young delegates making a lot of noise and fervently progressive.
Kind of like the Tea Party activists at the 2010 GOP convention in Lansing and the MAGA devotees in the 2022 GOP convention.
Why Eli Savit’s win did not surprise me is that the “presumptive nominee” U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles had been upset by the “progressive” Dana Nessel in 2018.
From what I have heard from my Dem friends is that Ann Arbor progressives skillfully planned a take power at the convention to get Nessel nominated in 2018 and this “cabal” came together again and got their “favorite son” Eli Savit nominated in 2026.
Savit was sued by the Trump administration DOJ on April 7, 2026 along with other Ann Arbor county officials for trying to evade cooperation with ICE enforcement of illegals. The action is assigned to Judge Robert White in Detroit.
Karen McDonald had the additional baggage of a pending Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission investigation that could have conceivably wound up with ethics charges being handed down prior to the November election. Delegates were cognizant of that possible scenario and voted for Eli Savit to avoid that possibility.
There is an Ann Arbor Democratic saying that you “fake left and run right” when you campaign for office. Karen McDonald did that. McDonald and Savit were elected on similar platforms by voters after they campaigned on “restorative justice” advocacy. Savit followed through on this and did implement a restorative justice policy after his election – however McDonald did the opposite by engaging in the same aggressive win-at-all-costs policy that her predecessor Jessica Cooper was despised for in Oakland County.
Delegates wanted honest and ethical candidates – and Savit clearly was more respected in these regards.
Hey Bill, looking at more immediate issues…who do you like in the Derby?