LANSING, Mich. — Two days after midterm voters locked in a sweeping campaign-finance limit, Michigan’s largest power companies asked a federal judge to freeze it.
DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and related firms filed in the Western District of Michigan on Nov. 5. They want temporary and lasting orders that would keep state elections and law-enforcement officials from enforcing the new Section 30a rules voters approved as Proposal 2.
Roughly four in five ballots backed the measure on Tuesday, according to unofficial tallies. The package bars regulated utilities and firms holding more than a quarter-million dollars in state contracts from certain political gifts, and it reaches executives, board members, major owners and household relatives.
Company lawyers say the ban clashes with free-speech and association rights and with due-process and equal-protection guarantees. They argue it is not tightly aimed at stopping bribery-style corruption and that it leaves firms choosing between political participation and heavy fines.
Consumers Energy said the law singles out a Michigan employer and workers’ relatives while big out-of-state spenders stay free to pour money into races. Court papers also list the elderly mother of DTE’s treasurer as a plaintiff, saying she holds no utility job yet would be blocked from giving to candidates.
The complaint names elections director Jonathan Brater as a defendant, along with Dana Nessel in her role as attorney general and Jocelyn Benson as secretary of state — now the governor-elect. Ballot sponsors say they planned for a courtroom fight. A think-tank challenge to pieces of the same law landed the night the measure passed.
Section: More Lansing MI politics news
Filed under: Lansing MI Politics News
