Nofs needs Senate seat to pay for green fees and vacation home

Mike Nofs - the Republican candidate for the Michigan Senate’s vacant 19th District seat against Rep. Martin Griffin, D-Jackson - continues to pull the wool over people’s eyes and continues to sell the myth that he is a regular guy and pro-worker.

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer held a press conference in Battle Creek Thursday and reveled regular guy Nofs purchased a Lake Michigan beach front home in South Haven, primarily from the proceeds from a sweetheart deal when he sold his land for a dump to BFI Waste Systems of North America for an undisclosed amount of money that he referred to as “higher than market value” when he was a Calhoun County Commissioner.

But his reason for running for the seat is to serve himself not the residents of Jackson and Calhoun Counties. He told the Battle Creek Enquirer when he announced in April that apparently his two public pensions weren’t enough to maintain his lifestyle.

“I felt for the first time how hard it is to live on a fixed income while your expenses keep going up,” he was quoted as saying in an article. Apparently, those expenses include playing golf at the Battle Creek Country Club and beach front vacation homes.

“With two taxpayer-provided pensions, windfall profits from the sale of his land to a garbage dump, and a new vacation home in South Haven, Mike Nofs doesn’t understand the challenges facing the financially struggling families of the 19th Senate District,” Brewer said. “And with wealth like that, it’s no wonder Mike Nofs opposes government reforms such as the disclosure of financial assets of candidates and elected officials.”

Nofs doesn’t want people to know his sources of income. Nofs was one of just 19 House members to vote against a bipartisan public official asset disclosure bill, House Bill 4285, in 2007.

“Nofs has spent his career lining his pockets and putting Lansing special interests ahead of his constituents,” Brewer said. “His advocacy for the garbage industry and for companies which outsource Michigan jobs has paid off handsomely for him, while hurting the people of Calhoun and Jackson Counties.”