Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous and activist decision last January in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case that opened the flood gates to the flow of secret corporate money pouring into elections, many people joked that politicians should wear stickers like NASCAR drivers to tell us who is sponsoring them.
We saw that play out on Monday when Michigan Governor-elect Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder met with the so-called bipartisan Freshman Caucus. The event was held at the lobbying firm Karoub Associates and sponsored by the Detroit International Bridge Company, which owns the Ambassador Bridge and Nora Moroun, wife of bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun.
You will recall that last week outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, broke an earlier promise and said there would not be an up or down vote on House Bill 4961 that would authorize Michigan to enter into a public-private partnership with Canada to build the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge and take advantage of Canada agreeing to fund Michigan’s share of the bridge and the addition of 10,000 much needed jobs. This occurred after some large contributions to the Senate Republican caucus and to PACs controlled by Bishop.
The Moroun family has been very active in Lansing in the past year, and in fact they are holding a legislative breakfast this morning at Karoub Associates.
Despite the DRIC bridge having bipartisan and international support, including three of the past Governors, the Big 3 automakers and the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Moroun money has managed to fight off every attempt to supplement the aging 84-yar-old bridge and economic lifeline, allowing him to keep his monopoly supplement the aging 84-year-old.
If the DRIC bridge is not built, no bridge will be built; despite the cosmetic and sham attempts by Moroun to claim he is in the process of building a new span next to the old one. First, the Canadians will never give him a permit to land it in Canada, and Moroun has no intention of ever building a second bridge.
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