By Kathleen Gray
Detroit Free Press
Lansing Bureau
LANSING — The organizations backing ballot proposals to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and stop wolf hunts in the Upper Peninsula raised more than $1.5 million to try to get their issues on the ballot.
But the petitions gathered by the Raise Michigan effort for the minimum wage, which raised $566,515 and spent most of its money, failed last week when the state Board of Canvassers ruled they fell nearly 4,000 signatures short of the 258,088 required to qualify for the ballot.
Most of the money for that effort — $363,000 — came from the Restaurant Opportunities Center, which was pushing for the $10.10 wage for all hourly workers, including tipped employees such as bartenders and waitresses.
But the People Protecting Michigan Jobs, funded by the Michigan Restaurant Association, was successful in its challenge of the petitions. It kicked in $25,178 to stop the petition drive before it could get on the ballot.
The Keep Michigan Wolves Protected organization has embarked on two petition drives to stop the wolf hunt in three targeted areas of the western Upper Peninsula. Its fight was fueled primarily by the Humane Society’s legislative fund, which kicked in $1,041,375 for the ballot proposals. The group still has $523,952 in available cash for the anti-wolf hunt campaign.
Both ballot proposals could end up being thwarted by the Legislature, however, which has passed two laws enabling the wolf hunt.
A third wolf hunt ballot proposal, sponsored by Citizens for Professional Wildlife Management that supports keeping the wolf hunt, was certified for the ballot last week and is meant to circumvent the second anti-wolf hunt proposal. Various chapters of Safari Club International across the U.S. funded most of that ballot proposal, kicking in $221,800 to gather the signatures needed to get the issue before the Legislature.
The Legislature could take up the proposal when lawmakers come back for one day of session on Aug. 13. If they approve the proposal, it would automatically become law. If they don’t, it would go the general election ballot, making it possible for voters to see three wolf hunt proposals on the November ballot.
The committee to Restore a Part-Time Legislature never turned in any ballot proposal petitions and failed to qualify for the ballot, raising only a total of $55,625, according to campaign finance reports filed last week with the Secretary of State. The biggest contribution — $12,000 — came from Patriots for a Better America, a conservative Super PAC started by Dearborn businessman Gary Leigh. The organization also lists debts of $27,000, including $25,000 from retired engineer Michael Kuras of Spring Lake and $2,000 from Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema.
Other PACs raising big bucks in this election cycle were the Republican Governor’s Association Michigan PAC, $4,681,646; Turnaround Detroit, a superPAC formed last year to support Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, $3,166,770; the House Republican campaign committee, $2,460,213; the Senate Republican Campaign Committee, $2,123,759; the MI House Democratic Fund, $1,837,991, and the MI Senate Democratic Fund, $839,493.