Mackinac Center for Public Policy

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is a right-wing pressure group based in Michigan. Founded in 1987, it is the largest state-level "think tank" in the nation. It was established by right-wing activists to promote "free market," pro-business policies. The Center voices its policy positions though publications and has moved beyond Michigan by helping the leaders of similar conservative institutions to ratchet up their operations in many other states and countries around the world. It is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a web of state pressure groups that denote themselves as "think tanks" and drive a right-wing agenda in statehouses nationwide. The organization has drawn fire for its advocacy of right wing positions.

Leading academics have criticized the Center, saying that "Mackinac Center research is often of low quality and because of this it should be treated with considerable skepticism by the public, policy makers and political leaders. Much of the work of the Mackinac Center may have caused more confusion than clarity in the public discussion of the issues that it has addressed by systematically ignoring evidence that does not agree with its proposed solutions."

Former Mackinac Center scholar and Vice President Joseph P. Overton invented the concept of the Overton Window, which describes policy positions that are acceptable to the public. "Shifting the window" is the process of making previously unthinkable positions appear acceptable, or vice versa.

News and Controversies

My Pay, My Say Campaign

My Pay My Say is a $10 million front group set up by The Mackinac Center to aid public sector union members in not paying fees to cover a union’s cost for negotiating better pay and benefits on their behalf following the Janus v. AFSCME labor case. It purports to be a resource for "government workers who are currently compelled to pay their public unions as a condition of employment." Members of the State Policy Network are joining with Mackinac and planning a "national communication and mobilization effort aimed at all public-sector employees." These efforts include YouTube videos "explaining" the Janus decision, and a forum to help visitors to its website "opt out" of their union.

"My Pay, My Say generates a correctly formatted letter for all states to inform unions that an individual will no longer be a paying member. Teacher union members in Newton, MA received emails after the Janus decision directing them to this site, as did Illinois teachers," the Center for Media and Democracy reported.

Link to Emergency Managers and Flint Water Crisis

The Mackinac Center played a role in the 2015 water crisis that contaminated the water of thousands of residents in Flint, Michigan, exposing Flint residents including thousands of children to high levels of lead and other hazardous substances. From 2013-2014, two appointed emergency managers, Ed Kurtz and then Darnell Earley, oversaw the planning and implementation of a switch from Detroit water to the polluted Flint River, which was expected to save $5 million while the city waited for a new pipeline to Lake Huron. Residents began complaining about the water quality soon after, and Flint's City Council voted in March 2015 to return to Detroit water, but as emergency manager with the power to override local decisions, Earley blocked any switch.

The Mackinac Center has historically supported emergency managers, and it had scripted legislation that passed in Michigan in 2012 that gave managers expanded powers, including the ability to "break union contracts, and revise municipal charters, while getting legal immunity from any liability for the results of their actions," as reported by the Center for Media and Democracy Mackinac used the financial distress of Michigan public school districts and local governments to justify the expansion of power to unelected officials; according to Jack McHugh of the Mackinac Center, the expansion of emergency managers across the state by Governor Rick Snyder provided "rigorous 'chemotherapy'" required "to sustain the necessary functions of tapped-out school districts and local governments."

Mackinac's Louis Schimmel called for loosening limits and expanding managers' powers as early as 2005, and the group reprinted his article in January 2011. Mackinac argued: "The state's policy prescription for fiscally floundering cities should be to appoint... far more powerful emergency financial managers than they have in the past."

In March 2011, newly elected Republican Governor Rick Snyder signed into law Public Act 4, which gave him nearly unlimited power to declare financial emergencies and appoint emergency managers, and included all four of Mackinac's proposals to "improve" the previous, limited financial emergency law. Public outrage over the law led to its repeal in a ballot referendum in November 2012, but Snyder pushed through an amended version (including a small appropriation to make it ineligible for another referendum) the following month.

Flint was the first city to undergo the financial review process under the expanded law;

Schimmel was named the state's first emergency manager by Snyder, who put him in charge of Pontiac, Michigan. Schimmel proceeded to dismiss city officials, privatize the public works department, and outsource its water treatment to United Water Services, a for-profit company that had previously been indicted by a federal grand jury in 2010 on 26 felony counts of conspiracy and Clean Water Act violations for its mishandling of water services in Gary, Indiana. That case ended with the company paying a $645,000 civil fine under a consent agreement. Pontiac residents experience ongoing problems with water quality and sewer problems, and three years later the city's water treatment was taken over by Oakland County.

Although Mackinac contributed to increasing the powers of emergency managers, it denies that was a factor in prompting the Flint crisis. Instead, Mackinac released an article about the crisis that pointed to a cover-up by government officials in order to bolster Mackinac's own "constant narrative of supposed government incompetence and corruption." Two other municipalities that like Flint, planned to switch to the Lake Huron supply, but which did not have emergency managers, simply negotiated new contracts with Detroit.

Involvement in Michigan's 2012 "Right to Work" Bill

Right to Work promotional video

On December 11, 2012, governor Rick Snyder signed into law a "right to work" bill, undermining collective bargaining by allowing workers to freeload off the benefits of union negotiations without paying the costs of union representation. The Mackinac Center played a prominent role in supporting this action.

The Mackinac Center and its funders, such as the billionaire DeVos family of the Amway fortune, had been coordinating behind close doors to effect this change "for 25 years," as a Mackinac blog post boasted after the bill passed, going on to call the passage of the bill "a classic example of the Overton Window of what's politically possible moving in the proper direction. Mackinac Center experts have been pushing that window toward right-to-work since 1990."

In fact, SPN singled out the Mackinac Center's president, Joseph Lehman, for its highest award at its 2013 annual meeting, the "Roe Award" named after SPN founder and building materials supply magnate Thomas A. Roe. Why? For "the passage of a right-to-work law in Michigan," another blog post boasted. Betsy DeVos presented the award to Lehman, and Dick DeVos was recognized as well.

Mackinac created or helped create two new online publications -- called "Michigan Capital Confidential" and "Watchdog Wire Michigan" (a project of the Franklin Center, of which Mackinac is a "partner") -- to communicate its claims, gain public support, and put pressure on the governor to adopt its "right to work" changes to state law.

In audio released in early 2013 by Progress Michigan, Mackinac Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio was recorded as telling supporters at an Americans for Prosperity "Citizen Watchdog Training" that he had met with Michigan lawmakers to make a plan for ramming "right to work" laws through the state legislature. And in a series of 2011 emails between Mackinac staffers and Michigan Rep. Tom McMillin about a different piece of legislation, Mackinac's Jack McHugh told McMillin, "Our goal is outlaw government collective bargaining in Michigan, which in practical terms means no more MEA" (Michigan Education Association, the state's teachers union). In another email, McMillin told Mackinac staffers, "my ability to impact this decision could be assisted by hearing your thoughts...soon (and again, this is off the record - ok?)"

Based on these email exchanges and other evidence, U.S. Rep. Sandy Levin (D-MI) asked the IRS to investigate Mackinac and "take appropriate actions to ensure that the Mackinac Center is in full compliance with federal tax law."

Major funders of Mackinac have included the DeVos Family, heirs to the founder of Amway, and the Walton Family, heirs to Walmart. Between 1998 and 2011, Mackinac received $560,000 from four DeVos foundations; and between 2000 and 2003, the Walton Family Foundation donated at least $300,000. Both Amway and Walmart were among the 3,100 business that signed a letter in 2009 opposing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), legislation that would have made it easier for workers to unionize. Walmart fought extensively to take down the EFCA, spending $7.4 million in lobbying efforts. Mackinac shifted its position from questioning whether Michigan should be a Right to Work state in 1994 to adamantly supporting "Make Michigan Open for Business" in 1998, immediately after the the DeVos foundation donations appear to have begun.

But, despite all its efforts to achieve major legal changes such as "right to work," and its own admission that it had been pushing the change and communicating with state legislators about it, the Mackinac Center reported no lobbying to the IRS in 2012, 2011, or 2010.

See PRWatch.org for more.

Opposition to Environmental Protections

According to Progresse Michigan, Mackinac has received generous funding from the Charles G. Koch Foundation in support of efforts to oppose environmental protection policies. The foundation gave $79,151 between 2005 and 2009. During this period of time, Mackinac and Jack McHugh released reports supporting the "No-More-Stringent" law in Michigan, which prohibited the Department of Environmental Quality from adopting any regulation more stringent than the federal government. Opposition to environmental regulation would be beneficial to Koch Industries various interests and the corporation is a known repeat offender of EPA regulations.

Climate Change Denial and Opposition to Renewable Energy

Mackinac has also called research on anthropogenic global warming a "pseudoscience," citing well-known climate change deniers Patrick J. Michaels and Robert C. Balling as evidence that the science behind global warming is falsified. Mackinac has also advocated that Michigan lower its renewable portfolio standards (RPS) requirements to zero, citing Solyndra as an example of the unreliability of renewable energy. The Michigan RPS is 10 percent by 2015. On wind power, Mackinac's senior environmental policy analyst Russ Harding has stated, "It is a given that households will pay for wind power through higher energy bills," and "Michigan legislators should repeal the renewable energy standard."

Support of Privatization

Privatizing Prisons

Mackinac has been an ardent supporter of privatization of the correctional systems. According to Progress Michigan, the organization has released a series reports advocating privatization for the state with extensive "evidence" showing how the move towards private prisons would improve the finical state of Michigan. These various reports state that privatization would alleviate problems such as overcrowding and improve overall quality of prisons. The reports fail to mention any possible downsides and work to push an agenda for funders who support private prisons.

Privatizing Education

The Center has focused a great deal of its scholarly efforts on advancing school choice programs in Michigan, drawing great criticism for attacking teachers unions and public schools in the process. A 2002 study authored by three professors in the educational field, two from Columbia and another from Arizona State University, reviewed the Center's previous 11 years of work on education policy and found that "evidence presented in Mackinac Center studies is often weak and at times misleading." Continuing, they added that "it is hoped that this report has been helpful in revealing the shortcomings and the possible dangers inherent on basing public policy on the research of the Mackinac Center," and that the Center "is devoted to privatizing state institutions and to deregulating public education."

The report analyzed the quality of Mackinac Center studies by employing the numerical scale used to determine whether or scholarly material written and researched by professors in the education field could be published in various scholarly journals in the education field. It adjusted these criteria to allow for the differences between original research, interpretive research, opinion essays and administrative and legislative guides, all of which were genres published in education journals. The report found that only 1 report out of 22 appropriately addressed its topic matter.

Chilling Academic Freedom?

In March 2011, as protests over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's proposal to effectively end public sector collective bargaining continued to grow in Wisconsin, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy issued Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for three Michigan Universities, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Michigan State University. The request targeted any emails containing: “collective bargaining,” “Wisconsin,” “Madison,” “Scott Walker” or “Maddow.” The requests target labor studies faculty at each school. USA Today wrote that Mackinac's "demands for professors' e-mails about Wisconsin's public employee labor strife is causing an uproar among some who suggest the Freedom of Information Act requests aim to intimidate pro-labor dissenters and stifle academic freedom."

The FOIA request was very similar to one submitted by the Republican Party of Wisconsin to University of Wisconsin-Madison historian William J. Cronon during the same week, after the professor had published a blog post questioning the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Governor Walker's anti-union legislation. Paul Krugman of the New York Times wrote " there’s a clear chilling effect when scholars know that they may face witch hunts whenever they say things the G.O.P. doesn’t like."

Like the Wisconsin GOP's request for Cronon's emails, Mackinac's request posed some concerns for university professors because the request could be an attempt to quell political opposition. In a New York Times article, Director of Academic Freedom for the American Association of University Professors, Greg Scholtz, said, “We think all this will have a chilling effect on academic freedom. We’ve never seen FOIA requests used like this before.”

The Overton Window: Moving Policies from "Unthinkable" to Enacted

The Overton Window is a tool used to visualize policy positions along the political spectrum. It was invented by Joseph P. Overton, a Mackinac Center scholar and Vice President, in the mid-1990's and has "gained national currency" since 2003. In the Center's own description, it is designed to provide a spectrum which visualizes policies acceptable to the public with the various ends of the spectrum representing 'unthinkable' policies and the middle representing a policy that would be widely well received by the public. Any policy which would be deemed acceptable or desirable by the public is "in the window". The concept also holds that legislators can only act within the window out of their duty to constituents. According to the Center, the window is also finite and can be moved. The Center advocates action by think tanks and other non-political figures which would "shift the window", bringing policies that would once be thought of as radical or unthinkable into the realm of possibility, allowing legislators to enact them. Consequently, policies once looked upon acceptable or desirable would move out of favor with the public.

Michigan Capitol Confidential

Michigan Capitol Confidential is a right-wing media source and the Michigan affiliate of the Franklin Center (see above for more). It produces articles and blog posts intended to appear like those of traditional news sources, but with a demonstrated conservative bias and pushing a right wing agenda.

Personnel:

• Manny Lopez--Managing Editor
• Tom Gantert--Senior Capitol Correspondant
• Jack Spencer--Capitol Affairs Specialist
• Jarrett Skorup--Research Associate for Online Engagement

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

Through 2016 the Mackinac Center for Public Policy received $1,532,500 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Bradley detailed the most recent grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of the grant prepared by CMD. The quoted text was written by Bradley staff.

2015: $175,000 to support general operations and a mobile app project. As of this grant Mackinac has received $1,357,500 from the Bradley Foundation. “Mackinac is among the most aggressive and, as the right to work victory shows, successful state think tanks in America. With many Bradley supported allies, Mackinac and its labor, legal, and educational efforts provide good programmatic and organizational models for the rest of the country.” (Source: Grant History Document 2014, Bradley IRS 990 2014, 2015). The Bradley funded app is called VoteSpotter, “it provides a concise, neutral, ‘plain English’ descriptions of specific legislative actions, in real time.”

2014: $50,000 to support general operations. “Bradley’s recent support of Mackinac has been styled as for its Labor and Education Project. Mackinac would also like to use some of any continued Bradley support for its Mackinac Center Legal Foundation (MCLF), the attorneys of which do most of their work on labor and education related matters. Mackinac’s director of labor policy is Vincent Vernuccio, who chairs a committee of the labor task force of the Bradley supported American Legislative Exchange Council and previously has worked at the Bradley supported Capital Research Center and Bradley supported Competitive Enterprise Institute… MCLF spent much of last year helping to defend the new right to work law, in policy and legal arguments, as well as in the larger public discourse in the state and nationally… MCLF is working with the Bradley supported National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation on this and several other legal matters surrounding implementation of right to work in Michigan… On education, among other things, Mackinac is analyzing mroe[sic] than 200 collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) in the state, covering some 75% of the state’s public school students, to see if and if so, how, they are adhering to the teacher tenure and evaluation policy changes. The results will be an important, in depth, one state version of the larger, national study of CBAs being done by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.” Support comes from more than 3,000 foundations, corporations and individuals. Its labor and education work has been funded by the Dow Foundation, Earhart Foundation, Herrick Foundation, and Chrysler.

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more. Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

The Mackinac Center has received significant funding from the Koch family foundations as well as other funding from the Koch conduits DonorTrust and Donors Capital Fund. (See below).

In addition, the Mackinac Center is, as of October 2016, listed as a "partner organization" in the Charles Koch Institute's Liberty@Work program.

Board member Richard Haworth has attended at least two Koch network summit meeting and was highlighted at the 2011 Vail summit for donating at least $1 million to Koch-approved causes.

Ties to DonorsTrust, a Koch Conduit

DonorsTrust is considered a "donor-advised fund," which means that it divides its funds into separate accounts for individual donors, who then recommend disbursements from the accounts to different non-profits. Funds like DonorsTrust are not uncommon in the non-profit sector, but they do cloak the identity of the original donors because the funds are typically distributed in the name of DonorsTrust rather than the original donors. Very little was known about DonorsTrust until late 2012 and early 2013, when the Guardian and others published extensive reports on what Mother Jones called "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement."

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy received an aggregate of $1,494,000 in funding from DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund between 2010 and 2012.

A report by the Center for Public Integrity exposes a number of DonorsTrust funders, many of which have ties to the Koch brothers. One of the most prominent funders is the Knowledge and Progress Fund, a Charles Koch-run organization and one of the group's largest known contributors, having donated nearly $9 million from 2005 to 2012. Other contributors known to have donated at least $1 million to DonorsTrust include the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation, Donald & Paula Smith Family Foundation, Searle Freedom Trust, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, and the John M. Olin Foundation.

Since its inception in 1999, DonorsTrust has been used by conservative foundations and individuals to discretely funnel nearly $400 million to like-minded think tanks and media outlets. According to the organization's tax documents, in 2011, DonorsTrust contributed a total of $86 million to conservative organizations. Many recipients had ties to the State Policy Network (SPN), a wide collection of conservative state-based think tanks and media organizations that focus on shaping public policy and opinion. In 2013, the Center for Media and Democracy released a special report on SPN. Those who received DonorsTrust funding included media outlets such as the Franklin Center and the Lucy Burns Institute, as well as think tanks such as SPN itself, the Heartland Institute, Illinois Policy Institute, Independence Institute, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, South Carolina Policy Council, American Legislative Exchange Council, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, and the Cascade Policy Institute.

Koch Wiki

The Koch brothers -- David and Charles -- are the right-wing billionaire co-owners of Koch Industries. As two of the richest people in the world, they are key funders of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on the Kochs include: Koch Brothers, Koch Industries, Americans for Prosperity, American Encore, and Freedom Partners.

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has been active in many "task forces" of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC):

• Senior Fellow in Environmental and Regulatory Policy Russ Harding is a member of the Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force.
• F. Vincent Vernuccio, Mackinac's Director of Labor Policy, is the Private Sector Chair of the Labor and Business Regulation Subcommittee of the Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force as of October 2013.
• Paul Kersey, who was director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center from September 2007 to May 2012, is a member of the Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force. Kersey represented the Mackinac Center at ALEC's 2012 Spring Task Force Summit. He presented three pieces of model legislation to the task force: the “Financial Accountability for Public Employee Unions Act,” the “Election Accountability for Municipal Employees Act,” and the “Decertification Elections Act.”
• Jack McHugh represented the Mackinac Center for Public Policy on the Health and Human Services Task Force at ALEC's annual meeting and States and Nations Policy Summit, both in 2010, and at the Spring 2011 Task Force Summit.
• Director of Education Policy Michael Van Beek has represented the center on the Education Task Force.
• Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy James Hohman represents Mackinac on the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force.

The Mackinac Center also has ties to ALEC through its membership in the State Policy Network (SPN), which supports ALEC.

Please see SPN Ties to ALEC for more.

About ALEC

ALEC is a corporate bill mill. It is not just a lobby or a front group; it is much more powerful than that. Through ALEC, corporations hand state legislators their wishlists to benefit their bottom line. Corporations fund almost all of ALEC's operations. They pay for a seat on ALEC task forces where corporate lobbyists and special interest reps vote with elected officials to approve “model” bills. Learn more at the Center for Media and Democracy's ALECexposed.org, and check out breaking news on our PRWatch.org site.

Ties to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy has hosted writers from the ALEC-connected Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which screens potential reporters on their “free market” views as part of the job application process. The Franklin Center funds reporters in over 40 states. Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias. On its website, the Franklin Center claims it "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."

Franklin Center Funding

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records). Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article. Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a conservative grant-making organization.

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM), a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network, which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation. SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund.

See below for more.

Methods of Operation and Messaging

According to the Michigan Education Association, "The Mackinac Center receives attention not because of its objective scholarship but because it showers the media and governmental officials at all levels with publications designed to promote a conservative agenda. It is undoubtedly a very effective conduit for the policy wishes of its sponsors. It has shown great resourcefulness in creating new ways to spread its message. Between its presence in the Michigan Legislature, its many publications, news releases, its web site and conferences it might seem to be spreading its message in every way possible, but it continues to find new outlets":

• It recently sponsored a contest to reward a student essay that best “exposes a scientific fallacy in a book, movie, song or other pop culture medium.”
• A new program “Students for a Free Economy” will visit Michigan colleges and universities “taking policy ideas to students … who may be unfamiliar with the ways that markets affect their lives and the issues they care about.”
• It’s Freedom in Fiction Prize competition offers $10,000 to the new book author who creates:

• "…characters that demonstrate an appreciation for liberty, free markets and/or explicitly or symbolically oppose government oppression or restraints on their freedom…"

But the book must not:

• "…advance themes or characters who promote government-sponsored solutions; vilify entrepreneurship; degrade personal initiative, self-reliance and responsibility, or regurgitate discredited myths and misconceptions about liberty and free enterprise… "

History

The Mackinac Center was founded in 1987 with backing from the Cornerstone Foundation. According to a 2012 report by the Michigan Education Association, "The insurance industry (primarily Citizen’s) provided initial funding, amounting to $306,382 during this period. Various officials of Dow Corning and Dow Chemical paid $335,986."

"Its creation was driven by the insurance industry’s call for product liability reform, its interest in the Accident Fund, and by Dow Corning’s concern over silicone breast implant liability. . . .

"According to documents filed by the Center with the federal government, its activities are tax exempt because it is:

"'Conducting policy research on matters affecting Michigan residents and proposing approaches to public policy issues consistent with the traditional American values of free-markets, limited government, and respect for private property. . .'

"In order to retain this tax exempt status, the Center states that it has not:

"'… attempted to influence national, state, or local legislation, including any attempt to influence public opinion on a legislative matter or referendum.'"

The Mackinac Center is a member of the State Policy Network (SPN), a network of state-based think tanks patterned after the Heritage Foundation. Mackinac Center President Emeritus Lawrence Reed serves on the SPN Board of Directors.

Funding

Mackinac Center Revenues 1998-2010, Source: IRS 990s, from MEA Report

The Mackinac Center refuses to disclose who pays for its operations. When asked by Detroit’s Metro Times in 1996, the Center’s then-President Lawrence Reed said, "Our funding sources are primarily foundations … with the rest coming from corporations and individuals," but that "… revealing our contributors would be a tremendous diversion…" However, some information about the Mackinac Center's funding can be gathered from its donors' tax filings.

Partial List of Mackinac Center Non-Profit Funders, 1993-2015:

Foundation	Amount Donated	Foundation's funding source	Years
Aequus Foundation	$4,500.00	Free Market/Christian Science Advocacy	2001-2010
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation	$2,000	Community Foundation	2001-2010
Beach Foundation	$5,000		2001-2010
Bradley Foundation, Lynde and Harry	$1,096,375	Electronic and radio component heirs	1998-2015
Brandon Foundation, David A.	$3,500	Former Domino's Pizza CEO	2001-2010
Bretzlaff Foundation, Hilda E.	$1,000		2001-2010
Broad Foundation, Eli & Edythe	$27,500	Homebuilding and retirement	2001-2010
Castle Rock Foundation	$75,000.00	Coors founder's sons	2003-2011
Charles G. Koch Foundation	$79,151	Charles Koch	2005-2009
Chase Foundation of Virginia	$93,150	JP Morgan banking heirs	2005-2009
DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund	$375,000	Automotive corporation	2001-2010
Dart Foundation	$20,000	Founder of Dart Container Corp	2001-2010
DeVos Foundation, Daniel and Pamella	$85,000	Amway founder son, CEO DP Fox Ventures	2001-2010
DeVos Foundation, Dick & Betsy	$175,000	Rep candidate for Gov./former State Rep. Chair	1995-2010
DeVos Foundation, Douglas & Maria	$120,000	Current Alticor (Amway) Co-CEO	2001-2010
DeVos Foundation, Richard and Helen	$180,000	Amway founder	1998-2011
Donner Foundation, William H.	$205,000	Heirs of Union Steel Co. founder	1998-2010
Donors Capital Fund	[$3,203,500]	anonymous donor-advised fund	2007-2013
DonorsTrust	$7,600	anonymous donor-advised fund	2004-2010
Dow Foundation, Herbert H. and Grace A.	$3,215,000	Dow Chemical founder widow	2001-2010
Dunn's Foundation for the Advancement of Right Thinking	$999,000	Investment company founder	2002-2011
Earhart Foundation	$1,320,800	White Star Oil heirs	1997-2010
ExxonMobil Foundation	$25,500	Oil corporation	2001-2002
Fisher Foundation, Max M. and Marjorie S	$1,000	Gas stations and real estate	2001-2010
Gelman Educational Foundation	$10,000	Gelman Instrument Company	2001-2010
General Motors Foundation	$30,000	Automotive corporation	2001-2010
Gerstacker Foundation, Rollin M.	$160,000	Dow Chemical Chairman (retired)	2001-2010
Hanover Insurance Group Foundation	$5,500	Insurance corporation	2001-2010
Hansen Foundation, Robert and Marie	$45,000	Cogen Technologies founder (energy cogeneration)	2003-2006
Heritage Mark Foundation	$7,000	Christian causes, emphasis on evangelism	2001-2010
Herrick Foundation	$2,150,000	Tecumseh Engines founder's son	2001-2010
Hickory Foundation	$112,500	Investment company founder's former wife	1999-2011
Hume Foundation, Jaquelin	$830,000	Basic Vegetable company heir	1999-2011
Humphreys Foundation, J. P	$40,000	TAMKO roofing, composite decking founder's wife	2001-2010
JM Foundation	$115,000	Borden Milk Company heirs	1995-2006
Kelly Services, Inc. Foundation, MI	$3,500	Staffing corporation	2001-2010
Koch Charitable Foundation, Charles G.	$79,151	Koch Industries oil corporation co-owner	2005-2009
Lambe Charitable Foundation, Claude R.	$5,000	Koch Industries oil corporation heirs	2001
Krieble Foundation, Vernon K.	$1,500	Loctite Corporation heirs	2002
Merillat Foundation, Orville D. & Ruth A	$395,000	Cabinet manufacturer founder's widow	1995-2011
Perrigo Company Charitable Foundation	$36,000	Over-the-counter drug manufacturer	2001-2010
Peters Foundation, Ruth and Lovett	$525,000	Procter & Gamble heirs	2001-2010
Pope Foundation, John William	$5,500	Variety Wholesalers retail chain founder	2001-2010
Prince Foundation, Edgar and Elsa	$150,000	Prince Automotive founder's widow	2001-2010
Rodney Fund	$2,450,831	Detroit Forming founder/Mackinac Board member	1998-2011
Roe Foundation	$365,000	Builder Marts of American founder	1998-2011
Scaife Foundation, Sarah	$100,000	Mellon industrial, oil and banking heirs	1999-2000
Schiavone Family Foundation	$10,000	Construction company investigated for organized crime connections	2001-2010
Staley Educational Foundation	$1,000		2001-2010
State Policy Network	$136,550		2012-2014
Strosacker Foundation, Charles J	$68,750	Dow Chemical Board member	2001-2010
Van Andel Foundation, Jay and Betty	$20,000	Amway founder widow	2001-2010
Walton Family Foundation	$300,000	Walmart heirs	2000-2002

In Strategic Grantmaking, Foundations and the School Privatization Movement, Richard Cohen of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy estimates that one-half to two-thirds of all corporate grant-making is “made through the CEO’s office or the marketing department, for which there is no public disclosure requirement.”

The Media Matters Action Network has identified the organization's all-time biggest funder as the Rodney Foundation, an organization founded by Mackinac Center board member James Rodney.

Projects, Publications and Related Websites

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy runs the following affiliated sites and publications:

• Mackinac Center Legal Foundation - Law Firm
• Michigan Capitol Confidential - News service reporting on public officials
• Students for a Free Economy -
• Michigan Votes.org - database of legislative bills, votes
• Show Michigan the Money -
• Mackinac Media - Interviews and News Reports

Core Financials

2014

• Total Revenue: $4,972,208
• Total Expenses: $4,351,888
• Net Assets: $10,536,151

2013

• Total Revenue: $5,593,469
• Total Expenses: $4,339,266
• Net Assets: $9,783,041

2012

• Total Revenue: $3,222,455
• Total Expenses: $4,395,247
• Net Assets: $8,451,422

2011:

• Total Revenue: $5,778,257.00
• Total Expenses: $3,925,505.00
• Net Assets: $9,523,575.00

2010:

• Total Revenue: $3,511,159.00
• Total Expenses: $3,401,252.00
• Net Assets: $7,581,106.00

2009:

• Total Revenue: $3,310,018.00
• Total Expenses: $3,377,168.00
• Net Assets: $7,345,742.00

Personnel

Staff

As of September 2018:

• Dale Anderson, Information Systems Administrator
• Ilia Anderson, Graphic Design Assistant
• Patricia Benner, Vice President for Operations
• Isaiah Bierbrauer, Information Systems Developer
• Christine Bowerson, Office Manager
• Evan Carter, Reporter for Michigan Capital Confidential
• Sandra Darland, Events Manager
• Michelle Deeth, Operations Assistant
• Justin Davis, Multimedia Producer
• Michelle Deeth, Operations Assistant
• Ben DeGrow, Director of Education Policy
• Stephen Frick, Manager of Information Systems
• Tom Gantert, Managing Editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential
• David Guenthner, Senior Strategist for State Affairs
• Jason Hayes, Director of Environmental Policy
• James Hohman, Assistant Director of Fiscal Policy
• Caleb Hortop, Regional Director of Strategic Partnerships
• Ashley Keimach, Regional Director of Strategic Partnerships
• Amy Kellogg, Assistant to the President
• Lindsay Killen, Vice President for Strategic Outreach & Communications
• Andrew Koehlinger, VoteSpotter Project Director
• Micheal LaFaive, Director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative
• John LaPlante, Contributing Editor
• Joseph Lehman, President
• Kara Malkowski, Operations Office Assistant
• Jack McHugh, Senior Legislative Analyst
• Julie Meyer, Database Manager
• Joe Milligan, Regional Director of Strategic Partnerships
• Michael Reitz, Executive Vice President
• Kahryn Riley, Policy Analyst
• Geneva Ruppert, Communications Associate
• Don Orrico, Regional Director of Strategic Partnerships
• Lori Schumann, Administrative Assistant
• Lorie Shane, Managing Director of Advancemen
• Jarrett Skorup, Policy Analyst
• Michael Van Beek, Director of Research
• Melissa Van Meter, Advancement Assistant
• Jonathan VanDerhoof, Graphic Designer
• F. Vincent Vernuccio, Director of Labor Policy
• Jim Walker, Vice President for Advancement
• Derk Wilcox, Senior Attorney
• Patrick Wright, Vice President for Legal Affairs

Former Staff

• Luke Derheim, Intern
• Kristin Anderson, Events Manager
• Anne Schieber Dykstra, Community Engagement Manager
• Sharon Millerwise, Administrative Assistant
• John Mozena, Vice President for Marketing and Communications
• Chantal Lovell, Media Relations Manager
• Beth Hanson, Operations Office Assistant
• Derek Draplin, Reporter for Michigan Capitol Confidential
• Lindsey Dodge, Editor
• Burton Folsom, Senior Fellow in Economic Education
• David Littmann, Senior Economist
• Anne Schieber, Senior Investigative Analyst
• Lorie Shane, Managing Director of Advancement
• Thomas Shull, Senior Director of Research Quality
• Dan Armstrong, Marketing and Communications Team Leader
• Christina Bolema, Communications Intern
• Zachary Dawes, Research Intern
• Josiah Killmeyer, Research Intern
• Nathan Lehman, Research Intern
• Manny Lopez, Managing Editor, Michigan Capitol Confidential
• Ted O’Neil, Media Relations Manager
• Dane Skorup, Research Intern
• Audrey Spalding, Education Policy Analyst
• Jack Spencer, Capitol Affairs Specialist
• Zachary Woodman, Research Intern

Board of Directors

As of September 2018:

• Clifford Taylor, Chairman
• Kent Herrick, Vice Chairman
• Joseph Maguire, Treasurer
• Richard McLellan, Secretary (McLellan Law Offices)
• Jim Barrett
• Dulce Fuller
• Daniel Graf
• Richard Haworth
• J.C. Huizenga
• Joseph Lehman, President
• Edward Levy
• Rodney Lockwood
• D. Joseph Olson

Former Board Members

• Paul Gadola (Judge, Reagan Campaign Chair, Federalist Society)
• Mara M. Letica, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Letica Corp
• Gail Torreano, Chief of Staff to Sen. Kevin Engler
• Lawrence W. Reed, Mackinac Center President Emeritus
• Margaret Riecker, Republican National Committee, Dow Foundation
• John Riecker, Hillsdale College and Comerica Bank, d. 2008
• Linda Rodney, managing partner at LK Rodney Enterprises, LLC.
• James Rodney, Chairman of the Board, Detroit Forming
• William Rosenberg , Bush Presidential Campaign, Reagan, Milliken and Engler administrations
• Robert Teeter, RNC Chairman, Pollster for Nixon, Ford, Bush campaign
• Philip Van Dam, US Attorney under Ford
• Gregory Kaza, Former Republican State Representative
• Dick DeVos, Amway, Republican Candidate for Governor
• Charles Van Eaton, Hillsdale College
• Peter Cook, Great Lakes Mazda, major Republican campaign donor
• Dick Antonini, Foremost Insurance
• Joseph Fitzsimmons
• R. Douglas Kinnan

Staff Compensation

The Mackinac Center spends a significant part of its annual budget on staff compensation, with executive Vice President Joseph Lehman reporting an increase in his salary every year from 2008-2012. In 2012, Lehman received an annual salary of $197,967, with an estimated bonus of $10,076 from the organization and related organizations. In 2012, the Center spent over $2 million of its nearly $4.4 million budget on staff compensation and benefits.

Contact Information

Mackinac Center for Public Policy
140 West Main Street
P.O. Box 568
Midland, Michigan 48640
Phone: (989) 631-0900
Phone: (800) 22-IDEAS
Fax: (989) 631-0964
Website: http://www.mackinac.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MackinacCenter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MackinacCenter

Resources and Articles

Related SourceWatch Articles

• State Policy Network:
  • SPN Portal
  • SPN Political Activity
  • SPN Funding
    • SPN 2011 Funding
    • SPN 2010 Funding
    • SPN 2009 Funding
  • SPN Agenda
  • SPN Founders, History, and Staff
  • SPN Members
  • SPN Ties to ALEC
  • Thomas A. Roe
  • Tracie Sharp
  • Byron S. Lamm
  • Roe Foundation
• American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
  • ALEC Non-Profits
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital Fund
• Koch Family Foundations
• Koch Industries
• Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
• Heritage Foundation
• Think tanks
• Whitney Ball
• Adam Meyerson
• Bridgett Wagner
• Koch Brothers
• Koch Family Foundations
• Americans for Prosperity
• Freedom Partners
• Cato Institute
• Heritage Foundation
• Koch Universities
• Koch Network
• Knowledge and Progress Fund
• American Encore
• DonorsTrust
• Donors Capital
• 60 Plus
• Generation Opportunity

Related PRWatch Articles

• Brendan Fischer, Why Are the Franklin Center's "Wisconsin Reporter" and "Watchdog.org" Attacking the John Doe?, PRWatch.org, December 19, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, The State Policy Network's Cozy Relationship with Big Tobacco, PRWatch.org, December 16, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Did ALEC Found SPN? 1991 Report Suggests So, Exposes SPN Agenda, PRWatch.org, December 12, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Guardian Documents Expose State Policy Network Groups' Intent to Lobby, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, State Policy Network: The Stealth Network Dramatically Influencing State Law, PRWatch.org, December 5, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, Tracie Sharp: Bursar of Mystery Money and "IKEA Model" Materials to Stink Tanks, PRWatch.org, November 19, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, Reports Expose Extreme Pressure Groups Masquerading as Think Tanks, press release, November 13, 2013.
• Rebekah Wilce, A Reporters’ Guide to the "State Policy Network": the Right-Wing Think Tanks Spinning Disinformation and Pushing the ALEC Agenda in the States, PRWatch.org, April 4, 2013.
• Sara Jerving, ALEC and Heartland Aim to Crush Renewable Energy Standards in the States, PRWatch.org, November 27, 2012.
• Connor Gibson, Meet the Network Hiding the Koch Money: "Donors Trust" and "Donors Capital Fund", PRWatch.org, October 29, 2012.
• Brendan Fischer, Koch-Funded Mackinac Center Brings Wisconsin Act 10 Provisions to ALEC, PRWatch.org, May 2, 2012.
• Sara Jerving, Franklin Center: Right-Wing Funds State News Source, PRWatch.org, October 31, 2011.

External Resources

• Wall Street Journal, The Spoils of the Republican State Conquest, December 9, 2016, archived by CMD here.
• DeSmog Blog, Stink Tanks: Historical Records Reveal State Policy Network Was Created by ALEC, December 9, 2013.
• The Guardian, State conservative groups plan US-wide assault on education, health and tax, December 5, 2013.
• Portland Press Herald, "Washington County residents have mixed reactions to plan to eliminate taxes," December 5, 2013.
• The Texas Observer, "The Money Behind the Fight to Undermine Medicaid," December 5, 2013.
• Media Matters, North Carolina Newspapers Largely Ignore Conservative Funding Of Sham Think Tanks, December 3, 2013.
• Shepherd Express, Masters of Manipulation: Right-wing Billionaires, Corporations and the Bradley Foundation Pay for Junk Studies that Prop up Their Agenda, November 27, 2013.
• "Moyers & Company," How a Shadowy Network of Corporate Front Groups Distorts the Marketplace of Ideas, November 19, 2013.
• MSNBC "Rachel Maddow Show," November 18, 2013.
• Free Speech TV "Ring of Fire," Facebook, Microsoft, AT&T and Others Supporting Right Wing Propaganda Machine, November 18, 2013.
• Topeka Capital-Journal, Trabert dismisses report tying KPI to Koch agenda, November 16, 2013.
• The New Yorker (Jane Mayer), Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?, November 15, 2013.
• Salon, Ted Cruz and Koch brothers embroiled in shadowy Tea Party scheme, November 15, 2013.
• St. Louis Business Journal, Beyond Sinquefield: Who else is funding the Show-Me Institute?, November 15, 2013.
• The Guardian, Facebook and Microsoft help fund rightwing lobby network, report finds, November 14, 2013.
• Huffington Post, Meet The Little-Known Network Pushing Ideas For Kochs, ALEC, November 14, 2013.
• CBS St. Louis, Show-Me Institute’s Ties Questioned in New Report, November 14, 2013.
• Talking Points Memo, Florida Conservative Group Helping Muck Up Obamacare In Alaska, November 14, 2013.
• Mint Press News, Reports Reveal SPN’s Secret Corporate Agenda Through Use ‘Expert’ Testimony, November 14, 2013.
• Media Matters, Shadowy Right-Wing Group Generates Media Coverage For Conservative Policy From Coast To Coast, November 14, 2013.
• The Institute for Southern Studies, Are conservative think tanks breaking lobbying laws?, November 14, 2013.
• Nonprofit Quarterly, Corporate Money in Network of Right-Wing State Policy Think Tanks, November 14, 2013.
• The Progressive, Right-Wing Think Tanks Push Privatization in the States, November 13, 2013.
• Politico, Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs, November 13, 2013.
• Lawrence Journal-World, Reports released by progressive groups are critical of Kansas Policy Institute, November 13, 2013.
• Maine Insights, Report: Maine Heritage Policy Center’s funding connection to Koch Brothers, November 13, 2013.
• The Florida Current, Liberal groups bemoan lobbying by conservative think tanks, November 13, 2013.
• The Oregonian, Cascade Policy Institute benefits from secretive donor group but says it operates independently, November 13, 2013.
• Center for Media and Democracy, EXPOSED: The State Policy Network, The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Arizona Working Families and CMD, A Reporter’s Guide to the Goldwater Institute: What Citizens, Policymakers, and Reporters Should Know, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Progress Florida and CMD, Lawmaking Under the Influence of Very Special Interests: Understand the role of Florida ‘think tanks’ in driving a Koch-fueled, ALEC-allied corporate agenda, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Maine's Majority Education Fund, Fooling Maine: How national conservative groups infiltrated Maine politics by founding and funding the Maine Heritage Policy Center, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Michigan, Who's Running Michigan? The Far-Right Influence of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Alliance for a Better Minnesota, Who's in Charge: How Nationalized Corporate-Run Think Tanks Influence Minnesota Politics, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Missouri, What Missourians Need to Know About the Show-Me Institute, organizational report, updated November 13, 2013.
• Granite State Progress, Bad Bartlett: The Josiah Bartlett Center and NH Watchdog Answer the Call of the Koch Brothers, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• ProgressOhio, Smoke Screen: The Buckeye Institute, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Keystone Progress, Think tanks or corporate lobbyist propaganda mills?, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Progress Texas, TPPF + ALEC, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• One Wisconsin Now, S is for Shill: Inside the Bradley Foundation's Attack on Public Education, organizational report, November 13, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Pence and Right-Wing Are Taking Over Public Education, November 13, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Shawn Vestal: Idaho Freedom Foundation pushes limits of word ‘charity’, November 2, 2013.
• AZ Central, When this ‘watchdog’ pitches, taxpayers strike out, October 12, 2013.
• IndyStar, Daniels says speech to partisan group was a mistake, October 10, 2013.
• Muncie Voice, Indiana Policy Review: Not an Independent News Source, October 2, 2013.
• The Spokesman-Review, Idaho Freedom Foundation's charitable status scrutinized, September 15, 2013.
• CounterSpin, Lee Fang on 'The Right Leans In', April 5, 2013.
• FireDogLake, State Policy Network, an umbrella coordinating ALEC, Heritage, Heartland and others, April 4, 2013.
• Thom Hartmann with Lee Fang on MSNBC, The conservative State Policy Network is sneaking into your state & will change America, March 29, 2013.
• Current TV "War Room", Lee Fang discussing the State Policy Network, March 28, 2013.
• The Nation, The Right Leans In, March 26, 2013.
• Democracy Now, Donors Trust: Little-Known Group Helps Wealthy Backers Fund Right-Wing Agenda in Secret, February 19, 2013.
• Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, Consider the Source, February 14, 2013.
• John R. Mashey, Fake science, fakexperts, funny finances, free of tax 2, DeSmog Blog report, updated October 23, 2012, p. 74.
• Urban Milwaukee, Stealth Conservatives, October 11, 2012.
• Rome News-Tribune, ANALYSIS: Georgia leaders depend on the same well for ideas, October 2012.
• Andy Kroll, The Right-Wing Network Behind the War on Unions, Mother Jones, April 25, 2011.
• Guidestar, State Policy Network, IRS filings and other organizational information about SPN.
• Center for Policy Alternatives, ALEC and the Extreme Right-Wing Agenda, organizational brochure about ALEC and SPN.
• John J. Miller, Fifty Flowers Bloom: Conservative think tanks — mini–Heritage Foundations — at the state level, National Review, November 19, 2007.
• Bridge Project, State Policy Network, online resource listing grants to SPN and SPN's connections to other groups.
• People for the American Way, State Policy Network, RightWingWatch.org, organizational resource.
• Greenpeace, Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group: State Policy Network (SPN), organizational resource.