About the investigation

As MLive and the Michigan Campaign Finance network revealed in an investigation this week, more than a third of Michigan’s lawmakers are connected to nonprofit or 527 administrative accounts that can accept corporate cash.

A nonprofit has to report broad expenditures if it raises more than $50,000 per year, and an administrative account has to report expenditures if it raises more than $25,000 per year. While many groups do not have to report expenditures, MLive and MCFN combed through thousands of pages of disclosures to find out what the groups are spending on.

MLive Reporter Emily Lawler and MCFN Executive Director Craig Mauger contributed to this report.

(Photo: AP and MLive photos)

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Clean clothes

According to Internal Revenue Service records, in June 2013, the Great Lakes Administrative Account reimbursed former Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, $358 for “out-of-town dry cleaning.”

(Photo: AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

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Reimbursements

Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, is tied to the Meekhof Administrative Account. Over 2014 and 2015, the account reimbursed Meekhof for $80,315 in things like meals, travel, telephone costs and parking.

Meekhof said he has used the account for the cost of traveling around Michigan and going to conferences, which help him in his role as Senate Majority Leader.

(Photo: AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

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A top advisor

Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration previously raised money through the nonprofit New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify Fund, also known as the NERD Fund. Before the non-disclosing fund was abandoned in 2013, it was used to help pay the salary of Snyder’s “transformation manager” Richard Baird. Baird was eventually moved to the state payroll.

(Photo: Conor Ralph | MLive.com)

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Christmas ornaments

In December 2013, the Concord Administrative Account, connected to Rep. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, reported paying $1,000 to the state of Michigan for Christmas ornaments.

(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

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Fundraising

From 2013 to 2014, Attorney General Bill Schuette's administrative account reported paying the firm Prues Hecker $65,624 for fundraising consulting. Over that same period, the account itself reported raising a total of $212,822. The amount paid for fundraising consulting was 30 percent of that total amount fundraised.



From 2013 through 2015, Prosperous Michigan Fund, an account connected to Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, reported paying $65,124 for "fundraising consulting." That $65,124 represented about 45 percent of the total funds that the account, Prosperous Michigan, raised over that time.

(Photo: AP Photo/Hillery Smith Garrison, File)

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Supporting local charities

Many lawmakers use their nonprofit organizations to make contributions to local charities. In 2012, Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, posted a picture on his official Senate page of him presenting a check from his nonprofit, the Mid Michigan Future Fund, to Rev. Bill Amundsen, treasurer of The Michigan Council on Alcohol Problems.

(Photo: Office of Sen. Rick Jones)

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Flint Water Filters

The Flint water crisis emerged when the city switched water sources, and more corrosive water leached lead from pipes and into the drinking water supply. Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, has fought for protection and assistance for the community, but also put some money toward it.

According to a 2015 tax form filed by the Reinvent Michigan Fund he’s connected to, the fund gave a $5,000 grant to United Way of Genesee County for “Faucet Water Filters for residents of Flint, Michigan to filter contaminated water.”

(Photo: Danny Miller | MLive.com)

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Home rental

In 2015 Prosperous Michigan Fund, an account connected to Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall, R-White Lake, spent $1,525 at Homeaway.com. Homeaway, Inc. bills itself as “the world's leading online marketplace for the vacation rental industry” on its website.

(Photo: AP Photo/Steve Helber)

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Mackinac Island events

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s Johnson Administrative Account spent a total of $16,551 on Mackinac Island in 2015, according to voluntary disclosures. That included $11,929 for an event at the Island House and $246 for a staff meeting at The Pink Pony.

(Photo: John Gonzalez | MLive.com)

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Auto show events

Spirit of Michigan, an account connected to Sen. Ken Horn (R-Frankenmuth) reported spending $1,313 in December 2014 for two tickets to the charity preview of the North American Auto Show, a night’s stay at the MGM Grand in Detroit and a night’s stay at the Atheneum Suite Hotel in Detroit. The payment went to Horn’s wife, Veronica.

(Photo: Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)

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Groups they support

Some lawmakers give to groups they support. In 2014 the Grand Lake Administrative Account, connected to Sen. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, spent $789 in donations to Friends of the National Rifle Association and Right to Life of Hillsdale County.

(Photo: Chris Clark | MLive.com)

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Flowers

The Mich Quality of Life Fund, connected to House Democrats, spent $503 on "flowers gifts and flags" in 2013, according to a 990 disclosure with broad expenditure details.

(Photo: Mark Copier | MLive.com)

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Cell phones

The Michigan Success Fund, an administrative account connected to Rep. Al Pscholka, R-Stevensville, spent $339 at AT&T and Verizon in 2015 on expenditures described as "Cell Phone Expense."

(Photo: AP Photo | Kiichiro Sato)

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State employees

In 2015 The Governor's Club, an administrative account connected to Gov. Rick Snyder, paid Wendy Wisniewski $1,500 for "Accounting and compliance fees." Wisniewski is listed on an organizational chart for Snyder's office as the executive assistant to Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff and Cabinet Director.

The West Michigan Community Preservation Fund, connected to Meekhof, paid its Executive Director Penny Blair $32,344 in 2014 and $16,812 in 2013. According to documents released by the Michigan Senate Business Office through a FOIA request, Blair works for the Senate as a Constituent Relations Coordinator.



(Photo: Organizational chart, governor's office)

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Food for lawmakers

In 2015 the Reinvent Michigan Fund, a nonprofit connected to Ananich, spent $8,315 on "Food & Refreshments for legislators and legislative staff."

(Photo: Julie Hoogland | MLive.com)

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Keep reading

Want to learn more about these accounts?

- Read our full investigation

- Learn about their history

- See which lawmakers are connected to accounts