Morouns give $250,000 to Schuette campaign. Do they expect a return?

John Gallagher | Detroit Free Press

The Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge, have long been among Michigan's biggest contributors to political campaigns and candidates. But one recent contribution stands out.

Last December, a Moroun entity called Oakland Financial Corp. donated $250,000 to a Super PAC called Better Jobs, Stronger Families that was created to elect state Attorney General Bill Schuette as Michigan's next governor.

Individual Moroun family members have also donated to Schuette's campaign, often thousands of dollars each.

Do the Morouns, who have tried mightily to block the Gordie Howe International Bridge project that will compete with their Ambassador Bridge, hope or expect a Gov. Schuette to delay or kill the project?

Schuette met with the Free Press editorial board this week and said he is in favor of more bridges over the Detroit River. He did not directly address the question of the Gordie Howe project.

"Bill is in favor of growth, for Michigan and Detroit," Schuette spokesman John Sellek said Thursday. "He favors a public bridge and a private one, the more the merrier. New York has many bridges. Even Midland has two bridges across the Tittabawassee River. More bridges and transport options built in Detroit means more commerce and more growth. And growth is what he is after as governor."

Matthew Moroun, son of family patriarch Manuel (Matty) Moroun and now running the family business network, did not respond to a Free Press request for a comment on the donations.

Craig Mauger, director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, a nonprofit watchdog of the interplay between money and politics, said the public deserves to know where a politician's support comes from.

"People should always be skeptical of connections between people writing large donations and the lawmakers benefiting from those donations," he said. "People should always be aware of these things. That's why we have we have a disclosure system. That's why this information is available, because it's important information for the public to consider as they watch politics play out."

The question of the Morouns' interest in electing Schuette arises because Moroun campaign cash over the years supported members of the Michigan Legislature who ultimately refused to pay Michigan's half of the Gordie Howe project. Gov. Rick Snyder then signed the Crossing Agreement that sees Canada paying the full upfront cost of the bridge, to be repaid by tolls once the bridge opens.

Michigan campaign finance disclosure records show that Oakland Financial Corp. is based at 34200 Mound Road, Sterling Heights, which is the site of a Moroun-owned trucking facility. And a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing lists Matthew Moroun, son of family patriarch Manuel (Matty) Moroun, as chairman and sole shareholder.

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Over the years, the Morouns have been among Michigan's most active donors to politicians and campaigns. The state's campaign finance database list 693 separate contributions by Moroun family members to candidates going back to the 1990s.

Most often, their cash supported Republicans running for a variety of offices. But the Morouns also gave to former Gov. Jennifer Granholm and occasionally to other Democrats. Most of their contributions were in the $500 to $1,000 range, but frequently ran much higher.

"They are very active political donors," Mauger said. "They were the biggest donors in the Detroit City Council races by a wide margin. They play in a wide variety of races. And they're interested in a variety of issues."

The Morouns are hardly the only business people to support Schuette. Peter Karmanos, Jr., the former CEO of Compuware and now head of MadDog Technology, also gave $250,000 to support Schuette. Penske Corp., the trucking and logistics network headed by Roger Penske, gave $150,000. And other business leaders have supported Schuette's main rival in the August Republican primary election, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.

But it's the Morouns' fierce opposition to the Gordie Howe project that makes their quarter-million-dollar donation to Schuette's election hopes so interesting.

At this point, whether Schuette or any successor to Snyder would be able to gum up the Gordie Howe project seems doubtful. Officials broke ground on the bridge this week, and by next January, when the next governor will take office, construction should be well underway.

Also, the Crossing Agreement signed by Snyder and Canadian officials to build the Gordie Howe project has withstood court challenges. Trying to scuttle it now could embroil Michigan in a troublesome legal spat with Canada.

The Morouns are still battling the seizure of some property they own in the footprint of the bridge project in the Delray district. But the Michigan Department of Transportation is likely to prevail in that eminent domain case, as it has with hundreds of other parcels in the area.

Moreover, the Gordie Howe project enjoys widespread support among Michigan's business community that would object to any further delay in the bridge construction. Recently, after the Morouns ran a TV ad calling on President Donald Trump to pull the U.S. presidential permit for the Howe Bridge project, some 22 Michigan civic and business leaders sent Trump a letter asking him not to interfere.

The signers included General Motors and Ford in the Detroit area as well as corporations Amway and Steelcase in west Michgigan, along with the Michigan Farm Bureau, the Grand Rapids and Detroit Chambers of Commerce, and multiple construction union groups.

A few days ago I asked Snyder if he was worried at all about Schuette interfering with what may become one of Snyder's key legacies, the Gordie Howe bridge.

"It is a concern," Snyder told me. "What I would say though is that I hope with the groundbreaking and everything else, this project is going. The support for this bridge, other than one particular party, is overwhelming."

Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or gallagher@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jgallagherfreep.