As we await the Warren city attorney’s determination regarding Mayor Jim Fouts’ unseemly method of political fundraising, the state’s premier campaign finance watchdog is also on the case.
The nonprofit Michigan Campaign Finance Network is looking into Fouts’ quiet conversion of the annual State of the City address to a fundraising event for a pro-Fouts political action committee. City employees were on hand to assist with the luncheon event, held at Andiamo banquet hall.
The Macomb Daily is reporting that MCFN executive director Craig Mauger believes that the Fouts administration may be guilty of misuse of taxpayer dollars for political purposes. “Can you imagine,” Mauger said, “if the governor said, ‘I’m going to have the State of the State and I’m going to have it at a private business and I’m going to charge for people to watch it?’”
As Politicscentral.org reported on Wednesday, the mayor used the city’s water billing process by enclosing an ad for the State of the City address within approximately 50,000 March water bills mailed to residents and businesses. That flyer did not say that the event was a fundraiser for the Macomb Business United PAC.
The PAC, run by a Fouts appointee, assistant public service director Gus Ghanam charged $40 per ticket — $50 for seats closest to the stage – for the 472 attendees.
City public service director Richard Sabaugh, who serves as Fout’s campaign manager, told the Daily that he alone was responsible for the promotion of the Fouts speech, which was part of a newsletter alerting the public to various upcoming civic events.
Ghanam, Sabaugh’s assistant – the two are the mayor’s most trusted aides – said he was not aware that the water bills included an advertisement for the PAC luncheon.
Paul Kardasz, a sharp critic of the mayor, filed complaints with the Secretary of State’s Elections Bureau and with city attorney Mary Michaels claiming that the fundraiser approach employed by Fouts and Ghanam was illegal. Kardasz, a Democratic state House candidate in western Warren’s 28th District, said this morning that he believes Sabaugh’s actions should also be investigated and that Michaels should call a meeting of the city Election Commission to report her findings.
