"tricky Mike Cox" Hypocrisy At Its Finest

[+EdwardGlen]

http://macombdaily.com/articles/2010/07/23/news/politics/doc4c4917303078d996464443.txt

 

PAC tied to Warren political players

 

A shadowy political group apparently run by Warren political activists is raising questions again after it came up with approximately $180,000 to finance a TV ad campaign that praises gubernatorial candidate Mike Cox and slams one of Cox’s Republican foes, Pete Hoekstra.

 

The ads launched Thursday are financed by Mount Clemens-based Michigan Business United, a political action committee led by one of Warren Mayor James Fouts’ appointees, Assistant Public Service Director Gus Ghanam. The group reported no money raised or spent as recently as April but is fully financing the new ad campaign, airing on all three of metro Detroit’s broadcast affiliates.

 

Critics say the advertising effort flies in the face of Cox’s repeated calls for more transparency and higher ethics in the gubernatorial contest and in state government.

 

Another candidate in the Aug. 3 GOP primary election, Rick Snyder, immediately pounced on the news that Ghanam, a Cox supporter, was financing the new ads.

 

“We urge the Macomb and Wayne County Prosecutor’s Offices to fully investigate this matter and ensure that state laws are being abided by,” said Jake Suski, a Snyder campaign spokesman. “Just yesterday (Wednesday) Mike Cox was talking about transparency. He has a chance here to walk the walk. Yet, it would be an ‘urban legend’ to expect the attorney general to investigate this incident and the likely coordination between his campaign and Michigan Business United.”

 

Cox campaign spokesman Stu Sandler could not be reached for comment. But he has consistently said that it is “absolute nonsense” to claim the candidate has any direct ties to political groups led by Ghanam and other Warren allies.

 

In a brief phone interview with The Macomb Daily on Thursday, Ghanam offered no explanation for the source of the funds spent by his obscure PAC.

 

“I’ll have to find out what my reaction is going to be and get back to you,” he said. He did not call back.

 

According to state and county records, Michigan Business United morphed from a previous PAC known as Macomb Business United, both of which were based at the Mount Clemens law office of Cecil St. Pierre, a former Warren councilman.

 

St. Pierre said he has no connections to Michigan Business United and had little involvement with Macomb Business United.

 

“I was with Macomb Business United. I formed it and I can’t remember if I was the treasurer or something like that,” he said. “We didn’t do much.”

 

Asked how the new version of the PAC, Michigan Business United, could afford a six-figure ad campaign, St. Pierre replied: “I don’t have a clue.”

 

The ads criticize Congressman Hoekstra for supporting the federal bank bailout and missing votes on a health care reform bill that, according to congressional opponents, might allow taxpayer-funded abortions. The second half of the commercial praises Cox, in his role as attorney general, for waging court fights against the new health care law and opposing attempts to make abortion more accessible.

 

The funding controversy marks the second time in five months that Cox has been accused of orchestrating a stealth campaign to boost his candidacy.

 

In February, a nonprofit group associated with St. Pierre paid for websites that criticized Snyder and another Republican contender in the governor’s race, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. The Michigan Civic Educational Fund also blasted Bouchard in a billboard located at one of Oakland County’s busiest intersections.

 

The group, formed in November, also financed a series of sharply worded radio ads. One compared Bouchard to the exploits of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and another claimed that Snyder was responsible for the “implosion” of his former company.

 

The Michigan Civic Educational Fund, also based at St. Pierre’s Crocker Boulevard’s law office, is not required to report the names of its contributors because it is not a PAC. The Educational Fund was quietly formed last November by St. Pierre, former Warren deputy mayor Mike Greiner and Warren assistant city attorney Jeff Schroder. St. Pierre and Schroder donated a combined $800 in political contributions to Cox just before and after the group was created.

 

As for Ghanam, a longtime fixture in Warren politics, he personally contributed $550 to Cox last year. The Ghanam PAC’s largest contributor in 2009, by far, was not from anyone associated with the Macomb County business community but rather state Sen. Bruce Patterson, a Canton Township Republican whose PAC chipped in $10,000.

 

When Ghanam’s PAC, in turn, donated more than $16,000 to Cox over a period of two days, county and state elections officials notified Ghanam that he must revise his group’s status from a local PAC to a state PAC.

 

That resulted in the transformation to the new name, Michigan Business United, apparently without St. Pierre’s knowledge.

 

St. Pierre said that the nonprofit group and the two PACs all operate separate from each other.

 

Ghanam’s old PAC held a sparsely attended fundraiser for Cox in 2009 and Ghanam, as recently as last weekend’s Italian-American Festival in Warren, has been seen ushering the attorney general at local events.

 

When the Snyder campaign received word Wednesday that Ghanam’s new PAC was financing upcoming Cox ads, a small group of Snyder campaign volunteers confronted him in the Warren City Hall parking structure. In a video of the incident posted on YouTube, Ghanam is seen repeatedly saying, “You’re not taking my picture.” He also appears to grab the arm of one Snyder volunteer to prevent him from videotaping the conversation.