House Majority Leader Steve Tobocman MIRS – March 22, 2007

So much for holding members in the House to the highest ethical standards.

When Democrat House Speaker Andy Dillon proposed granting DTE and Consumers Energy a monopoly of Michigan's utility industry everyone assumed he was looking at a creative if not misguided way to raise taxes.

Turns out he had more to gain from the proposal than we were led to believe.  Less than two weeks from the day the Speaker announced his plan to repeal PA 141 of 2001, DTE cut a $15,000 check to the Michigan House Democrat Political Action Committee.

Dillon announced his intention to grant DTE a monopoly on March 29, 2007.  You can read original coverage of his announcement here and here.

According to a report filed with the Michigan Secretary of State by the House Democrat PAC (available here... see line 10), DTE made it worth the Speaker's while on April 11.  Their "contribution" ranked as the tenth largest given to the House Democrats during a reporting period that saw the PAC take in over 2,600 unique donations.

This is the second time this month the Speaker has been caught tailoring policy proposals that appear to be influenced by corporate giving.  Just over a week ago Dillon and several other House Democrats announced they would reimburse Apple for a trip they'd taken on the companies dime only a short time before unveiling their vision to put iPods, an Apple product, in the hands of every schoolchild in Michigan.

It appears to be the first time a policy proposal has led to a direct cash pay-off.

Update [2007-4-26 14:59:45 by Nick]:The pay-off was delivered several weeks after Dillon's initial proposal and on the same day DTE CEO Anthony Early testified before the House in favor of monopolization.

The give and take between Dillon and corporate interests seriously undercuts Democrat's stated goal of running an ethical ship in the House of Representatives.  You can pass all the ethics legislation you want, but accepting a suitcase full of green after scratching a company's back isn't what most folks would call ethical.  In the real world that's called a bribe.