- Jackson County has authorized almost $60,000 in public funding for a communications campaign about the jail millage.
- County Commissioners say the public must be informed about conditions at the jail before voting on a millage to fund jail upgrades and operations.
- Marketing Resource Group has been retained to provide consulting and other services to the County Sheriff.
- Campaign finance watchdog says communication short of advocacy can legally be funded by public dollars.
- Video shows how the allocation was approved and how it is being used.
- WATCH BONUS VIDEO: Jackson County Sheriff Gary Schuette answers questions about the jail millage campaign.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
In 2022, Jackson County voters rejected a millage to fund a new jail — much like the one we will see on our August 6 ballots. This time around, Jackson County Commissioners wanted to make sure the message gets out.
"To get the information out to the everyday voter, yes, we do feel that hiring an informational firm was necessary in addition to what the Sheriff's been doing," says Jackson County Commissioner Corey Kennedy.
That firm: Marketing Resource Group, or "MRG" — owned by Michigan Republican Party operative Jenell Leonard.
"We failed the millage in 2022, and we didn't get the message out," says Jackson County Sheriff Gary Schuette. "We didn't educate the public as much as we should have."
In March, the County Commission's Public Safety and Transportation Committee authorized $38,000 to be paid to MRG. The goal, says the proposal submitted to the Committee:
"...to ensure the success of the millage on the August 2024 ballot."
Committee Chair Corey Kennedy has no qualms about the allocation: "We're comfortable with the Sheriff's request."
The biggest budget item is $21,000 in consulting fees, which are 20 hours per month at $150/hour for 7 months.
Schuette says this pays for advice on whom to talk to…and what to say. He says the advice has been very helpful.
BONUS: WATCH SHERIFF SCHUETTE ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT THE JAIL MILLAGE
In May, the budget was increased just over $21,000 ($21,392) to pay for a mailer targeting likely voters — bringing the total to nearly $60,000.
"Section 57 of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act states that public bodies cannot use government resources to advocate one way or another for an election, including a ballot question," notes Nick Pigeon, Executive Director of a campaign finance watchdog group called Michigan Campaign Finance Network. "However, they are permitted to provide factual information to the public, as long as they don't use express advocacy language."
Pigeon says anything short of explicit advocacy is generally permitted to be publicly funded — even, he says, if it favors one side of a ballot question.
"You know, they are allowed to provide factual information. They can provide only positive factual information and get away with it for public dollars," says Pigeon.
As for how Sheriff Schuette thinks the millage will fare?
"We have put all of our efforts into it to make sure that folks are aware of the situation that we have here. I certainly think we have a better shot than we did in 2022," he says.
Nick Pigeon tells me the Secretary of State routinely receives complaints about the common practice of publicly funded informational campaigns during elections. None of those complaints, he says, have resulted in legal action.
MORE OF OUR PREVIOUS COVERAGE OF THE MILLAGE AND CONDITIONS AT THE WESLEY STREET JAIL HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, AND HERE.
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