Lansing, MI – Mayor Mike Duggan failed to follow disclosure standards that even Kwame Kilpatrick followed, privately raising over a million dollars for the upkeep of his city-owned waterfront mansion without revealing who is writing the checks.
During Kwame Kilpatrick’s scandal-ridden mayorship, private donations towards maintaining the mayor’s mansion were publicly disclosed and approved by the Detroit City Council. But that practice has ceased since Duggan became mayor, raising questions from campaign finance experts and calling into question who’s secretly currying favor with Mayor Duggan.
“The median household income in Detroit is only $39.5k. Nearly one in three Detroiters are living in poverty. While Detroiters are struggling to get by and find success in the Motor City, Duggan is living in luxury on secret mega donors’ dime, ” said Zach Rudat, Advocacy Director for Michigan Freedom Fund. “It takes a special kind of corrupt to make Kwame Kilpatrick look like a saint. Duggan’s entire tenure as mayor has been riddled with ethics concerns. Now we have verification that donors are secretly currying favor with Duggan, leaving everyone to question if Duggan is using taxpayer-owned property to execute a pay-to-play side hustle. Detroiters deserve the truth, and Duggan should disclose who’s secretly financing his mansion remodel.”
This is just the latest in Duggan’s track record with secret funds. Despite once promising to have “no part in a secret fund when I’m elected,” he has spent hundreds of thousands of non-profit dollars since becoming mayor in 2014.
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