In communities across the country, one of the biggest debates is what to do about big-box stores? Lure them? Shun them?
It's been a hot issue on occasion in Michigan, where, for example, one township near Hartland rejected a Wal-Mart, which is the world's largest retailer with 3,500 stores and has an image problem on some fronts. But a nearby township embraced the big foot of Meijer -- the Michigan-based, around-the-clock retailer with 181 stores in five states.
Currently, Meijer's politically charged quest to build a second store in the Traverse City area is "one of Michigan's biggest (development) controversies," says President Bill Rustem of the Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants, a think tank that spans the political spectrum.
Rustem is a former environmental aide to ex-Gov. Bill Milliken and was the lead staffer on Gov. Jennifer Granholm's Land Use Task Force co-chaired by Republican Milliken, Michigan's longest-serving governor, and Democrat Frank Kelley, who was longest-serving attorney general. Many of their recommendations languish in Lansing.
The controversy centers on Meijer's stumblebum stealth support of a failed attempt to recall Acme Township officials who opposed the project by the retailer that, in contrast, appears to have relatively easy sailing for other projects in Otsego and Emmet counties.
Rustem said "many communities are so desperate for anything" to expand retailing and jobs "they'll accept anything." Sprawl be dammed. (Stacie Behler, a Meijer V.P., says it has plans this year to open seven new stores, and replace existing outlets in Grand Rapids and Battle Creek.)
This column has long lamented the lack of transparency in campaign finances. It's a problem at all levels of government. Michigan abounds with examples of mystery about sources of money for ads in races in all three branches of state government. Examples have been particularly egregious in Supreme Court elections.
Donors who evade disclosure of their support of candidates and causes should be admonished. Those who bring forth the bright light of public scrutiny -- as the Traverse City Record-Eagle did Dec. 23 in a detailed disclosure of the role Meijer's public relations firm played -- are to be applauded.
The Grand Rapids Press, which also obtained documents pointing to the role of Meijer operatives in such activities as ghost-writing letters to the Record-Eagle, headlined a Dec. 30 editorial: "Meijer's muddle; Allegations that retailer engaged in illegal campaign activities merit honest, thorough investigation from company, authorities."
That would seem in progress. Kelly Chesney, spokesperson for Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, said Meijer's officials "are working with us to ensure compliance with Michigan's Campaign Finance Law."
She released a Dec. 26 letter from Meijer's general counsel, William S. Noakes Jr., to Land that said: "We wish to advise you that we have recently become aware of information regarding certain financial contributions made by Meijer to a local taxpayers' group in Acme Township, Michigan. We are completing a review of the facts surrounding these contributions and will quickly meet any reporting requirement that emerges."
Big names with solid reputations in business and professions are involved. Meijer itself is widely admired for its philanthropy in West Michigan. (Full disclosure: I once served on the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University with Meijer Chairman Hank Meijer and wrote a cover blurb touting a guide to Michigan historical sites published by the Historical Society of Michigan with Meijer financial support.)
Meijer President Mark Murray, former state budget director and ex-President of Grand Valley State University, has a reputation, as aptly described by publisher Bill Ballenger of Inside Michigan Politics newsletter, as "the ultimate good guy."
The retailer's PR firm, Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson, is a major Michigan player and well-respected in a craft that is supposed to put out fires, not enflame them. A New York-based official of the Public Relations Society of America said it is looking into complaints that its Code of Ethics was violated. Sanctions are hard to come by, and Ginny Seyferth, founder of the firm, says it is "committed to ethical obligations" for its more than 90 clients.
Did Meijer violate the law? You'd think it would get good legal advice from its law firm, Dickinson Wright, which by numbers of lawyers is Michigan's second biggest. Its chairman is ex-Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, former justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.
As I looked at this issue, with all of its prominent players, I was reminded of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, the charismatic left-fielder of the Chicago White Sox who was accused of selling out to gamblers in a 1919 pennant race.
As he left a courthouse, as reported by newspapers of the day, a young fan was said to have said: "Say it ain't so, Joe." (Jackson insisted the papers had it all wrong, and no kid talked to him.)
Say it ain't so, Meijer.
Former Governor Milliken, who opposed the Meijer project and was the subject of a Meijer-inspired rebuttal letter, said he has long admired its founding family. But, he said, "they went off the deep end on this one."
George Weeks retired in 2006 after 22 years as political columnist for The Detroit News. His weekly Michigan Politics column is syndicated by Superior Features.
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