Written by Tanya Terry, with photos courtesy of the Hip Hop Caucus
Featured photo: Dr. Alexa White speaks to a crowd about the Michigan’s “Michiganders for Money Out of Politics” (MOP) ballot initiative at Comma Bookstore & Social Hub
The Hip Hop Caucus is a 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organization with headquarters in Los Angeles and Washington DC that blends culture with activism across four platforms: civil rights, voting rights, climate & environmental justice and economic justice.
Recently, Dr. Alexa White, policy director at the Hip Hop Caucus, discussed the organization’s involvement in Michigan’s “Michiganders for Money Out of Politics” (MOP) ballot initiative with the Courier.
“When utilities are allowed to spend money to support politicians, political groups or causes, they can gain more influence over the political environment that governs their operations,” said White. “That matters because those same elected officials and institutions often shape the rules around rate approvals, regulatory oversight, consumer protections, reliability standards and enforcement.
“So, if a utility is winning repeated rate increases while service remains unreliable, and at the same time has significant political influence, the concern is that the company may face less pressure to make the scale of improvements customers are paying for and less accountability when outages continue….”
Michiganders for Money Out of Politics (MMOP) is a nonpartisan, grassroots coalition and ballot question committee working to pass a citizen-led initiative to reduce corporate influence in Michigan government.
The movement is supported by a broad range of statewide advocacy and grassroots groups, including: Voters Not Politicians, Michigan United Action, Clean Water Action and Michigan League of Conservation Voters.
According to White, MMOP matters because it is based on the idea that regulated utilities should not be allowed to use money to shape the political system that is supposed to hold them accountable.
The Hip Hop Caucus previously organized a “Bars and Ballots” event in Flint featuring local artists and influencers to promote MMOP. The event resulted in increased public interest, more volunteer signature collectors and expanded engagement with signature collection hubs located throughout Michigan.
Recent events included having a webinar on April 16 featuring speakers from Clean Water Action, One Fair Wage and Washington State representatives discussing how ballot initiatives create national influence. Additionally, signature collection took place outside the Democratic Convention on April 19, at Huntington Place, in Detroit. Also, Earth Day activations take place today, on April 22, with a heavy focus on social media activations and pushing people toward signature hubs.
By mid -April, the Michiganders for Money out of Politics campaign had collected well over 200,000 of the required 357,000, with a deadline to mail signatures by May 5 and a final collection deadline of May 13.
Katie Carey, director of Media Relations for CMS Energy & Consumers Energy stated: “CMS Energy does not support any efforts to eliminate the free speech rights of CMS Energy or Consumers Energy employees.
“As written, this ballot petition disenfranchises over 900 state contractors – picking winners and losers in who can and cannot express their freedom of speech through transparent political activity. We will continue to advocate for our employees who voluntarily contribute to CMS Energy Employees for Better Government, our nonpartisan PAC that has been governed – and powered – by employees since its inception in 1977.
“With this ballot effort, our employees may lose their right to association and to engage in the political process as they do today.”
Carey added that CMS Energy Corporation Employees for Better Government (EBG) is a political action committee (PAC), which is nonprofit, nonpartisan and governed by an employee-run steering committee independent of the company’s officers and board of directors.
“All EBG PAC expenditures are approved by the EBG Steering Committee, and fully reported, consistent with applicable requirements, to the federal election commission and Michigan Secretary of State,” Carey said
She added the information is public. It can be found here: Michigan Campaign Finance Searchable Database or Federal Elections Commission Searchable Database
“…Our PAC engagement and activity is no different than any healthcare, labor, environmental, association or other business-related PAC. EBG allows for employees to associate and gives them a collective voice in the political process.”
White stressed that much of the Hip Hop Caucus’ work is rooted in their issue with rate hikes and power outages.
“Consumer energy just asked for another over the summer,” she said.
White noted the Hip Hop caucus does a significant amount of work within the energy justice sector.
“So, the majority of our work is advocacy and campaigns against petrochemical work,” stated White. “So, by petrochemicals, I mean chemical plants that are built next to communities of color.”
Read the full petition language for the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics initiative at: Proposal – Michiganders for Money Out of Politics (mopupmichigan.org)
A signature hub for this initiative is located in Flint, at the Michigan United office. To connect with the campaign directly visit MMOP@miunited.org.
