Is there something shady about Gov. Rick Snyder's private fund?
WXYZ's Ross Jones raises some questions about Snyder's fund, New Energy Reinvent and Diversity (NERD Fund), which is supposed to “lessen the burdens of government” and promote the state’s “common good.” Last year the fund raised more than $1.3 million.
There's nothing illegal.
But private donors have given to the fund and the governor has refused to divulge their names.
What's more, he reports that more than $130,000 of the fund has gone toward buying a private security system for the Governor’s Ann Arbor home, and some new furniture.
Jones writes on WXYZ's webpage:
According to the fund’s president, funds were also raised to pay for the Governor and his staff to travel around the country to promote the state, and to help fight a recall effort that Snyder thought he might face last year.
He also writes:
His New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify—or NERD Fund—is the same kind of non-profit that others have gotten in trouble over. The feds say Kwame Kilpatrick pillaged his: using it for things like ritzy vacations, political polling and hiding bribes.
Bob Ficano’s fund paid his old deputy, Turkia Mullin, a secret $75,000 salary, courtesy of the businesses that wanted county contracts. Non-profit experts like George Smith say these kinds of funds are easy to abuse.
“The money can come in, the money can be spent, and there’s no one to ever say: what are you doing with it,” Smith said.
