Pfizers $1,000 donation to Snyders NERD fund returned
This is how hard it can be to find out which companies are donating to politicians in Michigan.
Metro Times has confirmed a second corporate donor who backed Republican Gov. Rick Snyders controversial New Energy to Reinvent and Diversify (NERD) Fund.
In 2013, pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. donated $1,000 to the governors nonprofit. That voluntary admission was lodged deep in a company document detailing Pfizers political contributions last year and not the records of Snyders nonprofit, as its not legally required to disclose its donors.
Pfizers disclosure makes it only the second publicly revealed donor of the NERD Fund. Last fall, Snyder said he would dissolve the fund just weeks after the Center for Public Integrity reported CVS Caremark Corp. had donated $1,000 in March of 2012. A spokesman for Pfizer says the money was eventually refunded.
Our records indicate that we received a full refund for our $1,000 contribution as the donation was processed after the Fund had been disbanded, Sharon Castillo, of Pfizer, tells Metro Times in an email.
The nonprofit drew heavy criticism for not disclosing donors because it covered some of Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orrs housing and travel costs, as well as footing the salary of Rich Baird, an old friend and aide of Snyders who played a role in Orrs appointment. After announcing the dissolution of the fund, the governors office said Baird would join the state payroll as an appointed transformation manager with a $140,000-a-year salary.
In spite of the refund to Pfizer, the NERD Fund has raised close $2 million, says Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, which still raises disturbing questions about transparency in government.
The gesture of sending back $1,000 is small compared to that; its not the $1,000, its the knowledge of whos putting the real money into this thing, Robinson tells Metro Times...
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