County financial disclosure needs support

Transparency is the current government buzzword. Yet it remains remarkably illusive in all levels of leadership, from federal to state to county levels, which not only jeopardizes the government itself, but leaders who represent us, and those of us ‘every day folk’ who rely on the decisions they make.

Michigan is one of just two states in the entire country which exempts the governor and state legislature from the state's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Along with Massachusetts, which is the other state with FOIA exemptions, it contributes to Michigan being ranked as low in government ethics and transparency efforts. In 2015, the Center for Public Integrity ranked Michigan dead last in systems to prevent corruption. Year-after-year, state legislators, like state Senator Jeremy Moss, have attempted bipartisan efforts to expand Michigan's FOIA to include the governor and state legislators, most recently in January 2025, but it wouldn't take effect until 2027, when the current batch of lawmakers were out of office. Bills, including this one, have repeatedly stalled out in the state House, where leaders, such as House Speaker Mall Hall, stated “it is not a priority.”

It has been such an issue that when Governor Gretchen Whitmer first ran for office in 2018, she promised that if the legislature didn't act on the matter, she would open her office to FOIA. Once in the governor's seat, however, her perspective seemed to have changed, and she has not followed through on that campaign promise.

On a county level, an acute need for financial disclosure was exposed this summer when it was revealed that Oakland County Board of Commission Chair Dave Woodward was not only working as a paid consultant for the gas station chain Sheetz, but perhaps influencing local governments where they were looking to situate.

It's not the first example of county glad-handing. We recall, going all the way back to the 1970s, when first Oakland County Executive Dan Murphy's chose a deputy executive to help lobby the state for an extension of I-275 into county's lakes area – and the deputy executive failed to disclose to the public that he was part of a group that owned property along the proposed highway. It took local media to discover this in the absence of financial disclosure regulations.

In October of this year Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter made it clear he wanted not only an ethics policy which spelled out what commissioners can and cannot do, but also clear financial disclosures on the part of elected county officials and some key appointed employees. In the ensuing months, the board of commissioners explored implementing a financial disclosure policy for county elected officials and top appointed county officials. In an email, Coulter said that “As part of this process, county leaders learned that the county lacks statutory and constitutional authority to require it.” Further, county commissioners recently opted not to vote on a voluntary system of partial disclosure and instead supported a resolution calling on state lawmakers to pass a law allowing counties to be subject to mandatory financial disclosure.

Luckily, local state Rep. Donni Steele (R-Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield Hills, Auburn Hills, Lake Orion, Orion Township) has introduced just such a bill, House Bill 5091, which modernizes the definition of “public officer” by extending existing state-level reporting requirements to county officials in counties with populations exceeding 150,000. Under the proposal, these officials would file the same comprehensive annual disclosure report required of state legislators and statewide officeholders. The bill would require key categories of earned and unearned income, significant liabilities and gifts that must already be reported under Michigan’s lobbying statutes.

Steele said the reforms reflect a straightforward principle: the public is entitled to clear, reliable information about potential financial interests held by those who manage local budgets, contracts and public resources.

We agree, and recommend residents contact their legislators to urge passage of HB 5091 in an all important effort towards transparency, which we all already know is sorely needed in Michigan, and in Oakland County.