A Republican state representative recently asked how a private, non-profit organization funds its operations and questioned the group's credentials because it chooses not to make public the names of those who contribute to it.

The group, Sunshine Review, which maintains a website that rates the transparency of state and local governments, was invited to testify at a committee hearing in which Rep. Bradford Jacobsen, R-Oxford, is a member.

During the hearing Rep. Jacobsen challenged the editor of the group's website, saying Sunshine Review should share the names of its contributors. However, doing so would infringe on the rights of private individuals and harm the mission of government scrutiny.

Government transparency laws are an important component of democracy and freedom. Among the most critical are open records laws like Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act. For watchdogs like Sunshine Review and Michigan Capitol Confidential, this law is vital to performing our mission. In just the last year, CapCon has used FOIA requests to break the following stories and more:

• The SEIU “dues skim,” which has taken more than $30 million from home health care workers, many of them taking care of their own relatives.
• The multi-million dollar forced unionization of up to 70,000 day care providers.
• A film credit scandal that attempted to use taxpayer money for a studio, which lead to a felony charge.
• Paying millions for school union heads who are paid by districts but do not teach any classes or contribute toward the education of students.
• The public school system that fires less than 0.001 percent of all tenured teachers in Michigan.
• Some teachers caught kissing and assaulting students and using drugs were bought out with severance packages because they could not be immediately removed.
• School districts deliberately misleading taxpayers by claiming funding cuts when spending actually grew every year.
• Michigan government and public school employees who are among the nation’s top wage earners.
• 31 gym teachers in Utica who earn more than the town police chief.
• An illegal teacher union strike being pushed by the state’s largest school employee union.

Like Sunshine Review, Michigan Capitol Confidential is a non-profit organization that favors greater transparency in government. We receive no government money, and wouldn’t accept any if it was offered. Instead, CapCon’s operations are supported entirely by contributions from private individuals and foundations who share our reformist ideas.

These ideas frequently put us on the opposite side of some well-connected and politically powerful special interests, many of which directly or indirectly receive government money, and have an interest in preserving government secrecy.

As seen recently in the politically charged environment in Wisconsin, some of these entities will use extreme tactics against those who oppose their interests .

Also like Sunshine Review, CapCon and its parent organization the Mackinac Center for Public Policy abide by the Donor’s Bill of Rights developed by several national professional organizations for charitable and philanthropic fundraisers. The policy is rooted in a landmark 1958 Supreme Court case, NAACP v . Alabama, in which the court ruled against forcing the civil rights organization to turn over its contributors' names to the state.

Although the potential consequences for our donors may be less severe than for Alabama NAACP contributors in the pre-Civil Rights Act South, we too have earned the animosity of powerful special interests whose past actions provide good reason for our supporters to want their privacy protected.

Grand Rapids — After a stunning defeat at the polls Tuesday, the president of Grand Rapids Community College said it will be a long time, if at all, before the school goes back to the voters for more money. 

Despite a $150,000 promotional campaign, a traditionally favorable time for millage approvals, and more than 100,000 faculty, students, administrators and alumni in the community, voters rejected the $98.6 million bond issue request by a 14 percent margin.

GRCC President Steven C. Ender said he thought the request would have been approved. The community college’s polls showed voters would approve the millage by a 24 percent margin after they were told how the money would be spent. The community college planned to use the money to remodel and maintain aging buildings.

“I can’t explain it,” he said. “We cannot engage with people emotionally to the value added proposition that the college has brought to the community."

Ender said taxpayer burnout could have played a role. The college has asked for more money three times in the past five years. Voters turned down each request, but Tuesday’s defeat was the largest. Ender said he thinks voters are still angry over an unrelated transit millage increase that was narrowly approved last year

“People said we’re done. We’re not going to do it,” he said.

Eric Larson and Jeff Steinport of the Kent County Taxpayers Alliance said they think there is more to the defeat than taxpayer burnout.

“The attitude amongst the board has been to ignore funding capital improvements because taxpayers would bail out GRCC with one giant tax request to fix the things the trustees have been neglecting for years, “ Steinport said.

Larson said he thinks there is growing taxpayer reluctance to support public education beyond K-12, especially when given the choice at the polls. Community colleges are funded through tuition, state and property tax revenue. 

The millage had the support of some of the community’s wealthier citizens. They contributed $150,000 in support of the millage and posted their names in a full-page newspaper ad the day before the election. The local paper endorsed the millage.

Also, May is a favorable month for millage approvals. GRCC paid an extra $250,000 dollars to get the proposal on the Tuesday ballot, but denied it was for that reason. The college said it wanted to take advantage of lower interest rates they could have benefited from if the millage increase request had passed.

GRCC had come under fire in past years for lofty pay and benefit packages. This year, the union representing the teaching staff agreed to a five-year pay freeze and an end to raises based on seniority. The contract still needs to be ratified.

Ender says what the public fails to understand is the huge burden the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System has been putting on districts and community colleges. This year, the community college will have to pay another $2 million out of its $98 million budget toward the retirement system.

Ender says the college has had no choice but to increase tuition. And while the voters have lost their appetite for more support, Ender is not deterred from taking on more debt.

“These needs are very real," he said. "The bond market is incredibly favorable to borrow money, so we’ll look at other revenue strategies.”