Matt Hall
Some Lansing lawmakers feel no urgency to make government more transparent.
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall got Detroit Lions tickets on Nov. 2 through a Lansing lobbying firm — four days before vowing to kill bills to expand the state's open records law to legislators, Craig Mauger of the Detroit News reports.
Mauger writes:
Hall, R-Richland Township, and the lobbying firm that provided the tickets, Public Affairs Associates, declined to let The Detroit News review a check that Hall handed over to the firm or to provide details about how much he paid. Those pieces of information might be accessible if the Legislature expanded the Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIA, to cover lawmakers because the policy would allow the public to review text messages and emails exchanged between lawmakers and lobbyists...
Under an August 2024 decision by Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office, lawmakers are able to receive event tickets from lobbyists only if they pay the fair market value of the tickets before taking ownership of the items. But there are currently few ways for the public to discover that such transactions are taking place and to ensure that Benson's fair-market standard is being met.
Jeff Wiggins, a spokesman for Hall, tells The News the lawmaker paid for his ticket with a personal check and "followed all applicable laws."
Prices for Lions tickets vary, but some reports have pegged the average price of one ticket at more than $400.