Chad Selweski covered state and regional politics for The Macomb Daily for nearly 30 years. He contributes to Deadline Detroit and blogs at Politically Speaking.
By Chad Selweski
The cutthroat campaign for the once-obscure office of Macomb County public works commissioner, a battle between incumbent Tony Marrocco and Congresswoman Candice Miller, has emerged as the most expensive race for a county office in Michigan history.
Tony Marrocco and Congresswoman Candice Miller
With eight days to go, the two candidates have spent a combined $2.5 million for an office that oversees county storm drains and sewers and pays $111,000 a year.
Marrocco, a Ray Township Democrat, has nearly drowned Miller’s efforts by dishing out nearly $1.9 million for various forms of campaign advertising. But that's only part of the story. The 24-year incumbent has reached deep into his wallet and invested $1.1 million of his money in his campaign.
Miller, who is retiring from Congress, spent $669,000, according to the campaign finance report she submitted on Friday. But the Harrison Township Republican is not done yet. Her report shows that she still had $235,000 on hand for the final stretch. She has put $200,000 of her personal funds into the election effort.
Hard to Comprehend
According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, it’s believed that no other county race in Michigan has approached these eye-popping levels of spending, though definitive data is lacking. Many county elections across the state do not collectively reach the $100,000 threshold for two candidates. In fact, by Election Day, only about a half dozen congressional candidates in Michigan will reach the $2 million mark for their individual campaigns.
“It’s hard to wrap your mind around this. It’s perplexing,” said Craig Mauger, executive director of the nonpartisan watchdog group. “It’s troubling because a lot of the money is coming from contractors for the county. And it shows the growing role of money in politics that is happening at all levels.”
Marrocco’s advertising onslaught is financed by his re-election campaign committee plus two prominent political action committees (PACs) at the statewide level that he has maintained for many years. The three committees combined had $43,000 remaining to spend as of the close of books for the period from Aug. 23 to Oct. 23.
The rivals have waged a ferocious contest over the past two months, slinging accusations at each other on broadcast and cable TV, Facebook and through mailings. Marrocco has already sent more than a dozen campaign flyers.
The three campaign finance reports the public works commissioner filed with the Secretary of State in Lansing and with the county clerk’s office in Mount Clemens, show that most of his campaign cash comes from developers and other companies in the construction industry.
Marrocco reported 83 contributions of $1,000 or more from construction industry executives in his latest report.
In the campaign's final days, that tally may play into the hands of Miller’s assertion that the incumbent engages in “pay to play” politics in which businesses seeking county contracts and those dependent on Marrocco’s office for construction-related permits are expected to contribute generously to his re-election campaigns.
His campaign denies pressuring donors and dismisses the charge by Miller as unfounded election-time rhetoric. At issue are permits and inspections by the public works office that mostly deal with soil erosion prevention at construction sites and proper drainage systems that don’t affect local streams and rivers.
Though she has spent 14 years on the congressional stage, Miller’s contributions involve smaller donations than those snagged by Marrocco, ranging in the hundreds of dollars. She also received funding between $200 and $2,000 each from 15 PACs, including those associated with energy companies, banks and law firms. Gov. Rick Snyder’s Relentless Positive Action PAC pitched in $1,000.
Token Opposition in Primary
Because both contenders for the public works post faced only token opposition in the August primary election, they took aim at each other starting in September.
In the early stages of the campaign, the divisions between Miller and Marrocco focused on pertinent environmental issues and pollution in Lake St. Clair. Miller said that Marrocco had allowed outdated sewer infrastructure to discharge billions of gallons of partially treated sewage into the lake, which resulted in hundreds of beach closings. Marrocco said the lawmaker’s interest in clean water locally didn’t match a poor record in Congress on pro-environment legislation.
Then things turned brutal. Personal attacks became the weapon of choice.
An anti-Marrocco website financed by Miller suggested, without any evidence, that the public works boss might have played a role in the 2008 homicide of a former girlfriend. She repeatedly linked Marrocco to a recent lawsuit that alleges one of the public works commissioner’s top aides, operational manager Dino Bucci, tried to secure $76,000 in kickbacks from a developer/contractor. But those accusations relate to Bucci’s separate role as an elected Macomb Township trustee.
Marrocco took a scattershot approach, criticizing Miller for Republican agenda votes in the U.S. House for cuts to Medicare and child nutrition programs. She was cited for taking congressional junkets paid with tax dollars.
A crude remark the former secretary of state said at a political event 22 years ago was resurrected. Marrocco, who at one point poured an additional $400,000 of his personal money into the campaign in an 8-day period, from Sept. 15-23, claimed that Miller’s views on environmental protection could lead to “the next Flint” in Macomb County. But the Flint water crisis consisted of lead deposits in local water service lines while the Macomb public works office does not deal with the drinking water system.
Over the course of fundraising, Miller stepped on her own campaign message by accepting donations from companies in the construction business. Her current report shows she took contributions of $1,000 or more from seven construction-related firms. The biggest donor, by far, in this category was the Spalding DeDecker engineering firm based in Rochester, with seven key figures at the company kicking in a combined $13,760.
Marrocco’s biggest supporter in the industry was Lanzo Construction in Roseville, which supplied $24,500 in campaign money, mostly from the family members that run the business, Quirino D’Alessandro, Giuseppe D’Alessandro, Antonio D’Alessandro, Angelo D’Alessandro and Quirino D’Alessandro, Jr.
Related coverage elsewhere:
Why on earth is Candice Miller running for county drain commissioner? | Bridge magazine
