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The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
-- Patrick Henry
Something is very wrong here.
First the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), a public-private partnership that operates under the slogan "Pure Michigan," decided to keep secret the tax incentives offered to Amazon for an economic development project in downtown Detroit that's not expected to ever materialize, citing a "standing" nondisclosure agreement with billionaire Dan Gilbert's Rock Ventures, Chad Livengood of Crain's Detroit Business wrote earlier this month.
Three days after that report, Crain's Editor/Publisher Ron Fournier writes, "the Michigan Economic Development Corp. is changing its policy for keeping corporate secrets, but not in time to reveal the size of tax incentives offered to Amazon.
That would require Dan Gilbert's approval.
Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans Inc. and catalyst for Detroit's downtown resurgence, should consider consenting to limited disclosure. It would be good public relations and great public policy.
The state's reply to a Freedom of Information Act request by Crain's includes this table with blacked-out government incentive amounts.
Please explain why in the first place, Gilbert -- asked by Mayor Mike Duggan to spearhead the campaign to lure Amazon on behalf of taxpayers -- has the right to secretly offer billions of dollars in tax incentives without out letting the rest of us know what they are? How can we voice concern about something we know nothing about?
Let's be honest. Gilbert has done great things for downtown Detroit. And in this case, he likely stood to gain financially, probably more than any other business person from an Amazon campus in Detroit. How can we be sure he didn't offer too much for his own personal benefit?
To its credit, the MEDC says it won't operate in secrecy like that again. In the meantime, Gilbert needs to step up and do the right thing and disclose what was offered to Amazon.
This isn't the way honest government is conducted.
