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Mayor Mike Duggan tapped Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert to lead Detroit's effort last fall to land a second headquarters for online retail giant Amazon. Though Gilbert clearly stood to gain financially from Amazon coming to Detroit, the idea was that he's a sharp business guy who would best compete on behalf of the people -- yes, the ones who pay taxes.
So it's awfully disturbing that we still can't find out the amount of public subsidies the city and state offered the online retail giant to come to Detroit.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. in recent days denied for the second time the Free Press' Freedom of Information appeal for the total amount of subsidies offered Amazon, reports John Gallagher:
The Free Press believes that number is and should be public information.
MEDC said it must withhold info on the amount of public subsidies offered Amazon in the Detroit bid because of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) the state signed with businessman Gilbert's Bedrock real estate arm in September 2016, Gallagher reports.
MDEC says that broad agreement covers Gilbert's many business deals, including the one with Amazon, even though he was acting on behalf of the city, essentially as a quasi-government representative.
Gilbert said Monday: “If a future party is completely privy to the details and value of any and all incentive packages previously offered that did not come to fruition, then you can be very confident that the value of that proposal will be the starting point of any negotiation."
Gilbert may have point. But this wasn't your typical business deal between two corporations. We as taxpayers were as much a player in the deal as Gilbert, who stood to gain financially probably more than any other individual if Amazon came.
We might also assume he'd be embarrassed if the public learned how much he was willing to give away to lure the company.
This isn't how good government operates. Or is it in Detroit?
