Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun has put $31.3 million into his Proposal 6 campaign to require statewide votes on tunnels and bridges to Canada, according to campaign finance reports, Karen Bouffard and Chad Livengood report in the Detroit News.
The proposal is meant to sideline Gov. Rick Snyder's plan for a publicly owned bridge, which Moroun's company contends would harm their lucrative border business.
"This is a principle issue with the Moroun family. They bought this (bridge) in good faith, paid a fair price for it and somebody wants to take it away from them," Detroit International Bridge Co. President Dan Stamper told the News.
Through the end of the latest reporting period Sunday, Moroun's DIBC had put $24.2 million in cash into the campaign. Then the Warren-based company kicked in another $7.35 million this week for additional television and radio air time purchases through the election, records show.
Also, Moroun has spent another $9.3 million in TV ads over the past two years railing against Snyder's bridge plan, bringing the billionaire trucking mogul's running tab to $40.6 million in documented spending.
