The Guardian reports that the utility company DTE Energy knowingly contributed $100,000 to a dark-money nonprofit that helped sabotage Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s COVID lockdown policies.
Whitmer faced fierce opposition to her lockdown measures at the onset of the pandemic, which began in Michigan in March 2020.
Tom Perkins, a local freelance writer for the British-based publication, cites court documents that, he reports, contradict DTE's previous statements denying involvement in the donation.
Perkins writes:
In January 2023, the Guardian detailed how a DTE-affiliated dark money non-profit financially contributed to the successful repeal of Whitmer’s emergency order powers. The campaign, coordinated with state Republican leadership, helped bring about an end to Covid lockdowns and policies.
Peter Ternes, then a DTE Energy spokesperson, twice emphatically denied the company’s involvement. In late 2022, he told a Guardian reporter, “DTE unequivocally is not financially supporting” the campaign to kill Whitmer’s emergency order powers, led by Unlock Michigan, and made an almost identical statement when asked in 2020.
New emails, however, show a DTE employee coordinated the $100,000 contribution. The dark money non-profit and Unlock Michigan leadership referred to it as a “DTE donation” and “$100,000 DTE check”, emails show. The emails are part of a criminal case over alleged Unlock Michigan campaign finance violations and are not directly related to DTE.
