State Rep. Curt VanderWall, of Ludington, today voted to get money out of politics by blocking public-backed utilities and other large corporations from donating to political campaigns and candidates. The state House overwhelmingly approved the Michiganders for Money out of Politics (MMOP) citizen-initiated law proposal, which was initiated after hundreds of thousands of Michiganders signed a petition urging the Legislature to adopt the policies reflected in the MMOP proposal.

“Nobody should be able to buy more influence just because they have more money. That’s not how democracy is supposed to work,” VanderWall said.”

VanderWall and House Republicans have been fighting to lower energy rates and healthcare bills for the entire legislative term. With the adoption of the MMOP proposal, the largest corporations most impacted by efforts to lower rates will be blocked from launching massive dark money campaigns to try and put their thumb on the scale to sway regulators who should be independent.

“If you’ve got the biggest checkbook, you shouldn’t automatically get the loudest voice in Michigan politics,” VanderWall said. “It’s really that simple.”

VanderWall said he would like to see the legislation go further to stop all large dark money groups and unions from making massive and coercive political donations.

“This is a great first step, but there’s more we can do to protect the voices and influence of regular people,” VanderWall said. “This is about them. They deserve to be heard. That’s how our system of government was designed to work.”

The citizen-initiated proposal still needs to be approved by the state Senate, which did not hold session Tuesday. The proposal must be approved in the coming days, or the decision will be pushed to the November election for the public to decide whether the state should implement the proposal.