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DARK MONEY: Manoj Bhargava, 5-Hour Energy Founder, Tops GOP Donors List

Attorney General, Governor Said Embroiled in 'Pay For Pardon' Scheme

August 1, 2015       1 Comments
By: Dave Rogers

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Manoj Bhargava, 5-Hour Energy Founder, mixer of political brews.
 

Follow the money is the investigative reporters' watchword.

Now you can follow it, too, right here on MyBayCity.com.

And, find out some of what the politicians do for that money.

Manoj Bhargava of Farmington Hills, the founder of Living Essentials, the maker of 5-hour ENERGY, is like the energizer bunny on the Michigan political scene.

ETC Capital, founded by Bhargava,in 2012-2013 was the top Michigan donor to both the Republican Governors Association (RGA), at $2.8 million, and the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), at $180,000.

The Center for Public Integrity reported notable contributions by Bhargava to the RGA and RAGA and subsequent spending by those organizations.

In 2013 ETC Capital gave the RGA $275,000 and 8 weeks later the RGA gave the Michigan Republican Party $276,000. In 2014 ETC Capital gave the RGA $2.5 million and the same day the RGA placed a $3.2 million ad buy supporting Rick Snyder. Overall, the RGA spent $10 million in 2014 for ads touting Snyder, or criticizing his opponent.

Subsequent to ETC Capital's contributions to RAGA, RAGA gave $72,000 to Decider PAC, a Michigan state PAC which, in turn, gave $68,000 - the maximum legal PAC contribution - to Attorney General Bill Schuette's campaign account.

A month after the successful reelection of Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette, the governor granted a pardon to Alan Gocha, Jr. for a 2007 conviction for driving while impaired, thereby wiping Gocha's record clean of the offense.

Gocha had been general counsel for Innovation Ventures, the parent company of Manoj Bhargava's Living Essentials. Later he moved to Oakland Law Group, which was spun off from Innovation Ventures as a separate professional limited liability corporation - whose principal client is Innovation Ventures.

Gocha had exhausted his legal appeals for the conviction, and his 2012 application to the State Parole Board for a pardon was put on the "back burner," according to Russ Marlan, deputy director of the Michigan Department of Corrections. Gocha's 2014 pardon was one of only 11 granted by Snyder so far in his term as governor.

The $72,000 contribution Decider PAC received from RAGA was its only income in the 2014 election cycle, yet Decider PAC reported to the Bureau of Elections that the contribution was from the Republican State Leadership Committee.

RAGA also gave $70,000 to Maize and Blue PAC, which changed its name to Red and Blue PAC a week later, then gave $67,000 to Schuette's campaign account over the next eight weeks. ETC Capital also gave $125,000 to the Republican State Leadership Committee in October 2013. The RSLC gave $34,000 to Schuette's campaign committee the same day.

CPI's profile of Bhargava and his political spending, which was released the day before Associated Press reporter David Eggert broke the story detailing Gov. Snyder's pardon of Gocha, featured a notable quote about Bhargava by former Michigan Republican Party chairman Ron Weiser: "What was strange is he never asked for anything back. Usually people want something."

ETC Capital's contributions to the RGA, RAGA and RSLC were substantial, and those committees' spending in support of the governor and attorney general, in turn, was substantial. It is difficult to imagine a credible claim that the governor and the attorney general were unaware of the RGA, RAGA and RSLC's support of their campaigns, and ETC Capital's substantial support of those national committees.

The spending by ETC Capital can be tracked through public records. What should be of even greater concern is the fact that absolutely undisclosed donors used Republican Party vehicles to spend four times as much as ETC Capital contributed on the record. The public has no idea who those donors were, or what considerations they sought, or what considerations were, or will be, granted.

Now, thanks to the Center for Public Integrity, the public knows a little more.

The Center for Public Integrity was founded in 1989 by distinguished journalist Charles Lewis, is one of the country's oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations.

Lewis' biography is available at: http://www.publicintegrity.org/about/our-people/founder

Its mission: To serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions, using the tools of investigative journalism.

The Center is a nonprofit digital news organization; it is nonpartisan and does no advocacy work. The Center for Public Integrity is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.

The Center's editorial staff consists of journalists, FOIA experts, copy editors, researchers, fact-checkers, and data experts who work on the Center's investigative projects and stories.

The Center distributes its investigations through its award-winning website and to all forms of media; broadcast, print, online, and blogs, around the globe. ###

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ggallagh Says:       On August 08, 2015 at 06:58 PM
Good report Dave.
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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