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Michigan Aggregates Association Calls On Secretive Group to Release Their Financial Records And Show The Public Who is Behind Their Quarter-Million Dollar Lansing Insider Lobby Effort 

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 19, 2019
CONTACT: John Sellek
jbs@harborstrategic.com
 
Michigan Aggregates Association Calls On Secretive Group to Release Their Financial Records And Show The Public Who is Behind Their Quarter-Million Dollar Lansing Insider Lobby Effort 
 
Mystery NIMBY group working behind closed doors to block reforms that will end waste on infrastructure projects and help finally fix the damn roads  
 
LANSING – The Michigan Aggregates Association today called on a secretive group using undisclosed financial contributions to fund an insider lobby effort headed by a term-limited ex-legislator to finally release its contributors to the public.  
 
The Metamora Land Preservation Alliance (MLPA), registered as a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt organization with the IRS, has received over $244,000 in the last few years but has never disclosed its donors— despite leading efforts to block legislation that would help slash the cost of road building and stretch the taxes drivers currently pay further to fix more roads.  
 
Additionally, MLPA apparently has not filed its 2018 IRS Form 990, which may disclose more funding.  
 
Also unknown is its financial activity during 2019, during which it apparently has been employing multiple Lansing lobbyists, including a former state legislator, and a high-powered public relations firm.
 
“This secretive group refuses to tell the public who is contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund its effort to lobby the legislature and is now attempting to distract from its mysterious activities by filing frivolous complaints,” said Doug Needham, President of the Michigan Aggregates Association.  

“Our work on behalf of the taxpayers to cut the cost of road building and finally fix the damn roads with the resulting savings has been transparent and on the public record for all to see, so we welcome the review.  But now it is time for MLPA to be transparent in their efforts.”
 
Build It Michigan Strong Coalition Supports Legislation To Slash Costs And End Waste While Saving A Half-Million Per Mile Of Freeway
 
Legislation supported by both labor and business groups is currently being developed that would help state government stop wasting tax dollars on higher aggregate costs and long-distance transit of aggregates for road building projects.  
 
Estimates show that reforms allowing more aggregate mining for construction projects could slash costs to taxpayers by at least a half-million dollars per mile of four-lane highway building. 
 
This would be accomplished by ending the widespread practice of NIMBY groups waging resistance movements against efforts to find the raw materials needed to fix our roads and infrastructure, keeping road builders stuck in court instead of working in construction zones. 

 
MLPA Must Come Clean On The Source Of Its Funding
 
MLPA has reported receiving $244,002 since 2013, including $237,796 in just the last two years they reported (2016-2017). 
 
What the group received in 2018 and 2019 remains a mystery even as their multiple Lansing-insider lobbyists and public relations teams have been furiously lobbying legislators, including members of their organization appearing at fundraisers for legislators far away from its Lapeer county location.   
 
About Doug Needham
 
Doug Needham is the President of the Michigan Aggregates Association (MAA).  Doug is a road building expert with 24 years of experience in the field of infrastructure building.  Doug is an engineer who served the taxpayers of Michigan for more than a decade in the Michigan Department of Transportation.  The MAA takes pride in its partnership with MDOT in helping fulfill the mission of building the highest quality roads at the lowest cost to Michigan drivers.  
 
To read more about the public policy under debate, go to: builditmichiganstrong.com