Free read: Dec. 2-6 news recap and a first week thank you
Here's what I was reading during week 1 of Detroit one million

Hey!
Today is my Mom’s birthday! She isn’t reading this but I’m glad you are. I want to start doing birthday shoutouts to members, I’ll start reaching out to you individually next week.
I appreciate your support so far. No joke, every new paid subscriber dramatically improves my quality of life.
Want to keep supporting? Become a paid subscriber and download the Substack app to join our chat or Share Detroit one million with a friend. I want the chat to become a community for people like us who want to talk Detroit politics and the most important stories in Michigan.
Doing journalism on my own opens a new lane for the type of local stories possible. I want you to have a voice in shaping them. What’s something you notice around the city that’s missing in daily news coverage? Is there someone you want to learn more about?
If you have any questions about Detroit politics, let me know. I’ll use my resources to try and get an answer.
Sam
I think you should read these stories from this week.
Huge local spending: Michigan House battle was most expensive ever. Dems spent big, GOP won anyway
The battle for the house was the most expensive in state history, costing a minimum of $67 million, according to an analysis by Simon Schuster.
“The true total is likely higher.” Schuster’s analysis doesn’t include major outlets for so-called dark money spending, such as mail and online advertising, which can’t be effectively tracked.
Less than $11 million of the $26 million in outside spending tracked was disclosed under Michigan’s campaign finance laws, Schuster reports.
Still thinking: One of the goals of the Independent Citizen’s Redistricting Committee when it redrew Michigan’s political district boundaries was to create more competitive races. Whether that’s happened yet, as two-thirds of all the money this cycle was spent on about ten races, is worth pondering…
Democratic drama: Michigan House attendance problems among Democrats boil over in hot mic moment
Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc highlighted the dynamics between the fractured House Democratic caucus, reporting on comments caught on a hot-mic they unearthed from last month. Referencing absences from Traverse City Rep. Betsy Coffia and Detroit Rep. Karen Whitsett, House Speaker Pro Tem Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, can be heard saying “Who are we missing? Betsy is writing poems on Twitter I think and Karen is doing whatever it is Karen does.”
Credit: Michigan House TV
“It’s obviously noteworthy that Michigan House Democrats are having trouble getting enough members to show up and coalesce around bills in lame duck,” Mauger wrote on social media Friday afternoon. “But it’s also noteworthy that they’re about to lose power and they’re not even making Republicans take difficult votes.”
The Democratic House caucus is divided by different camps; Ann Arbor area officials, Detroit Democrats and those loyal to House Speaker Joe Tate and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s agenda.
GM wants $250M from public for Ren Cen: Public funding floated for RenCen redevelopment faces uphill battle in Lansing
General Motors and Dan Gilbert's Bedrock real estate firm unveiled a plan this week to use public and private money to transform the Renaissance Center. They want to demolish two office complex towers, renovate the two others and transform the open space on the riverfront. Clara Hendrickson and Violet Ikonomova outlined the legislative battle the bills face, including a bipartisan coalition opposed to public funding for the RenCen redevelopment.
Joe Guillen began the chart of who’s for (Mayor Mike Duggan, City Council President Mary Sheffield) and who’s against (State Rep. Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, state Rep. Dylan Wegela) the proposal, plus the legislative leaders yet to offer opinions. (House and Senate leaders Joe Tate and Winnie Brinks).
Some perceive Republican leadership’s loud rebuke of General Motors’ proposal as a sign of a party realignment happening over the issue of tax incentives amid an economic populist wave.
“We are currently watching a party realignment where: The Republican party now has an insurgent populist branch, the Democratic party is moving farther right to appease large corporations, and the people have soured on the two-party system,” writes Kamau Clark of We The People Michigan, a left-wing advocacy group, on his website Altnubian.
Sharing Clark’s writing to my timeline on Twitter prompted a response from James Hohman of the right-wing think tank Mackinac Policy Center, who said “I hope people from a diverse range of views look on corporate handouts with suspicion.”