Michigan Democrat Who Wanted Utilities Out Of Politics Picks Power Company Director For Transition

Democratic Michigan Gov.-elect Jocelyn Benson ran on curbing utilities’ political spending but picked an energy company director to help lead her transition.

Benson named Huntington Bank chairman Gary Torgow on Nov. 4 as one of four chairs of her transition leadership council, the Detroit News reported. He also sits on the board of DTE Energy, an October Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows.

At an April news conference in Saginaw, Benson called for barring state-regulated utilities from political spending meant to “influence or elect politicians,” Bridge Michigan reported.

“We’re going to end the conflict of interest so that companies seeking to raise rates cannot influence making those rules and decisions that are meant to regulate them,” Benson said at the event, according to Bridge.

David Stevenson, director of energy and environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Benson “really needs some advice from somebody with experience in the industry.”

“I don’t really have a problem with her working with DTE,” he said.

Asked whether naming Torgow clashes with her push to get utilities out of politics, Stevenson said, “Certainly, I think she will have an argument with him over that issue.”

“It could not be clearer that Michiganders want a different kind of politics that puts regular people above corporate utility interests,” Karlee Weinmann of the Energy and Policy Institute, a utility watchdog group, said in a statement to the DCNF.

Benson’s transition team did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment, and DTE and Consumers Energy did not immediately respond. A Huntington Bank spokesperson said questions about Torgow’s political decisions and affiliations “are best directed to him.”