Staff
08/02/24
(Michigan’s Independent Source of News & Information)
- The Michigan Democratic Party’s (MDP’s) press call today comes around four months after reports surfaced about Rogers’ ties to businesses involved with Chinese companies. While serving in the U.S. House from 2001-14, Rogers chaired the chamber’s permanent select committee on intelligence.
- One of the virtual press event’s headliners was President Tiffany MULLER of End Citizens United, a political action committee dedicated to reversing the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, lifting the mandate that 501(c)4 donors be disclosed and allowing 501(c)4 advocacy groups to invest in political races.
- “We know that he left Congress because he wanted to do something more lucrative, and then he used his relationships as a former lawmaker to walk through that revolving door to make millions from corporate gigs,” [Rep. Haley] Stevens said. “He wasn’t fighting for Michiganders in Congress. He was cozying up with lobbyists and big corporations so he could make money.”
- Through his chairmanship, Rogers co-authored an October 2012 report on U.S. national security issues posed by Chinese telecommunications companies, particularly focusing on Huawei Technologies Co.
- The MDP was quick to pick up a March story in The Detroit News, reporting that while Rogers was serving as AT&T’s chief security adviser, about two years following his time in Congress, a deal was being developed for AT&T to sell Huawei phones in the United States.
- Mandatory financial disclosures have also revealed Rogers earning $460,000 from Finnish information technology corporation Nokia during the two years ahead of launching his U.S. Senate bid. His wife, Kristi, also serves as a board member for Qualys Inc., the California-based cloud security firm that she holds more than $1 million in stock.
- Nokia announced at the start of this year that it was selling its stake in a China-based venture it was participating in with Huawei, and Qualys announced an October 2020 expansion into China in partnership with Hong Kong-based Digital China.
- “When Mike Rogers was in Congress, he used his chairmanship of the House intelligence committee to warn Americans about which Chinese telecom companies were national security threats,” said Sen. Dayna POLEHANKI (D-Livonia), one of the call’s speakers.
- She claimed that Rogers left Congress and made himself “a multimillionaire with a waterfront home in Florida” by serving telecom giants during a time when there was a connection with Huawei.
- “This is the type of hypocrisy and (shady self-dealing), I would say, that causes Michiganders to lose faith in us and I think it’s a shame,” Polehanki said.
- Meanwhile, Muller is targeting Rogers because End Citizens United views him as a candidate that wouldn’t support reform to minimize dark money in federal politics. She referenced how, in 2002, Rogers opposed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, removing soft money donations – like direct corporate and union contributions – to national parties.
- “There’s a lot of pieces we can implement tomorrow if Congress would just pass it. But right now, the Republican Party and people like Mike Rogers, and him when he was in office before, continue to hold back those ethics reforms,” Muller said. “We need someone who will go to Congress, fight for Michiganders and put them first.”