DTE's Dark Secret: How Their Corporate Cash Stripped Michigan's Pandemic Protections
DTE’s dark money lies unravel—and it’s everything wrong with corporate power in our politics.
DTE Energy got caught lying—again. New court docs show they secretly funneled $100K to a dark money group that sabotaged Whitmer’s COVID policies and fueled chaos in Michigan. That donation directly backed the “Unlock Michigan’ campaign, which sought to strip the governor’s emergency powers in the middle of a public health crisis. And here’s the kicker: DTE publicly denied it—twice. This is exactly why we need to keep corporate giants like DTE the hell out of our politics and far away from our lawmakers’ pockets.
Back in 2020 and again in 2022, DTE’s then-spokesperson Peter Ternes went on record insisting: “DTE unequivocally is not financially supporting (Unlock Michigan).”
But the receipts say otherwise. Internal emails that surfaced during a criminal case involving Unlock MI now confirm that a DTE staffer helped arrange a $100,000 payment. Employees explicitly referred to as “the DTE donation” and “the $100,000 DTE check.” So while the public got denials, behind the scenes, the money flowed—and everyone involved knew exactly where it came from.
And they succeeded. Thanks, in part, to DTE's dark money, "Unlock Michigan" gained significant traction, ultimately leading to a reduction in Governor Whitmer's emergency powers. Meanwhile, last year, DTE asked their customers to pay even more money for their poor services. The new funds were supposed to be for their CEO’s private jet rather than addressing its chronic grid failures, poor infrastructure, and slow response times. It’s peak corporate greed—shameless and unchecked.
DTE isn't an isolated incident either. It's a stark reminder of how easily big corporations can weaponize their financial power to subvert our government and bend it to their will. Corporations will always believe that profit is more important than public welfare. The insidious influence of dark money in our political system runs deep. And this is just another a wake-up call right in our backyard.
So What Can You Do About It?
That’s why we’re backing Michiganders for Money Out of Politics—a citizen-led ballot initiative to finally slam the door on corporate influence. It would ban political donations over $250,000 from monopoly utilities like DTE, and any corporation chasing big state or local contracts.
Because here’s the truth: working people can’t compete with utility giants and billionaire-backed lobbyists. We deserve a government that answers to us, not to donors cutting six-figure checks behind closed doors.
Democracy shouldn’t be for sale. Let’s kick big money out of Michigan politics for good.
Learn about the other petitions we are supporting this year too!
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