In the fall of 2007, the Michigan House of Representatives very quickly passed a package of bills that would have made substantial changes to the rules by which health insurers would operate in the state. The bills were backed by non-profit Blue Cross/Blue Shield and were opposed by - among others - Attorney General Mike Cox, who claimed in a 12/18/07 special to The Detroit News that

The effect of these changes would be to push even more Michigan residents into the ranks of the uninsured, raise rates for those who could still afford coverage and add even more money to the Blues' already-bulging bottom line.

The bills were opposed by most Republican legislators. On the floor of the House the day the bills were passed (October 24), Republican Alma Smith protested that

House Bills 5282 - 5285 were introduced on October 11, 2007 and 13 days later the full House is being asked to vote on policy that makes extensive, substantive changes to the way both Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) and the Accident Fund will operate. Members not on the committee were deprived of the opportunity for adequate review and it is beyond me why we needed to act in such haste. . .

The bills never did get past the Senate, at least in their original form. But while the controversy was hot, I did the following analysis of contributions and expenditures by the political action committee (PAC) of Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

At that time, the three most recent campaign finance reports submitted by the BC\BS PAC were the January, July and October "triannual" reports. Here are the figures on direct contributions and direct expenditures from those reports, which can be viewed on the Secretary of State's website:

	Direct Contributions		Direct Expenditures
	Rec Count	$ Total	Rec Count	$ Total
January:  Oct 21 – Dec 31, 2006	7,589	89,576.85	19	46,350.00
July:       Jan 1   – July 20, 2007	23,254	268,700.84	198	251,824.00
October: July 21 – Oct 20, 2007	10,224	116,034.21	79	92,008.00
Totals:	41,067	$474,311.90	296	$390,182.00

Contributions

Note that the number of contribution records is 41,067. That is a lot of records. One could examine them on the SOS website 100 at a time, but it would take days. The site also allows data to be downloaded, so I downloaded all 41,067 records, imported them into Excel, and sorted by contribution date within contributor. What becomes clear is that the BC\BS PAC is funded almost entirely by BC\BS employees, probably through bi-weekly payroll deductions. For example, there were 26 contributions of $60 from Daniel Loepp, president and CEO.

I don't know how many BC\BS employees there are, but least 1579 of them contributed to the BC\BS PAC (41,067 divided by 26 = 1579). Some were employees of the Accident Fund and DenteMax, both of which are subsidiaries of BC\BS.

According to the Independent Committee and Political Committee (PAC) Manual (pages 21-22), Michigan's Campaign Finance Act allows solicitation or acceptance of contributions only from those employees of non-profit corporations "who have policy-making, managerial, professional, supervisory or administrative, non-clerical responsibilities." The contributions may be automatic:

Section 55(6) of the Campaign Finance Act governs automatic contributions, such as payroll deduction. As a general rule, contributions may not be obtained on an automatic or passive basis, and a reverse check off method of obtaining contributions is strictly prohibited.

A corporation organized on a for profit or non profit basis . . . may solicit or obtain contributions for a separate segregated fund from an individual on an automatic basis, including but not limited to a payroll deduction plan, only if the individual who is contributing to the fund affirmatively consents to the contribution at least once in every calendar year. According to Rule 169.39c, the affirmative consent shall be effective only through December 31 of the calendar year for which the consent is given.

$60 seems to be as high as the bi-weekly contributions go. But when I look at the lower end, the amounts force me to conclude that although the deductions may not be mandatory, they are strongly encouraged. There are several employees whose bi-weekly contribution is $.01. Yes, one cent. Twenty-six cents a year. Obviously, these employees have little concern for BC\BS' political objectives. Other employees at the low end are hardly more generous, contributing $.05 or $.25 or $1.00 each pay period. But these are the exception. Here are the most common bi-weekly contribution amounts:

Lower-level employees	$6 and $9
Managers	$13 and $18
Directors	$19 and $29
Vice presidents	$45
Senior vice presidents	$60

There were only 4 contributions that were not from employees:

Contributor	Date	Amt
BILL HARDIMAN FOR STATE SENATE	11/30/2006	$1000
CAPITOL NATIONAL BANK	10/28/2006	$422
CAPITOL NATIONAL BANK	11/30/2006	$229
CAPITOL NATIONAL BANK	12/30/2006	$294

Expenditures

Of the total of $390,182 in direct expenditures, $132,600 went to the campaign committees of individual state legislators:

Representatives (details)	$73,650
Senators (details)	58,950
	$132,600

Another $18,800 went to leadership committees:

ANGERER LEADERSHIP FUND	$2,000
BISHOP MAJORITY FUND	2,300
CHRIS WARD MAJORITY FUND	1,000
DILLON LEADERSHIP FUND	8,000
ED GAFFNEY LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE	1,000
MEADOWS MAJORITY FUND	500
MEISNER MAJORITY FUND	1,000
RUN TO WIN SAK LEADERSHIP FUND	500
WHITMER LEADERSHIP FUND	2,500
	$18,800

Another $79,500 went to caucus committees:

Michigan House Democratic Fund	$30,000
House Republican Campaign Committee	14,500
Senate Democratic Fund	15,000
Senate Republican Campaign Committee	20,000
	$79,500

This brings the total contributions to the state legislature to $230,900:

Representatives	$73,650
Senators	58,950
Leadership committees	18,800
Caucus (party) committees	79,500
	$230,900

So of the $390,182 spent by BC/BS in 2007, $230,900 went to campaign committees associated with the state legislature. Where did the rest go? $32,980 went to other state and local campaigns:

BUROTN LELAND FOR DETROIT	BURTON LELAND	WAYNE COUNTY COMMISSIONER	$500
COMMITTEE TO ELECT ROSALYN BLISS	ROSALYN BLISS	GRAND RAPIDS CITY COMMISSIONER	250
COMMITTEE TO RE-ELECT BRENDA JONES		COUNCILWOMAN	250
COX 5200 CLUB			10,000
FRIENDS OF BILL LATTIMORE	BILL LATTIMORE	COUNTY COMMISSIONER	100
FRIENDS OF CATHY M. GARRETT	CATHY GARRETT	WAYNE COUNTY CLERK	150
FRIENDS OF KAY BEARD	KAY BEARD	COUNTY COMMISSIONER 12	200
FRIENDS OF KEN COCKREL JR.	KEN COCKREL JR.	DETROIT CITY COUNCIL	550
FRIENDS OF PAUL WOJNO	PAUL WOJNO	COUNTY CLERK	500
FRIENDS OF ROBERT FICANO	ROBERT FICANO	WAYNE COUNTY EXEC. WAY	5,000
FRIENDS OF SUZANNE SAREINI	SUZANNE SAREINI	COUNCILWOMAN	80
GRANHOLM LEADERSHIP FUND			5,000
HEARTWELL FOR MAYOR	GEORGE HEARTWELL	MAYOR	2,500
INGHAM COUNTY RESIDENTS FOR CURTIS H	CURTIS HERTEL JR.	COUNTY COMMISSIONER	750
LOREN BENNETT FOR WAYNE COUNTY	LOREN BENNETT	COUNTY COMMISSIONER	500
MURPHY CAPITAL CITY LEADERSHIP FUND			500
PAUL GIELEGHEM FOR COUNTY COMMISSION	PAUL GIELEGHEM	COUNTY COMMISSIONER	150
TERRI LYNN LAND FOR SECRETARY OF STA	TERRI LYNN LAND	SECRETARY OF STATE	5,000
VIRG BERNERO FOR LANSING	VIRG BERNERO	MAYOR	1,000
			$32,980

$65,500 went to federal level campaigns:

BART'S BRIDGE PAC			$5,000
CANDICE MILLER FOR CONGRESS	CANDICE MILLER	CONGRESSIONAL	2,500
DAVE CAMP FOR CONGRESS 2002	DAVE CAMP	CONGRESSIONAL 04	2,500
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMI			5,000
EHLERS FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE	VERNON EHLERS	CONGRESSIONAL 03	1,000
FRIENDS OF MAX BAUCUS 2002	MAX BAUCUS	U.S. SENATE S1	1,000
FRIENDS OF SENATOR CARL LEVIN	CARL LEVIN	U.S. SENATE S1	10,000
JOHN D DINGELL FOR CONGRESS COMMITTE	JOHN DINGELL	CONGRESSIONAL 16	2,500
KILDEE FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE	DALE KILDEE	CONGRESSIONAL 05	500
KILPATRICK FOR UNITED STATES CONGRES	CAROLYN KILPATRICK	CONGRESSIONAL 15	5,000
LEVIN FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE	SANDER LEVIN	CONGRESSIONAL 12	2,000
MCCOTTER CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE	THADDEUS MCCOTTER	CONGRESSIONAL 11	500
MIKE R FUND			2,500
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONGRESSIONAL CO			5,000
PETER HOEKSTRA FOR  CONGRESS	PETER HOEKSTRA	CONGRESSIONAL 02	1,000
ROGERS FOR CONGRESS	MICHAEL ROGERS	CONGRESSIONAL 08	2,000
STABENOW FOR US SENATE	DEBBIE STABENOW	U.S. SENATE S2	10,000
STUPAK FOR CONGRESS	BART STUPAK	CONGRESSIONAL	2,000
STUPAK FOR CONGRESS	BART STUPAK	CONGRESSIONAL	3,000
UPTON FOR ALL OF US	FRED UPTON	CONGRESSIONAL 06	1,500
WALBERG FOR CONGRESS	TIMOTHY WALBERG	CONGRESSIONAL 07	1,000
			$65,500

Finally, $60,802 went to "other" (stuff I didn't know how to classify):

AMERICA'S LEADERSHIP PAC	WASHINGTON, DC	$5,000
ANDREA LITCHFIELD	TROY, MI	8
BLUEPAC	WASHINGTON, DC	20,000
CAMPAC	MIDLAND, MI	2,500
CAPITOL NATIONAL BANK	LANSING, MI	2,303
CITY OF LANSING TREASURER	LANSING, MI	66
DETROIT REGIONAL CHAMBER PAC II	LANSING, MI	2,625
DIAMOND PAC	DETROIT, MI	2,500
FORWARD MICHIGAN	ST. JOHN, MIS	500
GOP WOMEN MATTER	LANSING, MI	500
GREEN TEAM MAJORITY FUND	WYOMING, MI	500
JACOBS MILLENIUM PAC	HUNTINGTON WOODS, MI	2,500
JDC GENESEE FUND	LINDEN, MI	5,000
MAJORITY MATTERS	LANSING, MI	1,000
MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN PARTY - FEDRAL A	LANSING, MI	5,000
MICHIGAN VALUES LEADERSHIP FUND	LANSING, MI	2,500
NEW SOLUTIONS FUND	DETROIT, MI	2,000
NO VI LEADERSHIP FUND	LANSING, MI	1,000
REPUBLICAN MEMBER SENATE FUND	MONTAGUE, MI	2,500
REPUBLICAN VICTORY COMMITTEE	TRAVERSE CITY, MI	1,000
ROCC PAC	ROYAL OAK, MI	500
SCHAUER 21ST CENTURY FUND	BATTLE CREEK	1,000
THE GREAT SOUTHWEST FUND	LANSING, MI	300
		$60,802

To summarize:

State legislative campaigns	$230,900
Other state and local campaigns	32,980
Federal level campaigns	65,500
Other	60,802
	$390,182