Billionaire Hank Meijer — one of the owners of the Midwest-based supermarket chain Meijer — showered the largest pro-corporate lobbying group in the country after it endorsed his son's U.S. House campaign, according to a new report.
In a Tuesday report, The Hill's Taylor Giorno wrote that Meijer donated approximately $800,000 to the U.S.Chamber of Commerce just days after the group threw its weight behind his son, Peter's 2022 Republican primary campaign for a Michigan House district. Following the wire transfer, the Chamber then earmarked $381,000 for "Media Advertisement – Energy and Taxes – Mentioning Rep. Peter Meijer," according to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) report.
That money was presumably used for the ad, "Thank you, Rep. Peter Meijer," which contains fine print at the end mentioning spending by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Hill reported that because the group didn't specifically come out for or against Peter Meijer, they didn't have to disclose Hank Meijer's $800,000 donation.
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Giorno further reported that Meijer attempted in 2020 to donate money using an LLC to a super PAC backing his son's campaign in that cycle. This prompted an official FEC complaint from the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which is an anti-corruption watchdog group. Saurav Ghosh, who is the CLC's director of federal campaign finance reform, told the Hill that Peter Meijer's activities are a great example of the powerful and influential role that dark money plays in modern campaigns.
"They’re exploiting a legal loophole to help them conceal the sources of election spending in this race," Ghosh said. "And they’re doing it in a very sophisticated way, but ultimately the voters suffer as a result."
Currently, federal campaign finance law dictates that it is illegal for any coordination between a campaign and a funder on "independent expenditures," which is the term used for outside groups spending money to influence a race. However, the law currently doesn't classify the involvement of a candidate's family member as "coordination," meaning Hank Meijer's dark money spending is technically not illegal.
"The personal contribution made two years ago to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Voter Education Fund was in full accordance with all laws and regulations," Meijer family spokesman Joh Truscott told the Hill.
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Peter Meijer was a member of Congress for just one term, and lost the 2022 Republican primary to John Gibbs, who worked in former President Donald Trump's White House. Gibbs then lost the general election to Democrat Hillary Scholten, who is now running for her second term to represent the Grand Rapids-area district.
Meijer attempted to re-enter the political arena with a campaign for Michigan's open U.S. Senate seat, which went up for grabs after Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) announced her retirement. However, his campaign failed to build enough traction, and he dropped out of the race in April. Trump-endorsed former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) is expected to win the August 6 primary.
Hank Meijer and his family have a collective net worth in excess of $6 billion. The family owns roughly 230 Meijer grocery stores across the Midwest, bringing in annual revenue of approximately $20 billion, according to Forbes.
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Click here to read the Hill's full report.