Team,

Today was a great day for the greater Lansing area: the Lansing Board of Water & Light held their official celebration to open the Delta Energy Park, a new power plant that will power thousands of homes and businesses in mid-Michigan — all without relying on coal. This plant was instrumental in landing the new GM battery plant in Delta Township, and is a key selling point for a number of other large investments that could, fingers crossed, be coming our way. 

It was for that reason that I was surprised to see my opponent at this ribbon-cutting event. He touts his strong opposition to the new GM factory and other incentive deals – he voted *five times* to oppose the new plant and the thousands of jobs it will create in our community. 

His remarks were therefore doubly surprising: he said, “we know from those looking to locate facilities for expansion of their growth of their business, energy and energy costs rate very high on the list of considerations… and this will make us far more competitive.”

So despite the fact that he voted to kill the bipartisan deal to attract the very growth he talked about, he seemed to have no problem showing up for a ribbon-cutting and mugging for the cameras.

And that’s not all – he also refuses to tell his constituents how he would have voted on the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which includes $65 billion to upgrade states’ power infrastructure and build low-emissions generation facilities like the one we celebrated today. You can’t run for Congress without telling voters what you believe about the issues they care about.  

Here’s the thing: you don’t get to have it both ways. Vote against economic growth if you want, but stand by it and skip the ribbon cutting on a facility fundamental to that growth. Even in an election year. This hypocrisy is precisely what Michiganders can’t stand about politics.