How Did The MEDC Become The Monster Republicans Want To Slay?

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/31/2025) Sen. Thomas Albert (R-Lowell) is leading a 53-bill proposal to eliminate the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the public-private agency offering grants and programs to entice businesses to locate or grow in Michigan. The legislation comes as some Republican gubernatorial candidates call for the MEDC's demise as a core campaign message.

On Thursday, Albert formally introduced 42 bills of a 53-bill package – SB 631 and SB 683 – unwinding the MEDC. The agency started as a 10-year contract in April 1999 during Republican Gov. John Engler's administration. Friday, it continues to oversee money aimed at stimulating economic development, funded both by state and federal appropriations and tribal gaming revenue.

In recent years, the MEDC has been scrutinized for awarding grants to corporations from Michigan's now-expired Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) fund while proposed projects were protested by residents and sometimes awarded to businesses that downsized their job-creation promises.

Also, legislative grants managed by the MEDC are being investigated by the Attorney General's office, the $20 million grant appropriated in 2022 to Fay Beydoun being one of them.

Beydoun, the long-time Democratic donor, was supposed to use the money to build an international business hub attracting companies from the Middle East, but instead reportedly squandered the money on a $4,500 coffee maker, a $550,000 yearly salary to herself and other self-benefiting items.

"The MEDC has failed massively and is beyond repair," Albert said in a press release. "They have wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on risky corporate giveaways and suspect grants to politically connected recipients. It's time to shut down the MEDC, retain only those programs with a proven track record, and ensure decision-making for taxpayer-funded projects has accountability."

After another House subcommittee spent the better part of an hour questioning the entities' worth last week, MEDC spokesperson Danielle Emerson tried to reset the conversation.

“We continue to focus on securing advanced manufacturing investments, especially across ICE, EV and hybrid vehicles to position Michigan at the forefront of the mobility revolution as it evolves and adapts to market conditions within this decade and beyond," she said. "We will continue doing all we can to bring good paying jobs and economic opportunity to Michiganders everywhere.”

The MEDC was brought up two days ago during a Republican debate 2026 among gubernatorial candidates who question the number of jobs and amount of investment that has come from dollars that could be spent on other priorities.

Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt (R-Lawton) – the first-place winner of the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference's September straw poll among 492 attendees – said on Day 1 of his administration, "MEDC is done."

"Their corrupt organization, giving away money to Whitmer's special friends and handouts, those kinds of favors need to end," Nesbitt said.

Candidate Karla Wagner, the executive director of the Ax MI Tax ballot effort, said she does think programs like the MEDC need to be eliminated.

"We have more than enough business here in Michigan, and unfortunately, we do seem to pay other companies a lot of money to come into Michigan, and then we give them a ton of tax abatement, specifically property tax abatement, but we never offer that to the companies that are here in Michigan," Wagner said. "I don't know why the government is giving out taxpayer dollars for private industry."

However, Wagner did express openness to small loans to businesses already located in Michigan and other efforts to remove people off of unemployment benefits.

Farmington pastor Ralph Rebandt – who ran for governor in 2022, said if elected, "we're going to close it, 100 percent. It's gone."

"The next attorney general is going to, under my suggestion, prosecute people who are misusing your money," Rebandt said, mentioning a 2008 attempt to bring film-making to Michigan with a 42 percent tax credit. "You remember in Allen Park, Michigan. They were gonna take those empty buildings, turn them into Hollywood studios…everybody was excited, and guess what? There was not one movie that was filmed."

On Friday, MIRS spoke with former Republican Sen. Ken Horn of Frankenmuth, who led the Senate's economic development community. He was the lead sponsor behind the SOAR Fund legislation. Horn served in the state House from 2007 through 2012 and from 2015 through 2022 in the Senate.

He said the term "corporate welfare" came from the right wing of the Republican Party. He expressed while Republicans campaign on "jobs, jobs, jobs," his party struggles to have a plan to attract them.

Additionally, because Michigan is a politically diverse state, he raised the question of what can incentivize businesses to invest in Michigan without them knowing what policies they'll need to follow in the future due to changing labor, energy and regulatory statutes.

"I was defending the MEDC when I was in the state House, so we're going back many, many, many years ago, and my window of opportunity for passing development bills kept shrinking…because the ultra right wing of the party kept growing, and that progressive left kept growing," Horn said.

The SOAR Fund was pushed for in reaction to the Dearborn-based Ford Motor Company announcing in 2021 it would be constructing a $11.4 billion "Megasite" in Tennessee, employing 6,000 individuals down south instead of at home in Michigan.

Horn explained a crisis – like the automotive industry choosing to grow outside of Michigan – can cause a major shift in perspectives of economic development, like whether the MEDC should have large tools to address such fears.

"We know how devastating that can be to communities. We know what a rust belt can create on the I-75 corridor. But we never really think about what happens when you can reverse that," Horn said. "What if you got 300,000 more manufacturing jobs in the state of Michigan?"

He said a lack of forward-thinking kept pushing against him from within his Republican caucus. However, he did note that the MEDC does need to change, admitting it has too many lawyers and accountants and not enough economic developers.