Mayor Virg Bernero gave his final state of the city address to rounds of applause. But it left the No Secret Lansing Deals group shaking their heads.
"Mayor Bernero suggested a lot of projects to be done in the next 9-10 months and we're sort of asking where are the dollars going to come from for all of those projects," TJ Bucholz, the spokesperson for the group said.
No Secret Lansing Deals is a coalition of small business owners and citizens.
They have a website that doesn't offer much about the group, other than complaints about Lansing's leadership.
Bucholz says they're worried Mayor Bernero's plan will bust Lansing's budget.
"What we're asking is if our leaders will be fiscally responsible," Bucholz said.
Mayor Bernero didn't want to go on camera, but says
“The past 11 years every budget has been balanced and for the 4th straight year, this year there will be a budget surplus. The city continues to build its tax base.”
As for No Secret Lansing Deals, the people in the group want to remain secret.
The mayor sent us an email back in February saying:
‘Bucholz is unwilling to admit who is lining his pockets to run this alternative fact campaign, and you will be shocked to hear who just added Bucholz to their payroll. Today we learned from a reliable source, that Bucholz, head of vanguard public affairs, is now spokesperson for Andy Schor's mayoral campaign.’
This message was sent to us before Andy Schor announced his run for mayor. And although Schor says he's been friends with Bucholz for 15 years, he's got nothing to do with the group:
"He's not part of my campaign,” Rep. Andy Schor (D)- Lansing said. “The mayor's office can continue to claim that I'm involved with his group, which I'm not. We have many people who we're all friends with in this town, it's a small big town. And he's someone who I've known for 15 years. I don't know his client."
Bucholz says the mayor's office should stop caring who's behind the group.
"We want answers,” Bucholz said. “So I think the mayor's administration should focus less on who might be part of this coalition and more on the questions that we're asking."
Bernero says the arguments from no secret deals are propaganda and TJ Bucholz is the definition of fake news.
