Mark Schauer: Snyder Deceived Public On Canceled Fine

LANSING (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer on Friday accused Republican Gov. Rick Snyder of deceiving the public by not disclosing that a $98,000 fine against a prison food contractor was never levied.

Schauer said the fine's cancellation shows "rank corruption" in Snyder's administration. He said Snyder "lied" by not confirming until Thursday that Aramark Correctional Services' fine was canceled. Earlier Thursday, a liberal group had released emails in which Corrections Director Dan Heyns told Snyder's chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, in March that he would cancel or delay fines.

Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel criticized Schauer, saying his "continual, willful distortion and twisting of facts, figures and information" are "really quite shameful."

When problems with unapproved menu substitutions, inadequate staffing and employee misconduct persisted, Michigan fined the Philadelphia-based company $200,000 last month and announced changes. Edwin Buss, the former prisons chief in Florida and Indiana, began work last week as an independent monitor over the three-year, $145 million contract.

Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan said Friday that because the initial $98,000 penalty was not publicly announced — it became public through a media outlet's public records request — the agency did not subsequently announce the fine's suspension.

"There was no effort to hide the fact," he said, saying administrators have discretion to pull back fines. Heyns suspended the penalty as an act of good faith after an Aramark executive pledged to fix problems.

"His main focus was on resolving the problems as quickly as possible so that these negative issues we were experiencing with the food service contract did not impact the safety and security of correctional facilities," Marlan said.

Critics said the Snyder administration let countless stories mentioning the fine go uncorrected.

"The governor has to take responsibility, through his spokespeople, for continuing to contend ... that Aramark paid a $98,000 fine," Schauer said in a media conference call.

Progress Michigan on Thursday released a few emails between Heyns and Muchmore, obtained through a public records request.

Muchmore referred to news reports about lawmakers being concerned about Aramark and asked, "Do you feel you've got this under control?"

"Answer is no but I am working on it," Heyns replied.

"Do we need to get a drink?" Muchmore responded.

The drink comment had initially been blacked out but the Corrections Department made it public Friday after Schauer called for its release.

Heyns said in another email that he would "tone down my attack dogs, delay or cancel any fines and give Aramark time to solve the problems."

Michigan's contract with Aramark runs through Sept. 30, 2016. Democrats have called on Snyder to cancel the deal, saying problems were inevitable because of high turnover and lower pay for private workers who replaced roughly 370 state employees.

The governor has defended the decision to stick with the food vendor, saying the state is on pace to save $14 million a year through privatization.

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