LANSING, Mich. — Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration has attempted to promote the COVID-19 vaccine among hesitant conservative voters through a $6 million advertising initiative led by a group that lobbies officeholders on behalf of businesses.
In recent months, the Small Business Association of Michigan aired TV commercials, funded billboards and sponsored digital ads touting the vaccine, including one that featured a Donald Trump bumper sticker. The association received a $480,000 "management fee" as part of the initiative, according to a document provided by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The organization's president is former Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, a Republican who is one of eight co-chairs of Whitmer's Protect Michigan Commission, the panel that advises the state on how to inform the public about the COVID-19 vaccine. SBAM's funding came through an advertising company the state health department previously contracted with to support the Protect Michigan Commission's work, according to the health department.
"Ever since vaccines were approved and made available to the general public, SBAM has supported voluntary vaccination as a way of ensuring Michigan small businesses are never closed again as a result of COVID-19," Calley said. "The 8% administrative project allocation directly supports the intensive work completed by SBAM staff during the campaign, as well as the association's daily efforts in support of Michigan's small businesses and COVID recovery.
"Never in our 52 years has our mission been more important or more difficult."
The leaders of other Lansing interest groups described the arrangement between SBAM, which advocates for pro-business policies, and the Democratic governor's administration as awkward, but they declined to criticize it on the record. The effort points to the gymnastics government agencies are undertaking to try to convince residents who don't trust them to get vaccinated.
SBAM's vaccine ads don't mention the money flowed from the state health department, and one Republican member of the Protect Michigan Commission, state Rep. John Roth, R-Traverse City, said he wasn't aware the business association was involved in the state's efforts to promote the vaccine.
"I've never heard that," said Roth, one of two current GOP lawmakers who have positions on the commission.
The legislator said the commission's leaders had never come to him and asked how to reach conservatives.
"How do I say this nicely? I think they think they know how to do it better than I do," Roth said. "That's been part of the problem from the beginning is that they didn't really reach out to Republicans."
Roth said he believes the more government agencies pressure conservatives to get vaccinated, the more hesitant they become. As of Tuesday, 69.8% of Michigan's population age 16 and older had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The percentage has slowly crept upward in recent months, and state officials had once hoped to hit 70% by Labor Day, two months earlier.
Michigan ranked 34th out of the 50 states Tuesday for the percentage of its total population at least partially vaccinated, according data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At the beginning of July, Michigan ranked 24th nationally in the same metric, according to the CDC.
Public polling has revealed hesitancy and opposition toward the vaccine among GOP voters. A survey commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber in late August and early September found about 70% of those unwilling to receive the vaccine in Michigan identified as Republicans.
Targeting 'conservative audiences'
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has a contract with the Ferndale-based firm Brogan & Partners for communications work. In June, the ongoing contract — worth $120 million — was amended to increase the value by $50 million, according to a change notice.
The increase was based on Brogan & Partners' help to increase the state's vaccination rates and support for the Protect Michigan Commission, the notice said.
"Current statewide research indicates that only 66% of residents are likely to get the vaccine," the change notice says. "Science tells us we need 70% of the population vaccinated to achieve success in the fight to end the pandemic.
"Time is of the essence in getting residents vaccinated and the only way to do that is via MDHHS communications."
Experts have said repeatedly the 70% vaccination threshold doesn't necessarily mean Michigan will reach herd immunity. But the threshold has been the Whitmer administration's goal for months.
The Small Business Association worked as a subcontractor through Brogan & Partners. For some specific campaigns, the contractor may procure a statement of work from outside groups for specific jobs needed to implement an initiative, said Bob Wheaton, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The specific work was not bid out by the contractor as it used the resources it needed to do the campaign, Wheaton said. SBAM planned to "produce advertisements as well as highly targeted messages to conservative audiences," according to its statement of work.
"We will reach our target audience through voices they trust," the statement added. "We will conduct research to dig into the reason for their resistance and talk to them in language that affirms their core values while sharing common sense, plain talk stories to persuade. We will skip the hot buttons. We won't preach or condescend."
'Make the right decision'
The SBAM ads aired from late July through the end of September, Calley said.
One of them featured a physician talking about vaccinations while getting into a white pickup truck. The truck had a bumper sticker on it, supporting Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.
"Make the right decision," the physician said in the ad. "Get vaccinated for yourself and your own safety."
The association spent at least $30,000 running the ad on Facebook alone, according to the social media platform's ad library.
In another advertisement, a paramedic from St. Clair County said having patients in her ambulance with COVID-19 was preventable.
"It's your decision to get vaccinated," she said. "It's safe. And it's time."
The campaign featured $500,000 in spending on direct mail, $900,000 in spending on TV advertising, $862,500 on radio advertising and $1 million on digital advertising, according to data released by the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The Small Business Association of Michigan was "uniquely suited to increase vaccine education by working with their statewide member network to ensure a trusted messenger is communicating in small towns and rural areas across the state to promote how people getting the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine helps small businesses get back to normal," said Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the state health department.
SBAM opposed Whitmer in 2018
Calley, SBAM's president, said the organization was initially hesitant about participating in the initiative. However, expanding vaccinations is good for small businesses, he said.
The association's credibility and his profile as a former Republican elected official benefited the campaign, he said.
Before joining SBAM, Calley served two terms as former Gov. Rick Snyder's lieutenant governor and ran unsuccessfully for governor himself in 2018, losing in the Republican primary. In 2018, SBAM endorsed Whitmer's opponent, Republican Bill Schuette, in the general election race.
SBAM has political action committees that get involved in campaigns and reported spending $160,028 lobbying state government in 2020.
None of the money received through the vaccine program will go toward lobbying Whitmer's administration, said Laura Biehl, a spokeswoman who took questions on behalf of SBAM.
"No part of the funding was or will be used on political activities, as SBAM's political action committee is completely separate from its general operations," Calley said in a statement.
Michigan's COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations tied to the virus have been trending upward for months. As of Monday, 2,542 adults were in the hospital with confirmed cases of COVID-19, the highest total since early May.
The percentage of COVID-19 tests bringing positive results hit 13.7% last week, the highest weekly percentage since April 11-17, according to state health department data.
