Republican gubernatorial nominee John James raised money Wednesday, Sept. 23, at a Washington, D.C., reception hosted by lobbyists for Flock Safety. Plymouth Township is paying the surveillance-camera company $271,900 to install 26 license-plate readers on local roads.
The fundraiser, first reported by Metro Times, was held at the offices of BGR Group, a lobbying firm that has collected $590,000 in federal lobbying income from Flock since late 2024. All nine hosts were BGR executives. Among them was BGR president Erskine Wells, who is personally registered as a Flock lobbyist.
Tickets started at $1,000 per person, with top-tier contributions reaching $8,325 per individual. The invitation listed EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin as a special guest.
Plymouth Township's Flock contract
The Plymouth Township Board of Trustees voted 5-2 on Jan. 13 to approve two three-year leases with Flock Safety. One covers 14 cameras along the Ann Arbor Road corridor, funded by the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) at a total cost of $149,500. The second covers 12 cameras at entry and exit points including Sheldon and Beck roads near M-14, funded by state forfeiture money at $122,400.
Supervisor Chuck Curmi, Clerk Jerry Vorva, Treasurer Bob Doroshewitz and trustees John Stewart and Mark Clinton voted yes. Trustees Sandy Groth and Jen Buckley voted no.
Buckley said at the Jan. 13 meeting she was not convinced the township needed the technology. "I'm also just visualizing 14 of these going down Ann Arbor Road and, how welcoming does that feel to our community?" she said, according to Hometown Life.
DDA records from a May 18 board packet show the authority paid Flock $61,500 in two February invoices covering the first year of the DDA camera lease.
James on Flock cameras
Three weeks before the BGR fundraiser, James addressed Flock cameras at a Sept. 2 press conference. "Our right to privacy is not negotiable," he said then, according to the EUP News. He added that he would work "within the Constitution to keep innocent people safe and put bad actors away."
Neither BGR Group nor James's campaign responded to Metro Times' requests for comment on the fundraiser.
Statewide backlash and legislation
At least seven metro Detroit communities have canceled Flock contracts. St. Clair Shores ordered its 12 cameras disabled for six months after residents raised privacy concerns. Eastpointe's city council voted the week of Sept. 14 to terminate its contract.
Bipartisan bills in Lansing would regulate the cameras statewide. House Bills 5492 and 5493, from Reps. Doug Wozniak (R-Shelby Township) and Jimmie Wilson (D-Ypsilanti), would cap data retention at 14 days. State Sen. Jim Runestad's Senate Bill 1131 would also set a 14-day limit and require a warrant before querying plate data outside active investigations. State Rep. Alicia St. Germaine filed a separate three-bill package Thursday, Sept. 24, that would require deletion after 30 days and impose criminal penalties for misuse.
Plymouth Township's police department told trustees in January that data is to be deleted after 30 days. Flock Safety announced in August it was lowering its default retention period to seven days, according to Bridge Michigan. Whether Plymouth Township has adopted the shorter window is unclear.
No upcoming Plymouth Township Board of Trustees agenda item addressing the Flock contract has been publicly posted.
