From Real Estate to Republican Politics Now Among GOP’S Elite Fundraisers, ‘Relentless’ Ron Weiser Puts the Party Rst
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
‘Pokémon Go’: Why it might matter to your business, Page 3 JULY 18 - 24, 2016 Firms struggle to ll Health Care jobs at entry level O ers of higher wages, incentives on table Heroes They’re rethinking health care, solving intracta- By Dustin Walsh gion is approaching a labor short- ble problems and changing the world. They’re [email protected] age — one that is only going to get Shiloh Industries Inc., a laser weld- worse, experts predict. There is also Crain’s Health Care Heroes. One helped put ing and metal stamping supplier, is evidence that the tightening labor lifesaving overdose treatments in the hands of first hiring, and to find employ- market is starting to push responders. Another is uniting for therapy veterans ees, it has increased wages up entry-level wages even and former NFL players and offered other incen- as activists pressure for tives. higher minimum wages with traumatic brain in- Yet it continues to strug- and major companies juries. And another told gle to fill entry-level jobs. It make a splash of raising the world that a city’s has five openings at its their pay scales. children were suffering plant in Canton Township, Last week, J.P. Morgan with more to come after re- Chase & Co. and Starbucks from lead poisoning. ceiving $26 million in new Inc. announced they Those stories and more business for 2017. would raise pay for its low- start on Page 9. Shiloh’s trouble finding Kathy est-paid employees. Star- Labor workers is a story almost Henneman: bucks plans to raise pay 5 Crain’s will honor market has never forgotten during the Great percent to 15 percent for them at our Health looked so bleak. Recession. But it’s the new its roughly 150,000 em- Care Leadership Sum- reality. ployees. Chase plans to mit on Nov. 17. For more Now, unemployment is raise pay for 18,000 em- beneath 10-year lows, 4.7 percent in ployees from $10.50 per hour to be- on the summit, see Michigan and 5.7 percent in metro tween $12 per hour and $16.50 per www.CrainsDetroit.com/ Detroit in May, and labor force par- hour. events. ticipation remains stagnant. The re- SEE JOBS, PAGE 16 From real estate to Republican politics Now among GOP’s elite fundraisers, ‘relentless’ Ron Weiser puts the party rst By Kirk Pinho Words you likely will never hear him presidential campaign that is ex- $100,000 to Republican candidates eners: “Disappoint-MINTS,” with a [email protected] say again. pected to kick into high gear this and causes since 1999, according to photo of President Obama on the Trust in the federal government After successfully scraping to- week with a formal GOP nomina- Federal Election Commission data — lid, stylized a la the outgoing com- had started its slow atrophy. gether the $45,000 down payment tion at the Republican National and Doug Rothwell, president and mander-in-chief’s “Hope” poster And in 1968, Ron Weiser, who — today, about $314,000 — from Convention in Cleveland. CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, designed by Shepard Fairey during would become one of the most fraternity brothers and others, that He sits in a small, almost claustro- the state’s business roundtable. prominent money men in Republi- apartment building, long since sold, phobic temporary office on the On his desk, a tin of breath fresh- SEE WEISER, PAGE 18 can politics, needed cash. was Weiser’s first step to a vast, and fourth floor of the McKinley Corpo- The University of Michigan law undisclosed, fortune accumulated rate Center, the headquarters of the school student, two years after earn- largely in real estate. Ann Arbor-based real estate compa- ing his business degree there and And, years later, a place among ny he founded, McKinley Associates working as a resident manager of an the GOP’s stable of fundraising elite Inc., a few blocks west of the U-M apartment building at 815-819 S. that can be traced to his first apart- campus. The company, of which Main St. downtown, had the chance ment purchase. Weiser is a majority owner, today has to buy a small 15-unit property in He deals in hundreds of millions $500 million in annual revenue and a Ann Arbor for $245,000. of dollars now, as one of six vice 55 million-square-foot-plus real es- So he did what most in their early chairmen of a national committee tate portfolio valued at $4.6 billion in 20s would do: He hit up his “bros.” aiming for a far more ambitious 33 states. Albert Berriz oversees it as “I didn’t have the money,” he said. goal: $1 billion for Donald Trump’s its CEO and co-managing member. © Entire contents copyright 2016 Talking last week about his 1968 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved purchase of the nondescript crainsdetroit.com Vol. 32 No 29 $2 a copy. $59 a year. three-story apartment building overlooking the Huron River and municipal parks, Weiser is casually dressed in a striped button-up short-sleeve shirt. He is late to an interview, having gotten waylaid by a discussion about LON HORWEDEL NEWSPAPER the 2016 election with Berriz — who Ron Weiser is one of the six vice chairpersons of a joint fundraising committee for himself has donated more than presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump and the RNC. 2 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS // JULY 18, 2016 while planning to rent it. But a cease- mission will launch a statewide “lis- MICHIGAN and-desist letter that appeared on tening tour” this month to gather INSIDE their door last July forced the couple feedback from residents about in- THIS ISSUE CALENDAR .........................................14 to abandon vacation rental opera- frastructure needs. The 21st Century CLASSIFIED ADS ...............................15 tions and refund $40,000 to people Infrastructure Commission will kick KEITH CRAIN.......................................6 who had paid to stay at the cottage. off the tour July 21 in Grand Rapids. OPINION ..............................................6 Garfield Township and other Additional dates in Detroit and Mar- OTHER VOICES ...................................6 nearby residential areas have banned quette have not yet been an- PEOPLE ...............................................14 BRIEFS short-term rentals — anything less nounced. The commission has a RUMBLINGS .......................................19 Dow cuts could become Dow’s cuts come at a time when than 30 days — for years. Housing website (miinfrastructurecommis- WEEK ON THE WEB ..........................19 West Michigan’s gain West Michigan companies say they shortages caused the township to sion.com) to gather public input are struggling to find talent. Unem- start cracking down last year. “When and provide updates on its work. Dow Chemical Co.’s loss — some ployment in Kent County has hovered we bought the property, we had no The panel is to review all state infra- COMPANY INDEX: 700 workers shaved from its work- between 3.3 percent and 2.9 percent reason to believe we couldn’t rent it structure systems to come up with SEE PAGE 17 force in Midland — may mean gains from January to May 2016, according out,” said Kazmierski, now a familiar best practices and priorities for im- for manufacturers seeking to fill tal- to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. voice at township meetings for more provement in a report due Nov. 30. of its campaign, which kicked off ent needs on the other side of the The MEDC also worked with eco- than 40 short-term rental owners. “A n Denso Manufacturing Michigan nine months ago. LowellArts said it state. nomic development firm Midland handful are just renting and hoping Inc., a manufacturer of automotive has outgrown its current home. According to a MiBiz report, Tomorrow to develop the portal. they don’t get caught.” air conditioning and engine cooling n Grand Rapids-based DK Securi- Grand Rapids-based Hello West Stakeholders in the project are still Some residents balk at skyrocket- systems, is expanding in Battle ty said it has been awarded a one- Michigan and economic develop- gathering information from employ- ing rents, but Kazmierski and others Creek. The Denso International Amer- year federal contract for armed se- ment firm The Right Place Inc. have ers for the portal, which has been say allowing home rentals would ica Inc. subsidiary said it plans to add curity guard services at the Soo teamed up with the Michigan Eco- built and is ready to accept informa- help the tourism industry. new manufacturing capabilities at Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, MLive. nomic Development Corp. to create a tion from former Dow employees. its Battle Creek facility to support ad- com reported. The company did not portal connecting West Michigan MICH-CELLANEOUS ditional sales, investing more than specify the amount involved in the employers to those laid-off workers. Traverse City-area cottage n Heidi Grether, a veteran oil $37 million and creating 125 jobs. contract. Dow announced the layoffs at its company lobbyist who joined Mich- n A Grand Rapids-area arts non- n Michigan State University’s Insti- Great Lakes Bay-area operations as renters balk at local bans igan’s energy agency last year, will profit is giving the public an oppor- tute for Entrepreneurship and Innova- part of a larger effort to reduce the Some homeowners say officials lead the state Department of Environ- tunity to support its $1.1 million tion is getting a $4.5 million boost chemical manufacturer’s global em- in the Traverse City area are being mental Quality in the wake of Flint’s fundraising campaign, which will from businessman Robert Burgess, ployee base as the company at- shortsighted in banning them from water crisis, AP reported.