Gotion gets slimier for career politician Curtis Hertel
Gotion continues to be a huge problem for career politician Curtis Hertel’s legitimacy as a candidate after he signed a secret NDA to negotiate with the CCP-backed company and gave them $175 million of Michigan taxpayer dollars. Hertel went even further and took money from Gotion’s foreign agents.
A new Fox News report examines just how dirty this is for slimy Curtis Hertel and highlights his refusal to address the matter.
Read more from Fox News here or see excerpts below.
Michigan Republicans continue to spar with Dems over deal with Chinese EV company in key House race
Fox News
Michael Lee
September 16, 2024
The race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District is generating national attention as Republicans attempt to tie their Democratic opponent to a controversial deal with a Chinese Communist Party-backed company.
Michigan Republicans are calling on former Democratic State Sen. Curtis Hertel, who is currently running to represent Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, to break his silence on a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) he signed in order to obtain details on controversial plans to use taxpayer funds to help build an electric vehicle battery plant in west Michigan owned by a company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The plant, which was announced by Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in October 2022, was set to get millions in incentives as part of a deal with Michigan lawmakers and Green Charter Township, with promises of bringing over 2,000 jobs to the area.
But the project quickly drew the ire of local voters, in large part due to the company behind the plant, Gotion Inc., being a subsidiary of Gotion High-Tech, which has strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
Last fall, local voters ousted five of the seven township board members over their support of the project, while the other two members resigned.
That controversy has now bled over into the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the few true toss-up House races in the state, thanks to Hertel being one of several lawmakers from both parties to sign the NDA with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that allowed them to learn about and negotiate details on the proposed plans for the plant.
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“Hertel must answer whether or not he agrees with his comrade pal Elissa Slotkin, and if he regrets signing the NDA to sell out Michigan taxpayers to the CCP,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Mike Marinella.
The controversy over the plant has also garnered attention in the presidential race, with former President Donald Trump saying on Truth social last month that he is “100% OPPOSED” to the plant, adding that Gotion “would put Michiganders under the thumb of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.”
Meanwhile, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, highlighted the controversy during a campaign stop in Michigan last week.
“I think the most important thing is we have to stop paying Chinese manufacturers to manufacture, whether it’s here or overseas,” Vance told reporters in Michigan after his speech. “We want to build an American manufacturing industry and an American middle class. If we want to pursue these policies, let’s do them for Americans and American businesses.”
But questions over Hertel’s involvement in the project continue to be the focus of Michigan Republicans, most notably after it was reported last year that Hertel was on of several Democratic lawmakers in the state to receive funds from a Political Action Committee (PAC) linked to the law office of Warner Norcross + Judd, a firm acting as a foreign agent to represent Gotion.
According to a Fox News report last September, the firm’s PAC donated $2,400 to the state campaign for Hertel, who represented Michigan’s 23rd State Senate district from 2015 until January.
One lawmaker who did not sign an NDA related to the project is former Republican State Sen. Tom Barrett, Hertel’s opponent in the race for Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. Barrett has also seized on the controversy, arguing Hertel owes people an explanation for his involvement with the project.
“Curtis Hertel, a 22-year career politician, owes the people of Mid-Michigan an explanation as to why he signed a secret NDA to give $175 million of their tax dollars to a CCP-backed company,” Barrett told Fox News Digital. “The fact that he took money from foreign agents on behalf of Gotion should disqualify him from Congress.”
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Read more here.