Manoj Bhargava
Update, Friday, 11 a.m.: David Eggert of the Associated Press reports that Gov. Rick Snyder used his pardon power to erase the drunken driving conviction of a politically connected lawyer who was appointed to a state economic board in 2011 and is the $250,000-a-year lawyer for the maker of 5-Hour Energy drink.
Snyder followed the recommendation of the Michigan parole board and pardoned Alan Gocha Jr. in December - one of only 11 pardons out of roughly 750 applications since the governor took office, AP writes.
Thursday article:
Manoj Bhargava, the owner of the Farmington HIlls-based 5-Hour Energy drink company, apparently fancies himself as a kingmaker.
An article by Ben Wieder for the website, the Center For Public Integrity, states that Bhargava a billionaire, a Princeton dropout and former Hindu monk is nearly invisible, but pours big money money into political campaigns. And he may have some reason to curry favor with politicians.
Attorneys general in five states are suing Bhargava’s energy shot business, accusing it of deceptive marketing practices and the Food and Drug Administration is investigating the safety of the product, the article states.
Wieder writes:
Bhargava’s investment firm ETC Capital gave $2.5 million to the Republican Governors Association last year, joining conservative billionaires Sheldon Adelson and David Koch on the list of top five donors to the group that works to elect Republican governors.
Yet RGA Chairman and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said, “I don’t know him.”
The 62-year-old Bhargava and several of his Michigan-based companies have given at least $5.3 million to candidates for state office and political groups around the country since 2009, according to state and federal campaign filings. But Bhargava remains a mystery man, even to many of the people who are benefiting from his largesse, including Bobby Schostak, who received a $25,000 donation from ETC Capital in 2010 during his first campaign for Michigan Republican Party chairman.
Schostak, who recently left the job, said, “I would have trouble knowing it was him if he walked in the door, honestly.”
The article states that Bhargava avoids the spotlight, both in politics and life, but notes that few people have given as much to politics at the state level as Bhargava and his companies in the past five years.
