Hey Mikey, He Likes It! — The Senate Candidate Who Ate Everything They Fed Him

Hey Mikey

You remember the commercial. Two brothers staring at a bowl of cereal. Nobody wants to try it. So they push it at Mikey.

“He likes it! Hey Mikey!”

Mike Rogers is Mikey. The billionaires keep pushing things at him. And he keeps eating.

Surveillance bill that exempts all privacy law? He likes it.

Job from the company whose competitor he investigated? He likes it.

$1.6 million house in Florida while running for Michigan? He likes it.

$88.8M from Texas oil, Blackstone, Citadel, Koch, McConnell, and Musk? He likes it.

Every claim below is sourced to FEC filings, published fact-checks, congressional records, or reporting from Bridge Michigan, PolitiFact, Metro Times, the ACLU, and Business Insider. No private information. No tracking. Verify everything at the bottom.

Who Is Mike Rogers?

The Career

Army → FBI → State Senate → Congress → Intel Chair → surveillance bill → revolving door → telecom boards → Florida mansion → Senate run (lost) → Senate run (again).

That is the résumé of a man who has never stopped being fed.

Thing 1: The Surveillance Bill

Rogers authored CISPA — the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. He introduced it twice:

• H.R. 3523 (112th Congress, 2011–2012)
• H.R. 624 (113th Congress, 2013–2014)

The House passed it. Twice. The Senate killed it. Twice.

What CISPA Would Do

This was not a narrow cybersecurity bill. It was a blanket exemption to every privacy protection Americans had.

Who Opposed It

The ACLU called it “fatally flawed” — a “cybersecurity loophole to existing privacy laws.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation opposed it. Reporters Without Borders opposed it. The American Library Association opposed it. The Obama White House threatened a veto. 41 civil liberties organizations signed a joint opposition letter.

Rogers’ response to the privacy concerns:

“We feel that the bill clearly deals with privacy, that the checks and balances are there, but [we] know there’s still a perception and we’re still trying to deal with that.”

The ACLU’s response:

“Everyone, from the privacy community to the president, agrees that CISPA is bad on privacy — the problem isn’t our perception.”

The Senate agreed. Both times.

Why This Matters Now

Rogers is running for the Senate. The body that killed his surveillance bill — twice — is the body he wants to join. The committee he would sit on would oversee the same intelligence community CISPA was designed to feed.

The same government apparatus that cannot coordinate UPL enforcement across two offices — sending two letters, one day apart, each pointing at the other door — wanted Rogers-level surveillance authority over every American’s private communications.

They couldn’t handle two letters. He wanted to give them everyone’s email.

Thing 2: The Revolving Door

This one requires a timeline.

Read that again. The man who chaired the committee that declared Huawei a national security threat was hired by the company that was negotiating with Huawei.

The Contradiction

Rogers said: He persuaded AT&T to drop the Huawei deal.

AT&T said: Rogers “had no role in business or purchasing decisions with the company.”

AT&T then said: Rogers had no involvement in the Huawei negotiations.

He either had influence (his claim) or he didn’t (AT&T’s claim). Both cannot be true. One of them is lying.

The Lobbying Pipeline

Two of Rogers’ former chiefs of staff were employed at Navigators Global — a lobbying firm that lobbied Congress on AT&T’s behalf during the same period Rogers worked for AT&T.

During his House career, AT&T’s federal PAC gave Rogers $56,000. Verizon gave $28,500. CTIA (the wireless industry trade group) gave $10,000.

Investigate the entity → leave Congress → get hired by the entity → entity’s competitor (that you investigated) negotiates with the entity → deal collapses → you claim credit (or don’t).

That is the revolving door. Rogers walked through it. He liked it.

Thing 3: The Florida Problem

Bridge Michigan:

“The record is clear. Rogers left Michigan after serving in the US House and later bought a house in Florida in 2022. He and his wife listed the home as their primary residence as recently as 2023.”

He declared Florida his permanent residence for the tax break. He was registered to vote in Florida eight months into his first Senate campaign. He campaigned from Florida while telling Michigan he lives in Michigan.

He likes both. Florida for living. Michigan for running.

Thing 4: The Money

What Rogers Raised (FEC, through Jul 15, 2026)

Top employers of individual donors: Blackstone, Paradigm, Ford Motor Company.

The CEO of Blackstone gave $4.5 million to Rogers’ super PAC. Blackstone employees give to the campaign. Both channels, same source.

What Outside Groups Spent FOR Rogers

Grand total benefiting Rogers: $88.8M .

Rogers raised $10.9 million himself. Outside groups spent $82.1 million for him. For every dollar Rogers raised, outside groups spent seven.

His opponent — Abdul El-Sayed — has $51.7 million total benefiting (VoteLog). That includes approximately $20.1 million from United Democracy Project (AIPAC’s super PAC) opposing El-Sayed. Outside money doesn’t just flow in one direction. It flows in every direction. Billionaires fund Rogers. A foreign-policy lobby targets his opponent. Michigan voters are the smallest voice in their own Senate race.

This is not a page about Rogers vs. El-Sayed. Both candidates are swimming in outside money. This is a page about what Rogers’ record says — CISPA, AT&T, Florida, $88.8M — because the record is what voters can verify. El-Sayed’s record is his to answer for. Rogers’ record is documented below.

Who Feeds the Machine

Great Lakes Conservatives Fund (GLCF)

FEC ID: C00853861. Registered October 17, 2023. Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only).

$17 million from three men. None of them lives in Michigan.

Tim Dunn is a Texas oil executive. He gave $10 million to elect a Michigan senator. He does not live in Michigan. He does not vote in Michigan. He runs CrownQuest Operating in Midland, Texas — a town named after oil.

Stephen Schwarzman runs Blackstone — the world’s largest alternative investment firm. He maxed out to Barrett too.

Kenneth Griffin runs Citadel — one of the world’s largest hedge funds. He also gave $7,000 to Barrett. Same donor. Senate AND House. Cross-ticket.

The cross-ticket signal: Griffin and Schwarzman both fund Rogers (Senate) AND Barrett (MI-7). The infrastructure is not candidate-specific. It is party-wide.

The Shared Treasurer

Rhinoceros Media found that Rogers’ campaign and the James federal campaign share a treasurer (Crosby Ottenhoff / Kirsten Quick). The money flows through shared infrastructure.

Thing 5: The Dykema Connection

No direct FEC contribution from Dykema Gossett to Rogers’ federal campaign was found. But Dykema doesn’t need to write checks to Rogers. Dykema builds the infrastructure that everyone uses.

Dykema Gossett plays both sides at state level:

Both parties. All four caucuses. The operating system doesn’t pick winners. It builds the machine.

Dykema is the same firm that:

• Formed Save Detroit Jobs (LARA 802002459) — the dark money vehicle whose president is a convicted federal felon
• SDJ’s IRS filing lists Dykema’s office phone number
• SDJ funded Latisha Johnson’s City Council campaign — Johnson sits on the PCA Board as Secretary
• For the full architecture: How To Build an OS →

Rogers sits atop the same ticket infrastructure that Barrett plugs into. Griffin funds both. Schwarzman funds both. Dykema serves both. Same operating system. Different executables.

Thing 6: Same Election Day

November 3, 2026. Four candidates. One date. One infrastructure.

Different levels. Different races. Same day. Same donor base. Same dark money infrastructure. Same enforcement ecosystem that can’t coordinate two letters.

Miller and Yancey sit on school boards with a man with 9 criminal convictions who calls himself an attorney. The JTC is investigating. The election is in 25 days.

Barrett calls tenant organizers felons while his donor’s dark money entity is run by an actual felon. The election is in 25 days.

Rogers authored America’s most aggressive surveillance bill, got hired by the company whose competitor he investigated, bought a house in Florida, and accepted $88.8M from people who don’t live in Michigan. The election is in 25 days.

Same system. Same day. Different wrappers.

The $30,000 Question

Before leaving Congress, Rogers received $30,000 from CGCN Group — a lobbying firm with 50+ clients including pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. After leaving Congress, Rogers’ net worth grew by an estimated $14 million or more (Business Insider).

Army salary → FBI salary → State Senate salary → congressional salary → board seats + consulting → net worth measured in eight figures.

They keep feeding him. He keeps eating.

Wave Propagation

HOUSE INTEL CHAIR (2011–2015)
    │
    ├── CISPA ──► exemption to all privacy law ──► killed by Senate (twice)
    │
    ├── HUAWEI INVESTIGATION ──► "national security threat"
    │       │
    │       └── LEFT CONGRESS ──► hired by AT&T ──► AT&T negotiating with Huawei
    │               │
    │               └── Two former chiefs of staff lobby for AT&T via Navigators Global
    │
    ├── BOARD SEATS ──► IronNet / Nokia / Telefónica / MITRE
    │       │
    │       └── Net worth +$14M since leaving Congress
    │
    └── 2024 SENATE RUN (LOST) ──► 2026 SENATE RUN
            │
            ├── GLCF: Dunn $10M + Schwarzman $4.5M + Griffin $2.5M
            ├── AFP (Koch): $14.2M
            ├── SLF (McConnell): $27.4M
            ├── America PAC (Musk): $5.8M
            │
            └── Same Nov 3 election as Barrett (MI-7) + Miller + Yancey
                    │
                    └── Same Dykema infrastructure serves all of them

One career. One direction. Always upward. Always fed.

Verify Everything

Connected Analysis

On this site:

• The Enforcement Ecosystem — The ten oversight bodies Rogers’ Senate seat would influence. They can’t coordinate two letters. He wanted to give them everyone’s email.

• Tommy Boy — Barrett shares donors (Griffin, Schwarzman) and infrastructure (Dykema). Same ticket. Same day. Same system.

• Sitting in a Tree — The complete picture: Mike and Tom and Dykema and Banks. One law firm, one compliance specialist, four branches. Same tree, same roots, same Renae Moore watering all of it.

• How To Build an OS — The Dykema architecture both candidates plug into.

• Institutional Immunity — The 88.8% dismissal rate at the AGC that Rogers’ oversight role would perpetuate.

• Cross-Subgraph Patterns — Same oversight failures, five counties, one system.

• They Banked on Banks — Brian Roderick Banks: 9 convictions, 2 charter schools, board chaired by Judge Miller. Same ballot day. Same system. The convicted felon the system protects.

• Signal Permeability — Live Anderson study: does the evidence propagate through oversight boundaries, or localize?

On detroit.primals.eco:

• The Network — The charter school network connected to Miller, Yancey, and Banks — all on the same ballot, same day, same infrastructure.
• Brian Roderick Banks — Full Profile — 9 convictions, credential chain, entity control, email admissions.
• Data Braid — GLLG — Six independent searches converge on the defense attorney + charter authorizer sitting on the same nonprofit board.
• Agency Referrals — Eight federal agencies, state referrals, JTC investigations. The enforcement ecosystem in action — or inaction.

Every claim on this page is sourced to FEC filings, congressional records, published reporting from Bridge Michigan, PolitiFact, Metro Times, MI Advance, CNN, NYT, Business Insider, the ACLU, and Rhinoceros Media. No private information is disclosed. No tracking. No cookies.

Hey Mikey. He likes it. He likes everything they feed him. The surveillance bill. The revolving door. The Florida mansion. The $88.8M . The seat in the body that killed his bill twice.

He’ll eat anything.

This is not an endorsement. This is not a recommendation. This is a record. We don’t pick sides. We refute falsity. When Rogers says “my whole life is here” from a Florida living room, that is falsity. When his campaign says he had no role in AT&T decisions while he says he persuaded them, one of those is falsity. When $82 million in outside money speaks for a candidate, that is a fact Michigan voters should see — regardless of party.

Nov 3, 2026. Read the record. Verify it. Vote your conscience.