The MEDC has not just filed inaccurate reports; it has also made questionable claims. For instance, in a November 2004 Op-Ed in Business Direct Weekly, former MEDC Chief Executive Officer Donald Jakeway asserted that the MEGA program had created more than 28,800 jobs.
The number was implausible given the MEDC's other published data, but obtaining an explanation for the discrepancy launched me on a months-long odyssey of requests for information.[18] Ultimately, a legislative subcommittee of the Michigan House felt moved to ask Jakeway to respond.
He eventually complied, and I was able to determine that the MEDC had produced Jakeway's 28,800 job figure by using an estimated REMI job multiplier out of context. For a detailed explanation of the problems with the jobs figure and my extended endeavors to procure information from the MEDC, see Pages 23-25 and Appendix B of the Mackinac Center Policy Study "MEGA: A Retrospective Assessment."[19]