As we close out the fiscal year, we’d be remiss without paying special tribute to a select few Mackinac Center employees who have been fighting the good fight in Michigan for quite some time. In recognition of their service to Michigan, we’ve highlighted some of their greatest feats for freedom.
Michael LaFaive started at the Mackinac Center 30 years ago and has been challenging unwise state spending ever since.
LaFaive began battling the state’s corporate welfare apparatus even before joining the Mackinac Center. While working in the governor’s office, he hand-delivered Mackinac Center materials on his own time, helping influence important legislative decisions. His critiques — including a landmark 2005 study — kept the Michigan Economic Growth Authority under scrutiny and helped shape the decision to eventually shut it down under Gov. Rick Snyder.
As lead author of the Mackinac Center’s largest cost-saving project, LaFaive identified 200 ways to save $2 billion without touching Medicaid or the School Aid Fund. Policymakers adopted many of its ideas, from eliminating state fairs to ending subsidies for state-run ski hills. LaFaive is especially proud that the project brought then–Northwood student James Hohman onto the team: “Without the study we may not have hired this gem of a colleague who has accomplished much on our behalf.”
Earlier in his career, LaFaive exposed the Michigan Education Association’s outsourcing practices despite its public opposition to contracting. His reporting helped inform legislative debates and ultimately led him to direct the Mackinac Center’s privatization efforts.
Steve Frick, manager of information technology, has produced some of the Mackinac Center’s most effective public tools throughout his 25 years here.
He transformed MichiganVotes.org into one of the Mackinac Center’s most important transparency platforms. Launched in 2001, the site set a new standard for accessible legislative information and later inspired USA Votes, which expanded the approach to more than a dozen states. Frick also built the Business Subsidy Scorecard and developed VoteSpotter, a mobile app that puts real-time lawmaking in people’s pockets.
In addition, Frick built the website and publishing system for Michigan Capitol Confidential, the Mackinac Center’s news outlet. His work allows reporters to publish quickly, investigate deeply and reach a broad audience. He also created multiple labor policy sites that simplified complex information and strengthened the Mackinac Center’s ability to inform the public.
Patrick Wright, vice president for legal affairs, has spent 20 years defending the rights of everyday Michiganders on behalf of the Mackinac Center.
In 2009, Wright founded the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation with a case that halted a union and state officials from a joint effort to improperly unionize home-based care providers. His work freed 40,000 workers from a $4 million dues skim.
Before starting the foundation, Wright helped draft the 2006 constitutional amendment strengthening private property rights, which passed by a margin of 2.2 million votes. The details of these changes are fully documented in the new Michigan Constitutional Archive, spearheaded and launched by Wright this year (page 12).
Most recently, Wright was awarded the 2025 Grano Award from The Federalist Society’s Michigan Lawyers Chapter. You can read more about the award and Wright’s legal victories on page 6.
We are deeply grateful for the decades of dedication, courage, and creativity these three colleagues have poured into advancing liberty in Michigan. Their work has protected individual rights, exposed waste and abuse, empowered citizens, and strengthened government accountability in ways that will echo for years to come. To Mike, Steve, and Patrick: Thank you for everything you’ve done — and continue to do — to make Michigan a better place.
