ICYMI: Kristen McDonald Rivet Caught Covering Up Her Involvement in Unpopular Michigan Toll Bridges
Kristen McDonald Rivet was caught lying about her involvement in privatizing the Bay City toll bridges in Michigan, which are wildly unpopular and causing citizens to file lawsuits over unjust enrichment & ghost payments.
While KMR claimed she “wasn’t on the [Bay City] commission while they were figuring this out”, she literally voted in December 2019 to approve the privatization plan.
She knows how bad this deal was for Michigan ($5.50 to cross each time!), and now she’s covering up her vote for it.
Read more below.
Victor Skinner
The Midwesterner
May 29, 2026
As attorneys work to sort out a variety of issues involving wildly unpopular tolls on two Bay City bridges, the area’s congresswoman is working to downplay her role in the debacle.
During the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce’s recent State of the State Luncheon, Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Bay City, suggested a 2022 deal with Bay City Bridge Partners to lease, renovate and toll two of four bridges crossing the Saginaw River stemmed from “decades and decades of ignoring our public infrastructure.”
…
BCBP began tolling the Liberty Bridge in 2023, and the Independence Bridge in 2025, though city residents can acquire a pass for free crossings on the former until 2028.
Residents filed a class action lawsuit in March 2025 alleging BCBP violated its agreement with the city by collecting tolls on the Independence Bridge before all bridge repairs were complete, and a judge in March allowed the case to proceed, WNEM reports.
…
While Rivet contends she “wasn’t on the commission” during discussions on the deal with BCBP, news reports and other documentation online paint a different picture.
Rivet was among commissioners who voted unanimously in December 2019 to approve the BCBP privatization plan, according to commission records and MLive.
She was also a member of the commission when it voted on Dec. 12, 2022 to move forward with a final agreement, but skipped out on the final vote for a ceremony to be sworn into the Michigan state Senate.
…
###