How To Build an OS — Dykema Gossett and the Dark Money Machine

What Is An Operating System?

In computing, an operating system mediates between hardware and applications. It allocates resources, manages processes, and controls access. A healthy OS distributes resources to producers. A parasitic OS extracts resources for intermediaries.

This study maps a parasitic operating system in Michigan politics using entirely public records. The model organism is Dykema Gossett PLLC — a national law firm that doesn’t just provide legal services to dark money nonprofits. It creates them, staffs them, and operates them.

Every claim below can be verified from the public sources cited.

The Kernel: W. Alan Wilk

Every OS has a kernel — the privileged code that controls everything.

W. Alan Wilk is a Member at Dykema Gossett and Team Leader of its Political Compliance, Elections & Campaign Finance practice. He is admitted to the Michigan bar (1995), educated at James Madison College (MSU) and Boston College Law.

He incorporates dark money nonprofits. He files their state paperwork. He serves as their lawyer. He manages their compliance. He is also a member of the National Republican Lawyers Association — and simultaneously the lawyer for the Democratic mayor’s campaign.

When asked for comment by Deadline Detroit, Wilk said: “I’m not authorized to speak to the press on this.”

The kernel doesn’t speak to userspace.

Source: dykema.com · Deadline Detroit

The Scheduler: Renae Moore

A scheduler decides which processes run. Renae Moore is Dykema’s Senior Compliance Specialist (rmoore@dykema.com, 517-374-9121). She holds simultaneous roles across six entities:

One person. One Dykema paycheck. Six dark money operations.

Source: IRS 990EZ (EIN 81-3772058) · MI SOS complaint (Meyers v RFFW) · Deadline Detroit

The Process Table: Entities as Spawned Processes

An OS spawns processes — they look independent but share the same kernel and scheduler.

The process lifecycle:

1. spawn — Wilk files paperwork, Moore assigned compliance
2. execute — entity spends money, sends mailers, runs ads
3. rename — if exposed, change name (Save Detroit Jobs → Impact Detroit → Detroit Leaders)
4. dissolve — if complaint filed, dissolve entity (RFFW)
5. respawn — new entity, same officers, same function

Source: LARA entity search · IRS 990 filings · Michigan SOS campaign finance · Deadline Detroit

The Phone Number Test

The simplest proof that SDJ is not independent:

The phone number on Save Detroit Jobs’ IRS 990EZ filing (EIN 81-3772058) is 517-374-9100.

That is Dykema Gossett’s Lansing office phone number.

If you call Save Detroit Jobs, you reach Dykema’s receptionist.

The entity’s tax return was prepared by Olivia RC A Flower at Dykema Gossett PLLC, 2723 S State St Ste 400, Ann Arbor MI 48104 — Dykema’s Ann Arbor office.

SDJ doesn’t have its own phone. Doesn’t have its own office. Doesn’t prepare its own taxes. Its compliance officers are Dykema employees. Its incorporation was filed by a Dykema attorney.

SDJ is not a nonprofit that uses Dykema. SDJ is a Dykema process wearing a 501(c)(4) costume.

Source: IRS Form 990EZ (filed Nov 11, 2024) via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer

The Filesystem: Domains By Proxy

The dark money websites hide their ownership behind Domains By Proxy, a GoDaddy subsidiary whose tagline is: “Your identity is nobody’s business but ours.”

Individual privacy is a right. Entity privacy, when the entity spends $100,000+ on elections, is an accountability problem.

Source: WHOIS records · Deadline Detroit (Charlie LeDuff) · Metro Times

Both Parties Served

Dykema Gossett State PAC total expenditures (2017-present): $725,000+

The kernel is apolitical. The kernel serves whoever has root access.

Source: TransparencyUSA (Dykema Gossett State PAC, all cycles)

What It Costs Detroit

Schools

Purpose Charter Academy students score 3% proficient in math. The school’s management company takes 72.67% of revenue. The dark money vehicle that defended this arrangement — by defeating the journalist investigating it — was incorporated by Dykema, staffed by Dykema, and uses Dykema’s phone number.

Democracy

SDJ spent $84,000 to defeat ML Elrick — a Fox 2 investigative reporter who had exposed double-dipping taxpayer salaries by Councilman Benson’s staff. In his place: Latisha Johnson, who now sits on the Purpose Charter Academy board.

Community Self-Determination

Two Dykema dark money vehicles combined to defeat Proposal A — a grassroots community benefits ordinance that would have required developer concessions. Combined spending: $100,000+. Funded by corporations and developers — the entities that would have been regulated.

How To Verify

All data is from public records about public entities performing public functions. No private information is used. This is entity accountability, not personal exposure.

This Is A Living Document

This study is continuously updated as new public filings emerge. The Dykema OS is not static — entities are spawned, renamed, dissolved, and respawned. The process table changes. The analysis follows.

Related pages:

• The Corporate Network — LARA Entity Analysis
• Enterprise Principals
• Evidence Library

An entity is not an individual. Public records about public entities are not private information. This is how you read a process table.