Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has some explaining to do. A conservative group filed lodged a formal complaint against the Democrat governor accusing her of subverting campaign finance laws.
The Washington Examiner reports:
The Michigan Freedom Fund, which “fights to champion conservative policies on behalf of Michigan taxpayers,” filed a complaint Wednesday with Michigan’s Bureau of Elections outlining Whitmer’s “illegal scheme … to evade and eviscerate Michigan candidate contribution limits,” arguing contributions from at least 154 individual donors to Whitmer’s campaign violate state election laws.
“The Whitmer Campaign has admitted to these wholesale violations of the MCFA’s contribution limitations, but claims that there is an exception to contribution limits for officeholders facing a recall election,” Victoria Sachs, executive director of the MFF, said in the complaint, which was reviewed by the Washington Examiner. “However, even if such an exception exists, there is no recall of Governor Whitmer currently being actively sought, a condition precedent to any claim to the potential contribution limit exception for recall elections. Whitmer’s illegal scheme is inconsistent with the text and purpose of the [Michigan Campaign Finance Act], absurd, unfair, and could not have been intended by the Legislature.”
Sachs said a recall of Whitmer is not being “actively” sought because “to actively seek a recall election, [a committee] must first get petition approval from the State Board of Canvassers then collect 1,062,647 signatures from registered voters within 60 days.”
“Governor Whitmer’s scandal plagued Spring has led to sinking poll numbers and growing calls for her to be removed as Governor, but an upset constituency is not the legal standard here. In fact, there are no political committees that are or were actively seeking the recall of Governor Whitmer,” the complaint continued, calling on the Bureau of Elections to “swiftly investigate the Whitmer Campaign’s illegal circumvention of the contribution limits” to ensure other candidates don’t “also take advantage of the newly created ‘Whitmer Loophole!!'”
Earlier in the week news broke that Whitmer has pulled in a record fundraising haul of $8.6 million from Jan. 1 to July 20. However, the individual amount someone can normally donate is limited to $7,150 per person Whitmer was able to use a loophole to circumvent campaign finance laws.
