According to new reporting from Detroit Free Press, James Craig sent a fundraising letter in which he went on the attack against law enforcement, calling members of the Michigan State Police “weak-kneed…underlings” that “abandon[ed] their jobs” to operate as cronies.
And true to form for the Detroit Dodger’s campaign that has often tried to paper over his record, when confronted with multiple inquiries about the mailer’s contents – which bore Craig’s signature, was paid for by the campaign, and directed donations to his campaign’s PO box –, his spokesperson “did not say Tuesday the letter is a forgery, or that it was not sent on behalf of the campaign, but…would not respond when asked if he was saying the letter was a fake.”
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite issued the following statement:
“James Craig just attacked law enforcement in Michigan to raise money for his campaign, then hid behind a spokesperson to clean up his mess with lie after lie about these mailers that clearly came straight from his campaign. Michiganders deserve better than someone who denigrates law enforcement for his campaign’s benefit and lies to cover it up.”
See excerpts below on Craig’s brazen move to “[slam] the Michigan State Police in a fundraising letter” and read the full report here.
Detroit Free Press: Chief Craig fundraising letter rips Michigan State Police. Did his campaign send it?
By Paul Egan
Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig is accused of slamming the Michigan State Police in a fundraising letter for standing by “weak-kneed” while demonstrators disrupted his September campaign announcement on Belle Isle.
Another Republican candidate for governor, who is a captain in the MSP, hit back Tuesday as a Craig campaign spokesman denied Craig would use such language.
Craig’s announcement of his candidacy for governor was halted — and later reconvened at a different Detroit location — after shouting demonstrators drowned out what he was trying to say.
“I was surprised … that Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer’s state troopers decided to stand down when the protestors stormed the podium,” said the undated letter addressed to “Dear fellow Republican,” which purportedly bears Craig’s signature. […]
The letter said that Whitmer’s MSP “underlings” abandoned their jobs with a “weak-kneed response.”
Craig campaign spokesman Ted Goodman did not say Tuesday the letter is a forgery, or that it was not sent on behalf of the campaign, but he issued a statement that said campaign officials “question the origin” of the mailer. He would not respond when asked if he was saying the letter was a fake. […]
The letter drew a sharp response Tuesday from another Republican candidate for governor, Mike Brown, of Stevensville, who is a captain in the MSP.
“This is truly despicable,” Brown said in a news release. “Denigrating the men and women in law enforcement to score political points is wrong. James Craig may as well march with the defund the police crowd. That’s the type of disdain he is showing our officers.”
Asked about the Craig campaign’s response to the letter, Brown said he knows of scores of people who received the letter over the weekend. “It’s a very nice deflection, based on what James Craig put his name to,” Brown said.
Brown sent the Free Press other documents he said were included with the mailer, which was mailed from a Dulles, Virginia zip code, said it was paid for by “Chief James Craig for Governor,” and included information about mailing checks to post office boxes in Farmington Hills and Lansing. Craig’s most recent campaign finance report included payments for postage for “direct mail fundraising” at an Ashburn, Virginia address and campaign expenses paid to a campaign worker at the same Lansing post office box as the one listed on the mailer.
Sent images of those documents and asked whether they were sent and/or paid for by Craig’s campaign committee, Goodman did not respond directly. Instead, he again sent the earlier campaign statement in which officials said they questioned the origin of the letter. […]
Brown said Craig should know better than to criticize police officers in the way he did, but is “not a real cop” because he never completed his police certification in Michigan while serving as Detroit chief from 2013 to 2021.
That referenced an earlier controversy over Craig not being certified under the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. Though most Michigan police chiefs do have that certification, it is not required. […]
