From Plan B to the 2020 Elections, DePerno continues to lie his way through this election
LANSING — The Michigan Democratic Party today denounced statements made by GOP attorney general candidate Matt DePerno regarding his alleged involvement in a plot to illegally access voting tabulation machines. DePerno’s comments, made on various videos and podcasts throughout 2021, were brought to light in a Detroit News article published this morning.
“Earlier this week, we heard Matt DePerno compare Plan B contraception to the deadly opioid fentanyl and call for it to be banned at the state border, so at this point almost nothing shocks me about him,” said MDP chair Lavora Barnes. “However, it’s almost beyond belief that he repeatedly and openly bragged about having access to tabulators, which is highly illegal and the reason he’s now under investigation by the Muskegon County Prosecutor.”
Barnes said DePerno also boasted about paying so-called cyber experts to run “tests” on the machines – experts that are now under investigation in multiple states, including Michigan.
“He claims he wants to prevent interference in our elections, yet he consistently acts to jeopardize Michigan voters,” she added. “And anytime he’s asked by reporters about his alleged involvement in the stolen tabulator scheme, he denies it and dismisses the investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt. He simply can’t be trusted to serve as Michigan’s top law enforcement official.”
Barnes said anyone with access to the internet can search Matt DePerno’s name for themselves and find a plethora of his past appearances on talk radio, fringe podcasts, and YouTube shows.
“For example, on March 8, 2021, DePerno was on a program called West Michigan Live with Justin Barclay,” Barnes said. “During that broadcast, he not only maligned hard-working election clerks, but he also complained that his bank was suspicious of all the personal checks he was receiving as donations for his so-called election integrity fund. He said PNC Bank was launching an investigation into his law firm due to potential FDIC violations.”
Barnes pointed out that according to a tracker that used to appear on his website, DePerno raised approximately $400,000 for that fund.
“To this day, he has never accounted for what he did with that money – donors still have no idea what he spent it on despite numerous public calls for him to explain,” Barnes said. “In addition to having no respect for the rule of law, he also seems to have no respect for the people who donated their hard-earned money to him. Between his shady professional history, his radical no-exceptions view on abortion, and his ongoing attempts to overturn the will of Michigan voters, he is not qualified to serve as attorney general. Frankly, he probably shouldn’t have a law license at all given the many ways he has seemingly misused it.”
Barnes said DePerno is also being dishonest with the public by claiming incumbent Attorney General Dana Nessel is afraid debate him.
“The truth is, he is so ethically compromised that AG Nessel cannot debate him, since she is prohibited from prejudicing the jury pool for the many criminal charges he is certain to face based on his admitted illegal acts. But I can understand how someone as ethically challenged as Matt DePerno would have trouble grasping that concept.”
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