Weiser directed MIGOP to pay Stan Grot $200,000 to drop out of secretary of state primary, is now reimbursing equally-valued fine party incurred to settle complaint
LANSING — In an attempted Friday news dump, embattled MIGOP co-chair Ron Weiser agreed to cover the costs the party was facing to settle a complaint stemming from his decision to tip the scales in the 2018 Republican primary for Michigan secretary of state.
In order to clear the field for his preferred candidate Mary Trader Lang, the Detroit Free Press reported that Weiser struck a deal with Shelby Township clerk Stan Grot in which he was paid a total of $200,000 in monthly installments from MIGOP “so he would drop out of the race for secretary of state shortly before the 2018 convention.”
That same amount is now what the MIGOP must pay the secretary of state’s office to settle the campaign finance complaint filed in February of this year by former MIGOP chair Laura Cox, who described Weiser’s actions as a “sleazy payoff.”
In response to a statement from Weiser lamenting her “sad and reckless” decision to report the payout, Cox “fired a salvo” at Weiser to highlight his corruption:
“Chairman Weiser & (the Michigan GOP) can spin the truth (in a holiday weekend news dump) all they want, but it doesn’t erase what they did. It was wrong for [MIGOP] to be involved in the SOS race, let alone any race. [MIGOP] cheated delegates/voters & its principles in doing so. Attacking my decision to do the right thing also won’t paper over the fact that this was one of the largest fines [paid in] MI’s history.”
According to The Detroit News, Cox’s disclosure was the nail in the coffin for her re-election campaign for MIGOP chair, which she lost to Weiser “days after lodging the complaint against him.”
“That someone was punished for exposing Ron Weiser’s corrupt kingmaker behavior shows just how ethically bankrupt the MIGOP has become. Weiser was caught paying out $200,000 of party funds to buy a statewide seat for his preferred candidate, and now has to pay another $200,000 to cover it up. We can only imagine the sleazy stunts he’ll pull this cycle,” said Rodericka Applewhaite, MDP spokesperson. “Considering Weiser’s preference for machine politics over honest candidate recruitment, Michigan voters deserve to know if and how much money he’s spent and what shady tactics he’s used to get his latest darling James Craig into this race.”
