Bogged down by continued failures to attract support for her special interest-backed agenda, DeVos sellout Tudor Dixon was accused of violating Michigan campaign finance law by failing to report a fundraiser hosted by the DeVos family earlier this summer in a new complaint, making her operation the subject of yet another campaign finance complaint. The DeVoses and their network donated over $200,000 directly to Dixon’s campaign during the previous reporting period.
As reported by MLive, the Michigan Democratic Party recently filed a complaint alleging that Dixon failed to report a fundraiser hosted by the DeVos family attended by nearly 200 people in violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.
In another “more problematic” move, Dixon boasted about the fundraiser in campaign correspondence and shared photos from the event which showed the event was “clearly not in a home,” meaning that her campaign also failed to report in-kind contributions or expenditures in relation to this fundraiser.
The full complaint against Dixon’s campaign can be viewed here.
MDP Chair Lavora Barnes, who signed the complaint filed with the Bureau of elections, issued the following statement:
“The DeVos family is all in on Tudor Dixon’s wrong-for-Michigan agenda. Michiganders deserve to know the special interests she is dependent on as she’s working with them to decimate public education, eliminate reproductive choice, and reverse major investments in our economy and infrastructure.”
See excerpts below from MLive on how DeVos sellout Dixon skirted the rules for “the primary patrons of [her] gubernatorial bid” and read the full report here.
MLive: Democrats Allege Tudor Dixon Failed to Disclose Devos-Hosted Fundraiser
By Simon Schuster
The Michigan Democratic Party has accused Republican gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon’s campaign of failing to disclose a fundraiser hosted by the DeVos family on the candidate’s behalf, according to a campaign finance complaint filed with the Michigan Department of State.
Their evidence comes from an email sent by Dixon’s campaign to supporters June 12.
“The DeVos family hosted a ‘friendraiser’ for Tudor this week and about 175 people turned out,” the campaign wrote in the email.
Dixon’s campaign never reported a fundraiser that week in their campaign finance disclosure, the complaint asserts, a violation of rules which requires candidates to disclose the date, location, attendance and amount raised at fundraisers. MDP chair Lavora Barnes is named as the complainant.
Dixon’s campaign has a simple explanation: they never needed to report the event because it wasn’t a fundraiser at all. […]
Michigan’s campaign finance law defines a fundraiser as an event “through which contributions are solicited or received by purchase of a ticket, payment of an attendance fee, making a donation or purchase of goods or services.” […]
It’s unclear if the event was ticketed. The complaint also alleges “Dixon knowingly omitted individual in-kind contributions or expenditures related to the DeVos fundraising event and required to be disclosed by the MCFA,” Michigan’s campaign finance law.
This is where things could be more problematic for the campaign. The email included a photo of the event, which was clearly not in a home.
“If it’s at the corporate office, or business office, or they rented a hall or something, that would be an in-kind contribution,” [attorney Jean] Kordenbrock said.
Nothing of the sort has been reported by Dixon’s campaign.
The DeVos family have been the primary patrons of Dixon’s gubernatorial bid, according to campaign finance records. Weeks before the “friendraiser,” Dixon was hosted by Craig and Emilie Wierda for a fundraiser. Emilie Wierda is the sister of Betsy DeVos and a fellow scion of the wealthy Prince family.
Seven members of the DeVos family have given a combined $50,050 to her campaign and a collective $1 million to an opaque Super PAC, Michigan Families United, which has far outspent Dixon’s campaign in support of her candidacy. Dixon will be the subject of another DeVos family fundraiser on Sept. 12, this time with Rick and Melissa DeVos in Grand Rapids.
Dixon will face Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, in the general election Nov. 8. In the latest campaign finance filings for the period ending Aug. 22, Dixon had about $524,000 in the bank. Whitmer had $14 million.
