HILLSDALE, Mich. — The Hillsdale County Republican Executive Committee is going to court as they work to get clarity over who exactly is in charge of the party – them or the America First faction.
“Given the urgent nature of the timing here with the post election general convention being required to occur within 20 days of the Nov. 8 general election, we’ve asked the court for a preliminary injunction, meaning an expedited ruling on our request to declare that the present officers and executive committee are the properly constituted executive committee who provide notice of the county convention in November,” attorney Jonathan Lauderbach said.
Let’s walk you through how they got here.
In July, Party Secretary Jon Smith emailed some, but not all, of the committee of a special meeting where they would try to “disavow” candidates for office and some precinct delegates.
According to the complaint, this notice violated bylaws as it wasn’t provided to all members of the committee.
At the meeting, those informed members adopted a resolution to no longer recognize duly-elected members of the committee as such.
In August, the defendants in this complaint sent an email to chair Brent Leininger and other elected members that because they were disavowed they would not be able to attend the county convention and said it would be considered trespassing if they did attend.
Security staff at the meeting denied entry to the convention.
“Because of the conduct of these defendants, there was not a proper certification following the Aug. 11 county convention of the Hillsdale County delegation to the state convention,” Lauderbach said.
Voting members of the executive committee called a special meeting to remove the defendants in this case from the committee. New officers were elected to replace them.
According to the complaint, the current officers were properly certified to the county clerk’s office as required by election law.
But, state GOP chair Ron Weiser did issue a statement in August saying they did not consider that group legitimate.
“That was conducted following proper notice to all members of the executive committee whereby an election was held, and the defendants in this case were voted out as officers of the executive committee and replaced by a new slate of officers,” Lauderbach said.
The defendants continue to hold themselves as officers effectively creating two Republican parties under one roof.
“If you can picture this, within 20 days after the general election in November, precinct delegates are going to receive notice of potentially two different county conventions,” Lauderbach said. “How are they going know which one to go to? How do they know what the legitimate county convention is? How will the Michigan Republican Party know which group of delegates is the properly elected slate? We can’t have that lack of clarity. We can’t have that disorganization and chaos in the party following the general election.”
But, what does the executive committee hope to accomplish with this lawsuit?
“I think they intend to uphold the integrity of Michigan’s election law and the bylaws of the Michigan GOP as well as the Hillsdale County Republican Executive Committee and bring some order back to the process,” Lauderbach said. “There is confusion right now, and Republicans in Hillsdale County are getting mixed messages about who the leadership of the party in that county is. We simply want the court to provide some clarity in that regard. We think it’s a pretty clear question.”
See related:
- The divide within the Hillsdale County GOP grows larger
- Hillsdale Republicans send two sets of convention delegate lists to state party
READ THE FULL COMPLAINT HERE:
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