Michigan TV stations and several prominent Republican consultants and activists have been among the biggest beneficiaries of a wave of campaign spending this year by businessman Perry Johnson, who’s hoping to become the GOP’s nominee for governor.
Johnson, who made his fortune developing quality controls for the auto industry, had given his campaign $30 million this year as of July 19. That’s an average of $172,413 a day since he announced his bid for governor on Jan. 26, far outpacing any of the governor hopefuls.
A Detroit News analysis of the spending found Johnson’s campaign had channeled $24.3 million of its $29.5 million in spending — about 82% — to what was described only as “advertising.”
About $23 million of the advertising expenses went through the Grand Rapids-based media buying firm AdVictory LLC. AdVictory’s president and founder is Adam Meldrum, and the firm has been previously linked to prominent consultant John Yob, who’s been advising Johnson’s campaign.
Johnson’s campaign reported paying Strategic National, Yob’s firm, $1.7 million for general consulting and paying the California-based Strategic Perception about $649,000 for general consulting. Strategic Perception, the firm of GOP adman Fred Davis, traditionally works in advertising and has aided numerous Republican presidential campaigns in the past.
Victory Phones and Victory, two firms that use the same address in Grand Rapids, were paid a total of $1.7 million for voter contacts. Victory Phones has, in the past, listed the downtown Grand Rapids address of Yob’s Strategic National firm in state incorporation records.
Johnson’s campaign has also paid former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock $40,000 for consulting. The campaign has sent $20,000 to Ben Wetmore, a former legislative director in the Michigan House, $16,000 to Marian Sheridan, an Oakland County-based conservative activist, and $30,000 to Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot.
The four individuals, among others, were listed as subcontractors for the campaign.
Former Republican attorney general candidate Matt DePerno’s law firm received $10,175 from the Johnson campaign for legal costs.
In January, Johnson said he would spend “whatever it takes” to become Michigan’s next governor.
“We have to see what happens. … I’m going at it and I’m going full-speed,” he said. “Elections are very hard to predict how much you’ll spend.”
Horace Sheffield rakes in consulting fees from El-Sayed campaign
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign has paid the father of Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield at least $52,500 in consulting fees since last October, according to campaign finance records.
The Rev. Horace Sheffield III, an influential Detroit pastor and radio host, has been getting paid by El-Sayed’s campaign through an entity called the Ecumenical Ministers Alliance, a nonprofit organization that Sheffield incorporated with the state in 2010, campaign finance records show. However, that entity was dissolved in 2014, according to state records.
El-Sayed acknowledged Sheffield was being paid by his campaign on Saturday, shortly after appearing on Sheffield’s weekly radio show, “The Wake-Up Call,” on 92.7 FM.
“We work through a number of consultants all over the state to get the vote out, etc.,” El-Sayed said when asked about the payments by The Detroit News.
When asked about Sheffield getting paid through an unregistered nonprofit entity, El-Sayed directed a reporter back to the reverend. “Seems like a conversation you should have with them,” he said.
Horace Sheffield said Saturday that Ecumenical Ministers Alliance provided “professional services” and other “work on behalf of the campaign.”
Sheffield indicated he was unaware that Ecumenical Ministers Alliance was not currently recognized by the state of Michigan as a legal entity.
“I don’t know; I don’t handle that information,” Sheffield told The News. “I will have them look. It’s probably just a matter of them reinstating it.”
While Horace Sheffield has actively promoted El-Sayed’s campaign, his daughter, the mayor, has remained neutral in the bruising Democratic primary between El-Sayed and U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens.
Republican lawmaker’s gas price prediction goes awry
With high gas prices amid war in the Middle East, state Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, an ardent supporter of GOP President Donald Trump, predicted on May 1 that the price of gas would drop to $1.99 a gallon “in three months.”
Saturday marked the three-month anniversary of Maddock’s statement on X. However, as of Friday, the average price of an unleaded gallon of gas in Michigan was $4.37, more than double the price Maddock suggested was on the horizon, according to AAA’s tracking.
The average price was about $4.86 when Maddock made his prediction.
In a text message on Friday, Maddock said, “The pace of progress often feels slow but the moral arc of the universe bends towards conservatism.”
Nessel to skip Democratic convention over perceived antisemitism
Attorney General Dana Nessel on Thursday said she would not be attending the Michigan Democratic Party’s nominating convention in August out of fear for her safety.
Nessel, the state’s first gay and first Jewish attorney general, made the comments during a roundtable on antisemitism recorded via livestream by WILX-TV. During the event, Nessel said she has seen a rise in antisemitism within her own party, and more generally, that has often left her in “despair.”
“I feel like my presence is not going to be welcomed,” Nessel said of the Michigan Democratic Party’s nomination convention in August. “I don’t want to get chased around. I don’t want to get harassed. I don’t want to get yelled and screamed at. And I don’t want to get booed off the stage, irrespective of what I’m saying. And I believe that, if I go, that is what will happen. Because it’s been happening to me.”
Nessel appeared to be referring to the April Michigan Democratic Party endorsement convention in which the crowd booed University of Michigan Regent Jordan Acker, who is Jewish, and Stevens, who has received funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, when they took the stage. Stevens is not Jewish.
Delegates did nominate Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit, who is Jewish, to be the Democratic nominee for attorney general.
The Michigan Democratic Party, in response to Nessel’s comments, said it was committed to ensuring party events are “safe and secure environments for all attendees.”
“We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of hateful conduct,” said Derrick Honeyman, a spokesman for the party. “We are working diligently with stakeholders, elected officials, and party membership to prepare for our August convention and look forward to welcoming Michigan Democrats to the Lansing Center on Aug. 29.”
Biz groups kick in cash against money out of politics initiative
Several business groups have kicked in cash to oppose a petition initiative that would prohibit some of the state’s largest corporations from spending money in state politics.
The initiative, whose signatures were deemed sufficient last week, next moves to the Legislature, which can adopt the initiative, allow it to move to the ballot or propose an alternative proposal alongside it on the ballot. The Legislature has 40 days to decide.
Protect MI Free Speech, a group formed in opposition to the petition initiative, reported raising $445,000 over the second quarter, with its largest contributions topping out at $50,000.
Among the $50,000 contributors were Blue Cross Blue Shield, groups linked to Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, Comcast, a group linked to the state’s hospitals association, and the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association.
The group had an ending balance of about $269,330.
Michiganders for Money out of Politics, the committee supporting the initiative, reported raising $4.8 million in the last quarter. About $2.25 million of that came from a Massachusetts dark money group called All Hands on Deck Network, $700,000 from the liberal Sixteen Thirty Fund out of Washington, D.C., and $650,000 from the Pro Democracy Campaign out of Massachusetts, records show.
The group had an ending balance of about $82,735.
Tweet of the Week
The Insider report’s “Tweet of the Week,” recognizing a social media post that was worthy of attention or, possibly, just a laugh, from the previous week goes to Sarah Gallagher, who works for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Gallagher reacted to a video shared by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that showed the governor celebrating Monday’s opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge by driving a Ford Mustang convertible across the new Detroit River span.
Gallagher wrote, “ngl (not going to lie) thought this was the intro for a new episode of House Hunters.”
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: How Perry Johnson spent $30 million on his governor campaign | Insider
Reporting by Craig Mauger, Summer Ballentine and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Craig Mauger, Summer Ballentine and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
