Tudor Dixon, the Republican Party’s last nominee for governor, said Wednesday she’s willing to take a call from Attorney General Dana Nessel about a reference to the 2022 campaign in documents detailing allegations against a Democratic political donor.
Nessel, who is a Democrat, unveiled 16 criminal charges against Fay Beydoun, contending that Beydoun misused a $20 million grant the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer provided her for an international business accelerator in 2022.
Among the documents released Wednesday was an affidavit that included Beydoun’s outline for a Dec. 9, 2021, meeting with Whitmer, who was seeking a second term as governor at the time.
The outline appeared to reference Beydoun’s request for the grant and items Beydoun had “delivered” in support of Democrats, including $330,000. It also mentioned under “delivered” Republican donor John Rakolta and Dixon, who was then seeking the GOP nomination for governor.
“I ran for governor as a Republican, but it’s becoming clear that some members of my own party were more interested in protecting their sweetheart deals with Whitmer instead of actually fixing our state,” Dixon said in a statement about the outline. “If Attorney General Dana Nessel wants to have a conversation about John Rakolta, I’d take her call.”
It wasn’t clear by Wednesday afternoon if a meeting between Beydoun and Whitmer took place on Dec. 9, 2021, and it wasn’t clear what Beydoun meant by listing Rakolta, who leads the Detroit-based construction business Walbridge, which builds large commercial developments.
Rakolta didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Nessel said Wednesday that her office believes the $330,000 referenced as “delivered” in Beydoun’s document pertained to “political fundraising.”
At the time, Dixon was in a crowded race for the Republican nomination to challenge Whitmer. Dixon, a political commentator and businesswoman from Norton Shores, eventually emerged from the pack in the summer of 2022.
She won the Republican primary in August but lost to Whitmer in the November general election.
Rakolta contributed $7,150 to Dixon’s campaign in October 2022.
cmauger@detroitnews.com
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Tudor Dixon says she’d talk to Dana Nessel about Fay Beydoun mention
Reporting by Craig Mauger and Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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