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In the end, airing the dirty laundry didn't make a difference for the Michigan Republican Party.
Ron Weiser (Photo: Facebook)
At the state GOP's convention yesterday, members elected top fundraiser Ron Weiser at chairman, and Meshawn Maddock as co-chair, with other supporters of former President Trump in top positions. Outgoing chair Laura Cox had sought to swing voters away from Weiser in a hail-Mary move just two days before the convention, when she accused Weiser of directing $200,000 in party funds to Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot, to get him to withdraw from the Secretary of State race in 2018.
But Weiser prevailed easily, with two-thirds of the party membership voting for him.
Cox retained attorneys from Warner Norcross to investigate the payments to Grot.
In a preliminary report last month, Jon Lauderbach, who is a former judge, and Adam Bruski, another Warner Norcross attorney, said their investigation was hampered by a lack of cooperation from Weiser and other key parties.
Though the facts provide "some circumstantial evidence" that the payments to Grot may have been a quid pro quo for him dropping out of the race for the party's secretary of state nomination, they said they could "arrive at no definitive conclusion." Still, "the circumstances merit further investigation, the report said.
Meshawn Maddock, the newly elected co-chair, is the wife of freshman Rep. Matt Maddock. Both attended the Capitol rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 that ended in a riot, although they were not part of the unrest. Meshawn Maddock also organized charter buses to the rally.
Also elected to leadership positions were Marian Sheridan, as grassroots vice-chair, and Diane Schindlbeck, administrative vice-chair. Sheridan was an organizer of Operation Guard the Vote, which made phone calls to first-time Wayne County voters and told some that they may have been victims of voter fraud. Schindlbeck is co-chair of Michigan Trump Republicans.
