(Source: MIRS.news, Published 08/19/2024) Sixteen state House candidates have been referred to the Attorney General’s Office for not turning in their pre-primary campaign finance reports on time or not at all. 

Three candidates, Angela Mathews, Ronald Singer, and Jason Pulaski, filed late, but the other candidates didn't report anything at all, according to the MIRS campaign finance spreadsheet. 

Among those is former 3rd House District candidate Ziad Abdulmalik, whose Democratic primary opponent, Rep. Alabas A. Farhat (D-Dearborn), said had money spent on him during the campaign. 

Farhat said there was clearly fliers sent out, people with yard signage and an organized campaign effort. “That doesn’t just come up overnight and there’s a price tag for all that. Yeah, it costs money to run campaigns,” Farhat said. 

Farhat said the campaign was clearly financed, because of the digital advertising and mailers he said he saw during the primary. 

If there was a political action committee that was running the ads or mailing the fliers, Farhat said he may have overlooked it, but he never saw disclosures or anything denoting that a different organization was funding the campaign material. 

“When folks are running for office, they’re asking for the trust of their voters, and I think those voters should be entitled to transparency about who is helping fund the campaign and that candidate should follow the law as they are trying to become a lawmaker,” Rep. Alabas A. Farhat (D-Dearborn) said. 

He said he didn’t know who was opposing him, as far as financing goes and said he would like the Secretary of State to investigate the situation. 

“I think it’s important that voters and the people of Michigan know who’s financing their elections, who’s financing their operations that are asking the people for their vote and trust,” Farhat said. 

MIRS left messages with Abdulmalik, but had not heard back as of publishing. 

Michael Clack, who ran as a Democrat against Rep. Cynthia Neeley (D-Flint) in the 70th Michigan House District, said last week he was still putting his documentation together, but didn't answer when MIRS followed up on Monday. 

House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit)'s primary opponent, Lory Park, was on the referral list, but she said she was granted a waiver before the election. She said she was running a door-knocking campaign against the Speaker. 

Park said she would be going to Lansing soon to pay her fine, in case she wanted to run again.