(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/25/2022) The Michigan Freedom Fund and the Great Lakes Education Project -- two groups that have significant backing of the DeVos family -- spent $416,000 on 25 Republican legislative candidates on top of the more than $200,000 seven DeVos family members gave to legislators personally.
Campaign finance reports released Monday shows the resources are nearly 12 times more than the $35,000 the Donald Trump-supported Save America PAC gave to seven Republican legislative candidates this cycle and the roughly $25,000 in donations that came out of Trump's lieutenant in Michigan, Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford), for 15 legislative races.
A cold war between Trump & Maddock's "America First" candidates and the DeVos & Friends' traditional conservative Republicans are spilling into legislative races, as the campaign finance numbers released Friday and Monday more accurately innumerate.
With the notable exceptions of Mike Hoadley (HD-99) and Diana Schindlebeck (HD-101), there's no overlap between the candidates the DeVos candidates gave to directly and the Trump "Save America PAC" Republican candidates.
The two sides going toe-to-toe with donations in seven districts -- the 17th Senate District (LaSata/Lindsey), the 22nd Senate District (Theis/Detmer), the 43rd House District (Kronemeyer/Smit), the 63rd House Distrct (DeBoyer/Eubanks), the 71st House District (BeGole/Rathbun), the 79th House District (Keeler/Rigas) and the 88th House District (VanWoerkom/Bricker),
In these seven districts, GLEP and the Freedom Fund spent a combined $220,000. The DeVos family spent $54,600 in hard money in these seven districts also. This doesn't include DeVos friends like the three-person Haworth family, Bobby Schostak, William Parfet, John Kennedy III, Steve Ehmann and others who also maxed out on most of these 25 candidates.
Campaign finance documents show they donated to Pamela Hornberger (R-Chesterfield Twp.) (SD-12), Sen. Kim Lasata (R-Niles), Sen. Lana Theis (R-Brighton), Triston Cole (SD-37), Kevin Counts (HD-27), William Bruck (HD-30), Rep. Andrew Fink (R-Hillsdale), Rep. Matt Hall (R-Comstock Township), Lindsay Kronemeyer (HD-43), Kathy Schmaltz (HD-46), Donni Steele (HD-54), Rep. Doug Wozniak (R-Shelby Township), Jay DeBoyer (HD-63), Jamie Greene (HD-65), Rep. Phil Green (R-Millington), Brian Begole (HD-71), Rep. Mike Mueller (R-Linden), Norm Shinkle (HD-73), Jeremiah Keeler (HD-79), Mike Milanowski (HD-84), Rep. Greg Vanwoerkom (R-Norton Shores), Bill G. Schuette (HD-95), Hoadley (HD-99), Schindlebeck (HD-101), Rep. Jack O’Malley (R-Lake Ann), Rep. @Borton, Cam Cavitt (HD-106) and Parker Fairbairn (HB-107).
Trump and Maddock's PAC gave those candidates a combined 43,600.
So far this campaign cycle, the Trump-linked Save America PAC has given a combined $35,000 to seven legislative candidates -- $5,000 each to Jacky Eubanks (HD-63), Kevin Rathbun (HD-71), Mick Bricker (HD-88), Rachelle Smit (HD-43), Maddock, Jonathan Lindsey (SD-17) and Mike Detmer (SD-22).
Since the beginning of the cycle, the Maddock Leadership Fund has given a combined $23,250 to 15 candidates. He and his wife have given a combined $2,550 to three candidates.
The PAC gave $2,000 to Anthony Paesano (HD-19), $500 to Dave Staudt (HD-21), $1,000 to Cathryn Neracher (HD-22), $2,000 to Nicone Dragone (HD-28), $1,500 to Smit, $1,000 to David Morgan (HD-44), $2,750 to Jason Woolford (HD-48), $2,000 to Joseph Aragona (HD-60), $500 to Eubanks, $1,000 to Jaime Greene (HD-65), $3,500 to Rathbun, $3,500 to Angela Rigas (HD-79), $1,000 to Bricker $500 to Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Cannon Twp.) and $500 to Hoadley.
Maddock maxed out to candidate Michelle Smith in the 58th and Meshawn Maddock gave $1,000 to her old friend, Schindlebeck in the 101st. Matt Maddock also gave Eubanks $500.
