(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/06/2022) (SAGINAW) – Matthew DePerno, the Republican attorney general nominee, waited outside of the Saginaw County Democratic Party's annual fall banquet, hoping to have a run-in with Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel and to jumpstart a parking lot debate.
"Wherever Dana wants to be . . . that's why we came out here today – if she wants to meet us in a parking lot and have a discussion, we'll do that," DePerno told MIRS. "If she wants to do a public forum, we'll do that; a town hall . . . anything as long as people get to ask her questions about her record."
Approximately 25 people – including Michigan GOP Co-chair Meshawn Maddock and conservative Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) -- waited outside the entrance of the Dow Event Center. The group was there for around 90 minutes, displaying signs reading "Friends Don't Let Friends Vote For Dana!" and "Drunk on Power Dana!" as attendees trotted inside in formal attire.
Nessel, an announced speaker for the event, had not appeared when the Trump Unity Bridge mobile float appeared and rain started to pour. Plucking his flapping yard signs from the grass, DePerno exited without a Nessel confrontation.
"I think it went just as we thought it would go," DePerno said as the chilly autumn rain picked up its pace. "Dana Nessel doesn't want to debate. We came out here to challenge her to a debate. We think she should defend her record to the Michigan voters, and the Michigan voters have a right to see her get on the stage and talk about the issues."
At the end of this summer, Nessel explained to the public she declined debate offers due to her office referring a case against DePerno over the mishandling of election tabulators. She additionally expressed she wouldn't engage with the Republican candidate because he "has a propensity" to participate "in name-calling, and in using racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic and misogynistic rhetoric and imagery."
However, DePerno said Thursday that Nessel's absence from the debate stage was disenfranchising voters across Michigan.
“It's unfortunate the Republicans nominated a candidate so ethically compromised I cannot debate him without violating my prosecutorial code of ethics, so as not to prejudice a potential jury for any charges the special prosecutor is considering against him,” Nessel said tonight.
“So few voters are interested in DePerno's 'no exceptions' commitment to prosecuting doctors and nurses for abortion and creating barriers for the use of even birth control, as well as his continued false claims about the 2020 elections, that he cannot locate an audience of his own voters willing to buy the damaged goods he's selling, so he's forced to stalk me at my events instead."
One individual arrived at the gathering with a wheelchair and a sign displaying "Get in, Dana. Let's Go Debate Matt," referring to last fall when headlines surfaced about Nessel becoming too intoxicated at the Michigan State University-versus-University of Michigan football game.
Nessel admitted to social media that she was placed in a wheelchair to "prevent me from stumbling in the parking lot."
The owner of the wheelchair exhibit was 58 year-old Vance Patrick, a former congressional candidate.
"I'll bring a wheelchair and she can be wheeled into a debate Matt, seeing how she likes to wheel around," Patrick said, adding every candidate should want a debate "unless they've got something to hide or they're weak . . . and if you already think that you're a strong candidate, a debate's gonna knock you down."
Clio resident Diane Cotter, 69, said she's been a Republican for a long time, and she feels the top of the Republican ticket in Michigan is "in line with conservative principles I've held all my life, and I think it's really important they get elected because the trajectory of our nation, and including Michigan, is not going in the right correct direction."
She illustrated to MIRS that she would like to see a debate where questions come from members of the media, non-interested parties or through public submissions, so candidates can be put on the spot.
"It's always been part of the political scene during campaigns, is to have candidates debate each other," Cotter said. "It's like they got the same memo – '(just keep) quiet and follow the stay-in-your-basement type campaign, which apparently worked for President (Joe) Biden."
The event inside the Dow Center also involved U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint), who is in a competitive race in the new 8th Congressional District. His chief of staff, Mitch Rivard, looked out the window every once in a while to see how the protest was going.
Asked if he considered the event a stunt, Rivard said, “No stunts. Just a sad, washed-out protest . . . Matt DePerno is even pulling up his own yard signs as he's leaving. It's really sad.”
