(Source: MIRS.news, Published 07/08/23) Clare police were called to the Doherty Hotel Saturday after a fight at a closed-door meeting of the Michigan Republican Party state committee, and many were upset by the amount of funding revealed in the party coffers.
Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo recently called the state meeting to go over the party finances when multiple witnesses said James Chapman, a Republican who lost his run for the 4th Senate District in Wayne County in 2022, and Clare County Republican Chair Mark DeYoung traded fisticuffs outside the meeting when a locked door was opened.
“He kicked me in the balls as soon as I opened the door,” DeYoung told Craig Mauger in a report with The Detroit News.
One of the items on the agenda for the party meeting in Clare was how much funding the party had to work with. Multiple sources said the party has nearly $92,000 and $63,000 of that was coming from the Mackinac Island conference planned for September, which also includes hotel booking.
The fight broke out between the budget presentation and a call for party unity. There has been a call from some Republicans to back ousting Karamo and nominating Joe Moss, Ottawa County Chair and leader of Ottawa Impact, to take her place.
“Sadly, over the past few weeks, it has become clear that Chairwoman Karamo is not able to be an effective leader of our state party. There has been a serious violation of the trust placed in her by activists and delegates in this state, and many of us believe that trust is irreparable at this time,” a press release read.
State party bylaws state a petition would need to be submitted and then 75% of the state committee would need to vote in favor of removal of Karamo, which many Republicans, even Karamo’s detractors, don’t believe there is significant support to do.
In a roundtable on July 2, Karamo introduced James COPAS as the person she selected to be the executive director of the party.
Copas and Karamo said during the roundtable that they would be completely overhauling the party bylaws.
“If I were interested in destroying MIGOP, I would write the bylaws that are currently enforced,” he said during that meeting.
