Republican state Rep. Bob Bezotte said he will appeal the decision of Livingston County Clerk Elizabeth Hundley to remove him from the August primary ballot for providing a false address on his affidavit of identity. (CLICK HERE for that story.)
In an interview with MIRS on Monday, Bezotte said that his filing “followed the law,” and his response to Hundley was “crystal clear.”
“I have been a Howell resident for close to three decades,” Bezotte said. “This decision is an obvious misreading of both the text and the spirit of the law that mistakenly takes away options from the voters I serve.”
He added that the situation “must be fixed.”
“I am accused of living at an address that I explicitly wrote on my affidavit of identity that is three miles away from the home I own together with my wife and is within the district,” he told MIRS. “This isn’t how certification is supposed to work at all.”
Bezotte — a third-term House member who announced several months ago that he was retiring from the Legislature, and who endorsed not one, but two Republican candidates to replace him — changed his mind and decided to run again for his seat. Bezotte’s decision set off a political firestorm among local Republicans.
Brighton attorney Dan Wholihan, chair of the Michigan GOP’s 7th District and husband of Kristina Lyke, one of the candidates running for Bezotte’s seat, used an affidavit from Bezotte’s estranged wife that alleged he falsified his residence on his affidavit of identity to ask Clerk Hundley to disqualify him from the ballot. (CLICK HERE for that story.)
Lyke told MIRS that it is “very sad to see what is happening.”
“I don’t want to see anyone go through a divorce, and I’ve known him for many years,” Lyke said.“It is sad to se the circumstances, but we all have to follow the law.”
Dominic Restuccia, who is also running for the 50th District seat in the Republican primary, said the last couple of weeks have been a “circus.”
“As of last Friday, there were four candidates in the race and I was the only one not endorsed by Bob Bezotte,” he said. “While this may be entertaining political theater for Lansing, the people of Livingston County deserve better. We need representation that shows up to do the job.”
The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat Austin Breuer in November.
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