Livingston County Clerk Elizabeth Hundley on Friday disqualified state Rep. Bob Bezotte from the Aug. 4 primary ballot for providing a false address on his affidavit of identity.
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 a signed affidavit from Bezotte’s estranged wife that alleged he falsified his residence on his affidavit of identity to ask Livingston County Clerk Elizabeth Hundley to disqualify him from the ballot. (Click here for that story.)
Both documents allege that Bezotte’s April 22, 2024, campaign filing and affidavit of identity, in which he listed his residence at the Howell home his estranged wife is currently residing at, are falsified.
“I have reason to believe that Mr. Bezotte falsified his affidavit of identity in terms of his residence,” Wholihan wrote in his complaint. “It is known that Mr. Bezotte has spent much of the past five months in either Arizona or in Illinois, even though he currently is a sitting Representative in the State House. In addition, when he is not dwelling in Arizona or Illinois, he is staying at the ‘mailing address’ … ” located on his affidavit of identity, “which is not what he claims as his residential address.”
Clerk Hundley agreed.
“Upon review … the Livingston County Clerk has concluded that Mr. Bezotte’s recitation of his residential address on the Affidavit of Identity was false. He did not provide any evidence that the stated residential address was his actual residential address in light of the challenge, did not state what his actual residential address is, and did not provide any evidence that his actual residential address is within the electoral district.,” Hundley wrote in a letter to Bezotte and his attorney. “Therefore, the Livingston County Clerk has disqualified Robert J. Bezotte from the ballot as a candidate for State Representative for the 50th District, and will not certify his name to the Livingston County Board of Election Commissioners.”
Bezotte’s disqualification leaves three Republican primary candidates for his seat, the two he endorsed, Jason Woolford and Lyke, as well as Dominic Restuccia. The winner will face Democrat Austin Breuer in November.
You can read the correspondence here.
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