As he prepares to let Donald Trump use his office for a campaign event, Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy seems to have forgotten what happened the last time he used county property for political purposes.
It was 2018 and Murphy decided he should appear in uniform alongside the Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Schuette – with a county patrol car – in a television ad for the Schuette campaign.
Michigan Campaign Finance Law bars the use of property owned by the taxpayers for campaign purposes.
After I filed a complaint with the Michigan Secretary of State’s office, the office concluded that a probable violation of Michigan law had occurred. (Click here for that story.)
Murphy reached a conciliation agreement with the state, paid the state $100 and $100 to the county to reimburse it for an hour of his wages and for the use of a county vehicle. He also reimbursed the county $585 for attorney fees associated with answering the complaint.
People will be watching exactly what kind of event the sheriff plans this time around. The event, after all, was announced by Trump’s campaign, so it must be a political event.
Maybe Murphy needs another lesson in the law against abusing taxpayer property.
It’s ridiculous that I as a county resident I have to pay for what was clearly a campaign event, for a candidate that I do not support.
Now that the event has occurred, it’s clearly evident that this was not a “conference” in the sense of any conference I’ve ever participated in or witnessed. To nearly everyone (including national news media), it was obviously a blatant campaign event. The focus was clearly the rambling speech by Donald Trump, full of the usual lies and slanderous statements, and replete with multiple “Make America Safe Again” signs, a TRUMP / VANCE campaign sign prominently displayed on the podium, and multiple uniformed officers and other officials standing dutifully behind him. As a Livingston County resident, I’m incensed that public funds and other resources were (apparently) used for this campaign event. I hope that our local DNC people will file a complaint or advise all of us on the most appropriate venue to do that.
Agreed! ♀️
Thank you for refreshing our memories Judy. Hopefully you will file a complaint for this egregious act. Or you can advise the rest of us how to do it?
This “invite” to our County property is not my idea of well spent taxpayer money.