The Aug. 20 Trump event on county property was not open to the public; it was held in the county Sheriff’s storage building, and only invited parties are allowed to attend. The whole law center closed for half a day, at short notice, which no doubt inconvenienced a lot of employees and residents. Were those residents given due notice that their business with the court, or any of its many divisions, would be closed? On such short notice, it is highly unlikely.
I read Sheriff Murphy may have violated some campaign finance rule(s)/law(s) (Livingston Daily, Aug. 21, 2024). In that same article, Sheriff Murphy stated in a text to the Livingston Daily: “I welcome the investigation.” Seems to me just a little arrogant.
From what I read, two complaints have been filed so far (Michigan Advance, Aug. 22,2024). It’s my understanding that any citizen can file a complaint; you don’t have to be an attorney to do so.
I would not just file a complaint against Sheriff Murphy and his office: I would also file one against the County Board of Commissioners since it funds the Sheriff’s Department (and pays the sheriff and his under-sheriff). Five commissioners were present at the closed event, including Jay Drick, Jay Gross, Doug Helzerman, Nick Fiani, and Roger Deaton, according to The Livingston Post (Aug. 21, 2024).
This didn’t even sound like a “press conference” (WXYZ-TV Detroit | Channel 7) as only one member of the press was afforded the opportunity to ask a question, which was not even directly answered. (Almost everywhere it was reported, it was called a campaign rally or a campaign stop.) Instead, they had to listen to him drone on and on, for nearly an hour, whining about how he is being treated badly, how he is being called names, railing against his opponent, and the Biden Administration.
Trump complained about how bad immigration is, while conveniently leaving out how he killed a strongly Republican-leaning border bill that would have fixed many of the border issues. Trump had it killed both in the Senate, where it was negotiated, and the House – his MAGA sycophants do his every bidding. He had it killed because he wanted to run on the border as an election issue, in the 2024 election, just as he used it in 2020 and 2016. He’s fear mongering, always.
Peggy VanSickle
Brighton
Peggy,
I couldn’t agree with you more.
As I posted against a previous article on the subject ….
I am concerned about one thing.
Livingston County Sheriff Mike Murphy is quoted as saying “This is not a political event. It is a press conference” …“The former president’s coming to address the press regarding safety and crime.”
Apparently there have been many other convicted felons offering their wisdom to us regarding safety and crime.
Try as I might, I cannot twist anything to make this remotely anything other than a political event.
It sounds just like the other political events I see on TV.
It is staged just like the other political events I see on TV.
The security appears just like the other political events I’ve seen on TV.
Those in attendance are what you expect to see on a political event on TV.
The news coverage is what you see at a political event on TV.
I have never seen a press conference regarding safety and crime where the guest speaker is a convicted felon, so maybe, just maybe they really do look like a press conference.
But…. It might just be a political event.
I assumed that the Livingston County Sheriff’s main focus is law enforcement. If this is true, my concern is that the Sheriff made the decision of host this event outside of his scope of duties.
I think that Sheriff Murphy is a very intelligent person, he knew exactly what he was doing.
I don’t see why this burden should be on the backs of the fine people of Livingston County.
If I could suggest something, I think that 1/365 of the total LC Budget/Cost for 2024 should be billed to private citizen Murphy and let him be reimbursed by the RNC.