Draft report alleges Michigan GOP is more than half a million dollars in debt
(CBS DETROIT) - A draft of an upcoming report alleges the Michigan GOP is more than a half million dollars in debt.
"Confirmed hard factual debt that we have on the books right now is somewhere in the neighborhood of 620,000," said Warren Carpenter, who commissioned the report given to CBS News Detroit. "We estimate that to be around $150,000 still owed. So the potential net fallout could be $770,000 in total debt."
In his draft report, Carpenter alleges the MIGOP owes more than $500,000 to Comerica Bank, which the party has done business with for years. Plus, approximately $110,000 to an actor who spoke at a conference last fall.
"She's disenfranchised Republican voters themselves and is providing no support to state candidates," Carpenter said. "That means school board members, that means conservative judges, conservative DAs, conservative commissioners, trustees, mayors - all the things that most impact your life that are closest to home are going to have no support from a state party. So it will be a slaughter, and it will all this. This disaster that would unfold if she (Kristina Karamo) stays in office will rest solely on her head. All the losses she will be responsible for and her enablers."
The report alleges Karamo's efforts to sell the former headquarters in Lansing, which is owned by Seymour Street LLC, could constitute a felony for violating Michigan's campaign finance laws. In an emailed statement Thursday, Karamo attacked Carpenter, saying, "This individual is part of a network of corrupt individuals throughout Michigan. Who pose as political conservatives, highly invested in turning MIGOP to its previous decades-long being managed as engineered-ineffectiveness and in a co-conspirator relationship with Democrats and their media accomplices."
The full report, titled "The Failed Leadership of the Karamo Administration," is expected to be released Thursday night.
