MIGOP dissidents attack party chair in new report as party sues over control of building

LANSING — The Michigan Republican Party's internal dissension and financial woes continued to explode publicly over the weekend, with the 2024 presidential election less than 11 months away.

A group of party dissidents released a report late Sunday denouncing Chair Kristina Karamo as a secretive autocrat who has brought the state party to the brink of bankruptcy through mismanagement and a fundraising plan that is "a complete failure." Karamo has denied the allegations.

On Friday, the state party under Karamo filed a lawsuit aimed at wresting control over the former party headquarters on Seymour Avenue in Lansing, records show. The building, which Karamo vacated early this year as a cost-cutting measure, is owned by a trust controlled by former state party chairs. The Lansing police recently found the building unsecured after the electricity was cut off for nonpayment, disabling the security system, according to the dissidents' report and as first disclosed by Michigan Information & Research Service, a Capitol newsletter.

As earlier reported by the Free Press, many party activists are already sidestepping the state party to raise funds and promote candidates for key races in 2024, which include the state House, congressional elections, and an open seat in the U.S. Senate.

The unsigned report on Karamo's leadership and party finances was released Sunday night by a dissident group led by Warren Carpenter, a businessman who resigned this year as chair of the party's 9th Congressional District. The report describes party efforts to use the value of the former headquarters to improve its financial position as "a last-ditch, desperate effort."

Carpenter wants to remove Karamo as chair and he and a group of state committee members have proposed a special meeting of the state committee on Dec. 27. Removing Karamo as chair would require a 75% vote of the state committee, which has just over 100 voting members. Carpenter said last week he wants to amend party bylaws to reduce the threshold for removal of the chair to a 60% vote. Amending the party bylaws requires a two-thirds vote of the state committee, which Carpenter said he believes he has.

Karamo, who was elected chair in February, told the Free Press last week that Carpenter does not have access to the party's current financial information, is making false claims, and "is part of a network of corrupt individuals" who want to return the state party to its former status in "a co-conspirator relationship with Democrats and their media accomplices." Karamo said she plans to call a special meeting in January and she has received no petition calling for the removal of her or any other state committee member, as is required under party bylaws before any vote could be taken.

The report from party dissidents says Karamo recently provided the state committee's budget committee with two sets of conflicting balance sheets — one ending Oct. 31 of this year, and the other ending Nov. 30. The latter balance sheet shows an improved financial position by listing the former party headquarters, with a net value of just over $564,000, as a party asset, despite the fact the party does not own the building. Having that equity in the building would help offset just over $500,000 the party owes on a line of credit from Comerica Bank, which sent a notice of default in November, but the lawsuit against the building's owners is "a complete waste of resources and a significant embarrassment," the report says.

The report questions the source of a cash influx of close to $280,000 reported on the more recent balance sheet as having been received through federal contributions in November.

Karamo on Friday launched what she said will be a new weekly podcast on the Michigan Republican Party website. She said on the inaugural podcast she has "a legal pathway to remedy" the party debt, which she blamed on past party leaders. She urged members not to get "distracted by drama," or measure the party's success by how much money it raises or spends.

But on Monday, Vance Patrick, chair of the Oakland County Republican Party, issued a statement urging state committee members to vote to remove Karamo.

"Our state party has been left in shambles with regard to fundraising and effective staff work," Patrick said. "There is a new controversy every week, distracting from the important business of organizing the party to win elections."

The report released Sunday takes issue with Karamo's management of the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference held in September, particularly the "unprecedented" $110,000 speaker fee for Jim Caviezel, an actor who starred in the 2023 film "Sound of Freedom," about child sex trafficking and portrayed Jesus in the film "The Passion of the Christ" and claimed he was briefly blacklisted by Hollywood because of his strong Christian beliefs.

According to documents included in the report, Caviezel's speaking fee was paid through a loan from the Lynnette R. Wilson Trust, controlled by the spouse of party executive director Jim Copas.

The report includes a copy of the party's purported contract with the Catholic Speakers Organization of Texas, which represented Caviezel in connection with the speaking engagement. Under the contract, the state party, in addition to the speaking fee, was required to pay for first-class air travel for Caviezel, his wife, and his assistant, and business-class travel for Caviezel's immediate family and "three chosen friends." The contract also called for advance payments of $600 each to Caviezel and his assistant to cover their meals for the two days they would spend on Mackinac Island.

The report also criticizes Karamo for interfering in county party business in Hillsdale County and elsewhere.

And it says she is in a conflict of interest by serving as both the state party chair and as president of UnAuthorized, a Nevada-based nonprofit that describes itself as working with both Republicans and Democrats to promote constitutional principles.

"Ms. Karamo's response to anyone who questions her is to either claim they are in league with the 'deep state' or to inappropriately accuse the person of malfeasance," the report says.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @paulegan4.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: MIGOP dissidents attack Chair Karamo as party sues over Lansing HQ