Wetmore sues ex-ally who alleged 'pay-to-play' scheme with Trump

OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County's new deputy administrator, who has a long history of conservative political activism, is suing a former ally for defamation.

Benjamin Wetmore, 42, was tapped for the county role in mid-November, according to a spokesperson.

Wetmore is an attorney licensed to practice criminal, real estate and nonprofit law in Texas. He moved to Michigan around 2021 and most recently worked as a legislative aide for Rep. Matt Maddock, one of several lawmakers active in Michigan's "Grand New Party," a far-right offshoot of the Republican Party.

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More: Ottawa County taps conservative political pundit Benjamin Wetmore for deputy role

Wetmore filed a libel suit on Nov. 28 against Adam Brassfield, a Missouri resident who partnered with him to advise GOP candidates in Michigan during the 2022 election, the Detroit News reported Sunday. The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

In the filing, Wetmore said he owns Victory Strategies LLC, a political consulting firm that manages campaigns. He claims in the filing that Brassfield published a letter on social media alleging Wetmore was involved in operating a "pay to play" scheme in which former President Donald Trump would issue an endorsement in exchange for a $30,000 kickback to Meshawn Maddock and possibly to the Michigan Republican Party.

"As a direct result of (the) defendant's defamatory statements, clients have terminated their relationship with plaintiffs or backed out of planned business relationships with plaintiffs, causing direct pecuniary losses to plaintiffs," Wetmore wrote in his lawsuit. "These statements were objectively and provably false, and defamatory."

He is seeking $75,000 for "reputational damages, business losses and branding damages" as well as attorney fees. Wetmore is also asking the courts to force Brassfield to issue "a press release to every newspaper in the states of Michigan, Texas, Missouri, South Dakota, and Washington, D.C.," with a retraction of his claims and an apology.

In the filing, Wetmore said he advises Meshawn Maddock regularly. Prior to this, he said, he worked across the country as a political consultant in various capacities for issue and candidate campaigns.

Meshawn Maddock, wife of Matt Maddock, is the former MIGOP co-chair and is currently one of 16 people charged for allegedly acting as a false elector in the 2020 presidential election.

Among those Brassfield worked with was Audra Johnson of Battle Creek, a Republican running for Michigan's Third District in the U.S. House. Johnson and Brassfield sought Trump's endorsement, but the former president eventually decided to backJohn Gibbs, who lost to Democrat Hillary Scholten in November 2022.

Meshawn Maddock told Johnson in October 2021 that Trump would consider endorsing Johnson if she dropped out of the congressional race and ran for a different seat, according to Wetmore's lawsuit. A month later, Brassfield began an alleged defamation campaign against Wetmore, the Detroit News reported.

After the loss, Gibbs was hired as Ottawa County's administrator after a controversial inaugural meeting by the new Ottawa Impact majority. Ottawa Impact is a far-right fundamentalist group formed in response to school mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. OI currently controls a six-seat majority on the 11-member board.

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In July, Gibbs hired former Victory Strategies employee Jordan Epperson as his executive aide, which prompted an age discrimination lawsuit from a candidate who met more of the position's prerequisites.

In November, the county announced Gibbs hired Wetmore as deputy administrator, replacing Patrick Waterman, who resigned July after citing a strained working relationship with Gibbs and a "lack of effective leadership" on the board of commissioners.

— Sarah Leach is executive editor for The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Wetmore sues ex-ally who alleged 'pay-to-play' scheme with Trump