An influx of cash to Republican John James’ gubernatorial campaign is drawing accusations of campaign finance violations.
It’s $1.8 million in advertising buys that popped up in the latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, that are drawing the scrutiny.
Under Michigan law, state political parties can only give up to $750,000 per election cycle, and individual donors can only give $8,325.
However, political action committees connected to the wealthy DeVos family and Elon Musk are seemingly coordinating with the James campaign to secure ad buys with TV stations at the discounted candidate rate, Democrats said.
The Michigan Democratic Party quickly cried foul, alleging it’s a clear violation of state law and calling it an “unlawful coordinated in-kind contribution from the MRP (Michigan Republican Party) to John James for MI.”
In a written statement, James campaign spokesperson Alyvia Bailey said it’s a matter of federal law, as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer.
“The United States Supreme Court made clear in the NRSC decision that political parties have the constitutional right to spend unlimited funds in coordination with their candidates,” Bailey wrote.
Chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, Curtis Hertel, said the ruling is not that clear.
“Anyone who's running for governor in the state should follow state law, and they are obviously not doing that,” Hertel said.
The MDP also sent a letter to television stations telling them they have an obligation to follow state law.
Given how slowly campaign finance violations are investigated, Hertel isn’t expecting action before the election.
“If this becomes normal practice that people can break laws in the final two weeks of a campaign, then you're going to see everyone try to do that,” he said. “I also think that the long-term problems with this being normal would be that billionaires could buy unlimited ads at a cheaper rate than everybody else, and I think that that is absolutely wrong.”
Bailey, with the James campaign, said the complaints are a sign of “desperation.”
“Support across Michigan for John James is surging at the right time and we look forward to victory come November 3.”
