A LITTLE HELP FROM HER FRIENDS
A national super PAC, Resolute Republic, threw its weight behind a number of Republican candidates in Michigan this August, including Orion Township clerk hopeful Julia Dalrymple, who won her primary contest and the township post for which no Democrats had filed. The Super PAC bills itself as “founded to support pro-Constitution candidates in races at all levels of government.” In other words, its mission was to thwart members of the election-denier class of candidates. As of the end of this June, the national PAC raised $865,000, mainly from five national PACs and reportedly spent close to $200,000 in Michigan primary races. Among the PAC’s targets was far-right offbeat Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf, who still maintains and continues to “investigate” alleged massive fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The super PAC also jumped into the race for Hillsdale County clerk and supported Republican deputy clerk Abe Dane, who was challenged by former Adams Township Clerk Stephanie Scott, who was criminally charged by the state attorney general for allowing someone access to election data relative to the 2020 race. The PAC also got involved in Kent County for the clerk contest in Sparta Township, and in Macomb County with the races for clerk in Shelby Township and Chesterfield Township. In Oakland County, the national group reportedly backed Dalrymple, a township board member who faced Braden Giacobazzi, a Trump acolyte who has made a name for himself after being ejected from more than one vote counting effort at polling places in the past and as an activist member of election “integrity” organizations. Not counting the super PAC effort, Dalrymple raised $5,961 on her own to win the primary battle with 71 percent of the vote, 2,785 to 1,138. Mission accomplished for the super PAC in Orion Township.