The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) has filed a complaint against Republican Gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon. The MDP claims Dixon violated campaign finance laws by failing to report a June fundraiser sponsored by the DeVos family.
Dixon's campaign says the event was a no-cost 'friendraiser' and did not need to be reported.
According to the MDP, they became aware of the event in question when Dixon's campaign sent an email about it to supporters.
"The DeVos family hosted a 'friendraiser' for Tudor this week and about 175 people turned out," read the email. The email also included a picture of Dixon addressing attendees at the event.
No such event was reported on Dixon's campaign finance records for that week.
The MDP also alleges that the Dixon campaign "knowingly omitted individual in-kind contributions or expenditures related to the DeVos fundraising event."
Under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCFA), a fundraiser is defined as "an event... where contributions are solicited or received by purchase of a ticket, payment of an attendance fee, making a donation or purchase of goods or services."
Dixon's campaign claims the complaint is false. Spokesperson Kyle Olson says the event wasn't a fundraiser, but a "friendraiser." He defines that as a "no cost" party to meet people.
Speaking to MLive, attorney Jean Kordenbrock provided some insight into the claims and how likely they are to hold up.
According to Kordenbrock, "events usually need to have a donation requirement to attend to be considered as a fundraiser under the law."
Kordenbrock gave the example of meet-and-greets. There is no cost to attend, so even if candidates ask for and receive donations from attendees, it is not considered a fundraiser.
"If they called it a 'friendraiser,' they probably should have called it a meet-and-greet," Kordenbrock told MLive, "but it's the same thing, probably."
The issue of failing to report in-kind contributions is a bit trickier. Pictures from the event make it seem unlikely that it was held in a home.
"If it's at a corporate office, or business office, or they rented a hall or something, that would be an in-kind contribution," Kordenbrock said. It would then need to be reported under the MCFA.
The Dixon campaign faced a previous complaint in mid-July after Michigan Strong, a PAC affiliated with Dixon, accepted a $5,000 donation from a non-existent donor with a false address. Dixon advisor Fred Wszolek conceded that the donation violated campaign finance laws and eventually said the Dixon campaign would file an amendment.
