JD Vance’s visit to Shelby Township may have violated state and federal campaign finance laws because the visit involved the use of public facilities for campaign purposes.
During the Aug. 7 visit, Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, appeared outside the Shelby Township police station surrounded by on-duty police officers and other government officials, while the township’s public complex, including the library and courthouse, remained closed for the morning.
Melissa Arab of Shelby Township said she filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel about the visit, which was a campaign appearance for the former president and himself in November against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz.
Arab said the Vance campaign’s use of the township police building and on-duty personnel sends the message that the police and township support Vance and Trump.
“This is our tax dollars being used to support a candidate,” Arab told The Macomb Daily. “This is a blatant violation of the Hatch Act.”
The Hatch Act is a 1939 federal law that “restricts certain political activities of federal employees while on duty, in the Federal Government’s workplace, or acting in their official capacity,” according to the OSC. A U.S. Senator is a federal employee. The community could also be affected
Mark Brewer, a Mount Clemens-based election law attorney and Democratic activist, said the Shelby Township visit, as well as Trump’s visit last Tuesday to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office, violated the state’s campaign finance law and possibly the Hatch Act.
“It looks like the Trump campaign and the Livingston County Sheriff’s Department are trying to set the record for most campaign finance and election law violations at a single event,” Brewer posted on X (formerly Twitter) on August 20, the day of Trump’s visit.
Arab said the events surrounding Vance and Trump were intended to intimidate voters, including some police officers who do not support Trump.
Republican Party candidates “go to police stations and line up police officers like SS men from the Gestapo,” a reference to Nazi Adolf Hitler’s personal security team.
“Their heads were bobbing up and down like bobbleheads, agreeing with Trump,” she said at the Livingston County event.
Also speaking at the event in Shelby Township was Macomb Republican District Attorney Peter Lucido, the county’s top police officer.
The event took place in front of the police station on the city campus at the corner of Van Dyke and 24 Mile Road.
Shelby Township Supervisor Richard Stathakis, who attended the event, defended Vance’s use of public funds.
“A sitting U.S. Senator has requested to visit our police department, tour our police station and meet our police officers,” Stathakis said in an email response. “We have never turned down similar requests from other local, county, state and federal officials, as well as other police chiefs and commanders. It just so happens that this individual is a vice presidential candidate who is under U.S. Secret Service protection approximately one month after an attempt was made on his running mate’s life. We could not pass up this or any other opportunity to showcase the Shelby Township Police Department, the finest local law enforcement team in the country.”
Shelby Township officers and Macomb Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene to provide security, including blocking Van Dyke Avenue to prevent the public from entering the area.
“Our responsibility to provide a safe environment for visitors to our community is not a partisan decision, and we have done the same for others regardless of their political affiliation or political views,” Stathakis said.
Stathakis pointed out that in 2000, the township police department provided security at the township’s expense during an overnight stay at a private residence for Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat.
“Fortunately, hosting the JD Vance event at the Shelby Township Police Department saved significant resources as there is no safer location within our borders. Because of this, Chief Shelide responded to Secret Service requests as efficiently as possible,” said Stathakiss.
In its response to a state Freedom of Information Act request, the municipality said it did not spend any additional money for the visit.
A spokeswoman for Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said the office had not received a complaint as of Friday afternoon.
Stathakis did not respond to a request for comment about Shelide’s speech at the event after he was suspended for 30 days in 2020 for making inflammatory comments about Black Lives Matter protesters while disguising himself on the medium then known as Twitter.
The event on August 7 was not open to the public and was attended by a few dozen supporters and media representatives who were allowed to ask questions.
Arab noted that after the 10 a.m. event, the courthouse and library were unnecessarily closed until about noon.
Arab, who works as an operations manager at an online legal services company, said it doesn’t matter whether the candidates are Republican or Democrat or where the appearances take place.
“They (the police departments) were campaigning for a political candidate,” she said. “I wouldn’t have cared if it was used for Trump or Harris. That’s just not right. If it had taken place in Livonia, I would have covered it anyway. It didn’t matter where it was.”
In his speech, Vance railed against the Biden administration and Harris’ record on immigration and security at the southern border.
Shelby Township may have been chosen by the Vance campaign because two foreign nationals were arrested in the township this year for alleged crimes. In one case, an asylum seeker is accused of causing a car crash that killed 88-year-old Nancy Richmond and her 63-year-old daughter Crystal Brunn. In the other case, a man believed to be an illegal immigrant is accused of sexually assaulting a young girl.
— Senior editor Jeff Payne contributed to this report.
