State Convention 2022

    For the first time ever, the Michigan GOP held the Republican State Convention in April instead of August.  RINO party leader Ron Weiser, finally realized Democrats have had a few month “head start” on campaigning by nominating their candidates sooner, and rightfully made adjustments.  However the results of the convention, may not have been what the party leadership wanted, or expected. 

    Before we start with the final results, and dive into the reason for them, we will cover some basics on the convention processes.  The state convention structure isn’t used widely around the country, Michigan being one of the only states to do so.  Several state wide candidates, including Attorney General and Secretary of State are nominated to the ballot through the state convention, instead of using the August primary election like house and senate candidates.  It all starts with delegates, which are also elected officials.  Citizens can file to be a delegate, putting them on a ballot for election in their district.  If elected as a delegate, they can create and vote on different motions within their local party meetings, including choosing their committee members and actions taken by the party.  Before each election cycle, there are county conventions, where delegates are nominated and elevated to the state convention, being primary or alternates who will vote to nominate the Attorney General and Secretary of State to be on the ballot in November. 

    Now that we have covered the reason, and process behind the state convention, lets cover the results.  The 2020 election has shifted the tide in the republican party, causing many new freedom loving patriots to get involved including running for office.  Matthew Deperno, who ran for Attorney General, was the attorney in Antrim County, who actually discovered that votes for Biden and Trump were flipped, causing Biden to win that county, before it was corrected via Deperno’s discovery.  

    Deperno was not part of the establishment republicans in Lansing, in fact, he has stated that he has sued just about every legislator in Lansing while working as an attorney.  Deperno was completely ignored by the legislators after the 2020 election, when he contacted them to review his findings in Antrim County.  In fact, during Deperno’s campaign, he vowed to uphold the rule of law equally between republicans and democrats, prosecuting anyone who has been involved in the deep corruption here in Michigan.  The establishment did not want Deperno to become Attorney General.  It seemed clear to many, that the establishment in Lansing had their picks for Attorney General, either former legislator Tom Leonard or current legislator Ryan Berman.  

    So how was the establishment defeated?  Matthew Deperno did work hard, campaigning around the state, and received the Trump endorsement.  Meshawn Maddock, has had direct contact with Trump, getting many candidates in touch with the former president for an opportunity to get endorsements.  Had Meshawn finally turned the page to help do something positive for the party, and help a non-establishment statewide candidate elected to office?  No, absolutely not.  Meshawn has only had state house candidates endorsed, perceivably to gather a group of new supportive legislators who will vow to vote for her husband, Matthew Maddock, to become Speaker of the House and allow establishment power to continue to reign.  Meshawn did nothing to help Deperno until Matt finally called President Trump to have a meeting between the three to get on the same page.  Meshawn was only seen with establishment candidate Tom Leonard until Deperno’s call to Trump, and was forced to start showing support for Deperno.  

  So how did Deperno subvert the establishment and gain the Trump endorsement?  Mellissa Carone had actually worked with Deperno, exposing the election fraud of 2020 since shortly after the election.  The two first worked together on Mike Lindell’s documentary Absolute Proof, and spoke at many of the same events around the state thereafter.  Mellissa, being a non-establishment candidate herself, now running for state senate in district 11, saw the importance of Deperno becoming Attorney General.  Carone spoke to her county party about having Deperno come speak at their monthly meeting, and sought their support for him.  The Macomb County party leaders, Mark Fortin and Lisa Mankiewicz agreed to have Deperno come speak, and Deperno did in fact gain support with the county party and it’s members.  Fortin and Mankiewicz worked to gain contact with President Trump, and were able to setup a meeting between Deperno and Trump, where Deperno gained the endorsement of the former President.  With her hand forced, Meshawn finally came out and publicly endorsed Deperno last month.  

    The state convention was still not without it’s surprises from the establishment.  Each candidate must receive 51% of the vote from the delegates to win the nomination, if each candidate receives less that 51%, a second round of voting takes place.  Ryan Berman dropped out of the race after the first wave of voting, throwing his support behind the other establishment candidate Tom Leonard, trying to compile all their votes together to defeat Deperno.  Also, after hundreds of delegates had voted, an “error” with the voting machines was discovered.  The three candidate were listed on the voting machine as candidates A, B and C.  However, after many had voted and left the convention to head home around the state, it was discovered that the names of the candidates were not aligned with the correct selections A, B, and C, as they were instructed to vote.  For example Matthew Deperno was supposed to be A, but his name was listed under B, causing the vote to be incorrect.  The issue was apparently corrected and voting continued, with Deperno finally taking a majority of the vote, and winning the nomination.  

     Kristina Karamo also won nomination, becoming the candidate to appear on the ballot for republican Secretary of State.  Again, no help from Meshawn Maddock or the establishment republicans in Lansing, obtaining the Trump endorsement on her own, through exposing issues with the 2020 election, and a tough campaign statewide.  

     The people have spoken, the grassroots has prevailed, and the establishment is grinding their teeth in despair.  This is why RINO Hunters does the hard work that we do, exposing the corruption in the republican party.  These people stand on stage with the nominated candidates, raising their hand in victory, as they have actually helped, or support the candidates the people want in office, when they have done nothing but provide oppositional support during their campaign.  Vote Deperno and Karamo in November, Meshawn Maddock must go, Ron Weiser must go.