This Has Never Happened In Macomb County
According to a former Macomb County deputy county clerk of 10 years, a candidate has never been eliminated off the ballot for the reason Mellissa Carone was. Carone checked the box on the affidavit of identity that indicated all her campaign donation reports had been submitted, and fines had been paid. However, two small fines of $50, and $75 were still owed. You could say, she checked the box, the fines were owed, she should be disqualified and end the story there, which is what Macomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini did, however, there is more to the story than that, and Forlini and his office aren’t being honest and transparent about the situation as many of our elected officials fail to be, so we will here.
As stated, a candidate has never been disqualified in Macomb County for this reason, according to a prior long tenured Deputy Clerk. If this situation has arisen in the past, the clerks office will contact the candidate and advise them of the issue, and allow the candidate to correct the issue, as is stated in Michigan law and on the document titled “Affidavit of Identity and Receipt of Filing”. The document states ‘If the candidate decides during the filing period to change the Affidavit of Identity, the candidate must submit a new form’. The law nor document states that there is any specific reason for or against the candidate to be able to do so, just that they are able. However, Forlini’s office decided to ignore this fact, and deny Carone the ability to do so. It also gets worse from there. Carone initially visited the Macomb County Clerks office to file two affidavit of identity’s, one for precinct delegate, the other for her state house candidacy. Carone submitted the affidavit for precinct delegate and stated to the employee at the clerks office, she had the other affidavit for her state house seat to submit, but noticed the box stating her fines were paid, so she stated she was going to Lansing the following day to pay these fines, and would return to submit the other affidavit. The employee at the clerks office advised her against this, stating that the affidavit would take 3 or 4 days to process, so if she was going to Lansing the following day to pay the fines, she could indeed submit the affidavit that day while in the office, and the paid fines would reflect in the system before the affidavit was processed, no issue would arise, and no need for her to run back and forth. Carone asked the clerks employee again just to verify that would not be an issue, which he confirmed, so Carone took the advisement, submitted the affidavit, and went to Lansing the following day to pay the fines as discussed. Upon departing the elections department office in Lansing, Carone received a call from MeShawn Maddock’s media person, Craig Mauger at the Deteoit News, asking if she would like to make a statement about her disqualification from the ballot of her state house candidacy. Carone obviously surprised by the call, informed Mauger of the details of her visit at the clerks office, and proceeded in attempts to contact the Macomb County Clerk Forlini thereafter, with no response. Carone made several calls and several visits to the clerks office, with Forlini refusing to answer, respond to voicemails, or come to the clerk office lobby to speak with Carone.
Was the clerks employee instructed to give Carone this advisement, to tell her to sign and submit the affidavit, knowing she still had the fines to correct? It sure seems as though. If this was a simple mistake on behalf of the clerk employee, you would imagine the clerk would attempt to correct it as they have done with other candidates. If it were a mistake made by Carone, as other candidates had made in the past, you would imagine the clerk would contact the candidate to correct it, as they have done in the past. The only sensible conclusion one could draw after such events took place, is that this act was completely intentional. What if your boss instructed you to take a break at work, and when you returned to work terminated you for walking off the job in the middle of your shift? The Macomb County Clerk is disqualifying a candidate for exactly what they instructed them to do. Is this what we are to expect from our elected officials? Is this what we should accept from the people we elect to office, that are supposed to be there to help citizens with these matters? Forlini is part of the Lansing swamp, former legislator, ties to the Michigan GOP, and on our RINO Hunter list well before this incident took place, and this is why. These elected officials do not care about the people, helping people, or the will of the people. They all work together to keep their group together and retain power. Further proving this point, who else is running for the state house seat Carone was filed for? What Republican candidate will now be running unopposed in that Republican district you ask? Forlini’s friend, and former staffer Joseph Aragona. You could not make up more examples of conflict of interest, or the Lansing swamp trying to retain power in their little circle than they create all on their own. Some in the party become upset and don’t agree with Carone calling out the GOP for this behavior, should we just allow it to continue? Should Forlini be able to do and say whatever he wants without being questioned? Should he be allowed to disqualify a candidate for a small fine they were advised to pay the following day by their own office, without even being questioned? Should he be allowed to state he performed a forensic audit of the 2020 election, when in actuality he just had the company contracted by Dominion Voting come in and take a look at their own machines? Should we not ask questions of our elected officials or hold them accountable without fear of retaliation or attacks?
The people have woken up, they are getting more involved, joining the party, participating in events, and running for office. The swamp in Lansing hates this, and is fighting back harder than ever. We have to continue to push, to hold them accountable, to primary these RINOs that have continuously done nothing to better our state, and have only enriched themselves. Carone is now filed for a state senate seat, in district 11, running against Mike McDonald. As with all districts, this one has been subject to the map redistricting this year, and because our Republican legislature again gave little to no push back against these new lines to protect our seats, many suffered redraws that incorporate historically heavy democrat populated areas. Carone will still need help from the people, as anytime you go against the establishment for one of their seats, but this may be a good scenario for her, while having strong conservative values, she wants what’s best for the state and the people, as well as proven to hold the Republican Party accountable more than any other elected official or candidate currently in office.
