Michigan Representative Cynthia Johnson, D-Detroit, has been disqualified from the August primary election for not submitting all required campaign finance paperwork.
A letter from Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett to Johnson dated Friday, May 20, stated that after a bureau review, Johnson had not submitted the filings and fees required under the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.
“On Tuesday, May 17, 2022, I received a letter from Jonathan Brater, Director of Elections for the State of Michigan, informing me that ... you had ‘not submitted all required filings and fees’ as required of you under the Michigan campaign finance act ... at the time you filed your most recent Affidavit of Identity on April 5, 2022,” Garrett wrote.
According to documents from Michigan’s Campaign Finance database, Johnson was notified of late filing fees on multiple occasions. The latest fee payment made by Johnson’s campaign was $875 on April 13.
In a text exchange with MLive, Johnson disputed these claims, stating that she ultimately believed she paid all outstanding fees by the first filing deadline until she noticed she still owed a fee from July 2021.
“(The county clerk) was doing what she thought she was supposed to do that came from the director of elections,” Johnson said. “They should be ashamed of themselves because I looked them directly in the face when I went to the bureau to make sure to take care of all of this.”
Johnson was running for re-election in Detroit’s newly drawn 1st District. She has been a state representative since first being elected in 2018, and her current term ends on Jan. 1, 2023.
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