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Mackinac Island -- Michigan Republicans are mounting a court challenge against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's move to blow past campaign fundraising laws and raise unlimited funds for next year's reelection bid. It's a welcome lawsuit.
The governor is engaged in a scam aimed at giving her an unearned advantage in the 2022 race. She is exploiting a Michigan law that allows a candidate facing a recall election to ignore fundraising limits.
Although recall Whitmer petitions have been approved by the state Board of Canvassers, there is no evidence an actual recall campaign is underway.
That means the governor will have the $3.4 million she's raised via the recall loophole to fight off her Republican challenger. In total, she's raised $8.6 million.
Republicans are arriving on Mackinac Island for their biennial policy conference this weekend. Overcoming Whitmer's fundraising head start will be part of the conversation.
Whitmer's tactic is disingenuous and flies in the face of her public comments about limiting the influence of money, particularly from interests outside Michigan, in politics.
Challengers to the governor can only raise a maximum of $7,150 from individual donors. Five donors have already contributed $250,000 each to Whitmer.
Incumbents enjoy a natural advantage in fundraising. Whitmer is enhancing that edge with her suspect recall claim.
Whitmer's campaign spokesman called the GOP lawsuit "totally baseless, ludicrous and frivolous."
Those words more perfectly apply to the governor's ginned up recall claim.
Her end-around the law should be checked by the courts. Whitmer should be forced to demonstrate that opponents are actually spending money to recall her from office, and that she's spending the extra funds she's raising to counter that threat. She should not be allowed to simply dump the contributions into her general campaign account.
Campaign finance laws are designed to guard against moneyed interests buying elections.
They've had spotty success in accomplishing that mission, in large part because politicians such as Whitmer work so hard to undermine them.
-- Detroit News