Michigan controversy over Proud Boys leader’s contract to recruit poll workers

The Macomb County election clerk in the state of Michigan (United States) hired Genevieve Peters, a leader of the ultranationalist group Proud Boys who encouraged the masses during the assault on the Capitol on February 6, as poll worker recruiter. January 2021.

Peters, who has been repeatedly associated with Proud Boys frontman Joe Biggs, led a rally outside the home of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in protest of alleged 2020 voter fraudand encouraged the masses to “storm the gates” of the Capitol.

In declarations to the portal PoliticoMacomb County Clerk Anthony Forlini defended that Peters was hired in May to help recruit poll workers after she herself applied for the position, created in response to concerns from city clerks about staffing shortages.

He acknowledged that he is aware that Peters participated in protests on January 6, although he established a line between what he considers to be the “personal life” of the new municipal employee. He also highlighted his experience in “teaching and training.”

For his part, Benson’s spokesman, Jake Rollow, responded to that same portal on this matter and acknowledged that The Michigan Secretary of State is monitoring the situation for “potential challenges that may arise.”

While it is true that Peters did not get to participate directly in the Capitol episode, he did harangue the assailants in a live publication on his social networks while protesting in Michigan. “We have stormed the Capitol. We are going up the stairs, ”she said euphorically, as published Bloomberg.

The United States will hold mid-term elections on November 8 in which in Michigan the ballots include names similar to former President Donald Trump and his theory that the 2020 elections were fraudulent.

Big money, little committee: How Biden campaigns for Democrats

He’s not the most eloquent speaker and he’s certainly not the most popular president. But it is for another reason that the Democrats count on Joe Biden in the face of the midterm elections: money.

As the November 8 election approaches, the 79-year-old Democrat is touring the country, meeting with wealthy supporters to fill the coffers of his party, which hopes to at least maintain its control over the Senate, one of the two houses of Congress. from United States.

This Thursday, for example, he did it again in Los Angeles. The visit of these “fundraisers” can sometimes generate explosive statements.

On October 6, at the New York venue that James Murdoch, son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has in New York, Biden said the world was at risk of a nuclear “apocalypse” for the first time since the Cold War.

The phrase ran through the media, like when the president criticized supporters of Donald Trump for adhering to a “semi-fascist” ideology, on August 25, also at a fundraising event.

no cameras or heels

During these meetings that navigate between party commitment and presidential prerogative, a few journalists are admitted, at a good distance and only for the introductory words of the president.

However, television cameras, photo cameras and microphones are prohibited.

On September 22, in an apartment with an impressive view of New York, billionaire and philanthropist Henry Laufer and his wife Marsha also asked their guests to remove their high heels or put on slippers so as not to damage the floors. Biden, meanwhile, was able to keep his shoes.

At fundraisers, the president talks about geopolitics, abortion rights and inflation to rooms full of financial professionals, businessmen and the odd celebrity.

Rock star Jon Bon Jovi was one of fifteen guests who heard from Biden last week in the mansion of the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, an event in which he raised one million dollars.

Recently, a spokesperson for the Democratic Party claimed that “thanks in large part to the commitment” of Biden, who has attended twelve fundraising events since January, the party has pocketed more than $107 million this year.

From millionaires to factories

The US president is also increasing less luxurious travel.

Far from millionaires, visit, for example, factories to praise their industrial recovery programs and delivers a rehearsed speech, interspersed with colorful anecdotes about the day-to-day concerns raised by Americans.

But not all candidates are interested in appearing next to a Biden which, despite improving in recent months, continues to struggle in the polls.

In Ohio, the Democratic candidate for SenateTim Ryan, for example, categorically ruled out the president’s involvement in his campaign.

Midterm spending is already running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and in some battleground states, it’s a race to see who can raise the most.

In Arizona, for example, billionaire Peter Thiel bet big on the Republican nominee for the Senate.

“Generally, the candidate who spends the most is the one who wins. This trend is stronger for the House of Representatives than for the Senate, but it is true in both houses of Congress”, points out the NGO Open Secrets, which examines the financing of US electoral campaigns.

The organization stated that in 2020, during the last legislative elections, almost 88% of the votes for the House of Representatives and just over 71% for the Senate had gone to the candidate with the largest budget.

In 2018, the ratio was over 88% for the House of Representatives and over 82% for the Senate.

* With information from Europa Press and AFP.