Michigan Republican Party boss cashes in while party struggles to raise dough

(Detroit Free Press) By almost every measure, the Michigan GOP is hitting lows Republicans haven't seen in decades, with one notable exception: Chairwoman Kristina Karamo.

Michigan has a Democratic governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Democrats have majorities in the state House and Senate and on the state Supreme Court. Seven of the state's 13 members of the U.S. House of Representatives are Democrats, as are both U.S. Senators. And President Joe Biden put Michigan back in the blue column in 2020, no matter what people who confuse aluminum foil with haberdashery may tell you.

After getting waxed in statewide races and losing control of the state House and Senate in 2022, Republicans pointed their metaphorical guns inward, unloading both barrels Elmer Fudd-style on any wascally wabbits in the party who didn't worship God or Donald Trump — and not necessarily in that order. Even diehards who survived the purge in February, when Karamo was elected party chairwoman, soon fell to blows. After a state party meeting in July, the Clare County Republican Party chairman told a reporter a Wayne County Republican "kicked me in my balls" after he opened a door separating the interloper from state committee members.

....(snip)....

Lost in all the rancor of a party in turmoil is the apparent windfall for the MIGOP chairwoman who, depending on your perspective, is either standing in the eye of the hurricane … or caused the storm.

That's because, while the party may be struggling to pay its bills, public records reveal Karamo is almost certainly making more money than she ever has. Based on the latest information available, she is being paid more than four times what she was earning before becoming chairwoman, and more than 10 times what she was making 10 years ago. .............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/ml-elrick/2023/10/15/michigan-gop-republican-kristina-karamo-money/71134989007/