- Video shows plaintiff Jon Rutan, defendants Brent Leininger, and Abe Dane, Hillsdale County Commission meeting.
- "America First" Republican Jon Rutan alleges public officials are using their powers to push his faction out of local Republican Party leadership.
- Federal civil action is in motion; several Hillsdale County officials have received summonses.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The rift in the Hillsdale County Republican Party moves to Federal Court as the fight for control of the Republican Party in Hillsdale continues.
"We've been under fire for about 2 years — the grassroots here in Hillsdale — with elected officials that didn't like that we've taken over the Party," says Jon Rutan — one of the so-called "America First" newcomers that took over the Republican Party here in 2020.
He has now filed a civil action in Federal Court, alleging Republican County officials are using the powers of their offices to push his faction out and take back control of the Party.
One of the allegations, as recounted by Rutan: "April of 2022, Marney Kast dropped our precinct delegate allocations from 132 to 100. And she did it completely arbitrarily."
Kast is the County Clerk.
She, along with Deputy Abe Dane and County Commissioner Brent Leininger, received a summons to respond.
I was at the County Commission meeting Tuesday morning where Leininger was served. He declined to comment.
I reached out to Kast but did not hear back.
In writing, Dane responded to the question about allegations that the Clerk's office arbitrarily reduced the delegate numbers, stating:
"That is a statutory function of the County Clerk as a member of the County Election Commission."
At the same time, the lawsuit alleges, the Clerk's office disqualifies "America First" Republican candidates on technicalities.
This year, says Rutan, the old guard wants to halve the number of delegates to 50 to further limit their influence.
Says Rutan: "When people use their elected positions to do unfair things to the constituency, we've got a problem....for me to sit back and allow that to happen and not hit back — basically, I'm giving them a free ride to abuse me."
WATCH FULL INTERVIEW WITH JON RUTAN ABOUT HIS FEDERAL LAWSUIT:
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