Stan Grot’s Phony Candidate scam of 2014
Besides the more recent scandals such as the bribery allegations, Stan Grot’s shenanigans go deep into the past. This more recent gem serves to educate others who are more recently involved in Macomb County politics and remind others, even if the article is written by a known hack.
Within minutes of the official start to Campaign 2014 – Tuesday’s filing deadline – the two fighting factions within the Macomb County Republican Party cranked up their war machines, with claims of dirty politics, character assassination and a possible lawsuit.
The instigator appears to be Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot — former Macomb GOP chairman, tea party ally, candidate for state House, and the nemesis of Congresswoman Candy Miller.
With 20 minutes to go before Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline, the Shelby Township deputy clerk walked into the county Elections Department armed with signed documents declaring several new candidacies for the 2014 campaign.
Those were Republican candidacies, an effort to stir up the GOP primaries in several key races. The deputy clerk is Brian Fairbrother, a fellow Republican. His boss, Grot, insists he played no role in filing the internecine challengers, all of whom are Grot allies.
The township clerk said his deputy was acting alone, and Grot also insists Fairbrother was not engaging in party politics on township time. Grot said Fairbrother had taken time off on Tuesday because he ‘decided to go have some fun that day.’
The phony candidates – Macomb County politics’ infamous ‘ringers’ – were designed to wreak havoc with Grot’s enemies, not to actually win a race. For example, veteran county Commissioner Don Brown, a trusted congressional aide to Miller, suddenly found himself at the 11th hour facing a primary challenge from a Doug Brown.
Voter confusion is the name of this game.
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