Lucido
UPDATE: Rich Robinson, the election watchdog for the nonpartisan
Campaign Finance Network, said Lucido’s out-of-pocket funding is unprecedented
for a House primary contender but the combined spending by Lucido and Grot
should include an asterisk in the record books.

In 2012, a three-way race for the state House in
Oakland County saw two of the candidates spend a combined $383,000 in the GOP primary.
David Potts spent $114,000 and David Wolkinson’s total was $270,000. Yet, that
40th District contest was won by the candidate who failed to break
the six-figure mark, Mike McCready of Bloomfield Hills, according to Robinson. 





By Chad Selweski

Chad.selweski@macombdaily.com
@cbsnewsman on Twitter
Pete Lucido, a Shelby Township Republican, has waged an
unprecedented campaign for state House, plowing $150,000 of his own money into
his bid for a victory in the Aug. 5 GOP primary in north Macomb’s 36th
District.
Political observers say that Lucido’s degree of
self-funding is unheard of in a Michigan primary for one of the 110 state House
seats. The prominent defense attorney may have also broken state records for
spending, $245,000, in his two-man GOP race against Shelby Township Clerk Stan
Grot.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the
state, Grot, a veteran political activist, raised nearly $100,000 and spent
$76,000 in a particularly nasty race that has featured numerous political
mailings on both sides that attack the opponent on a very personal level.
Fingers point in both directions.
Bill Ballenger, the dean of Michigan political analysts,
said the total amount raised and spent by the two candidates, plus Lucido’s
personal contribution, may have raised the bar.
“I would say both of those are records but I can’t say
definitively,” said Ballenger, founder of the Inside Michigan Politics
newsletter. “For a candidate in a partisan primary to spend $150,000 of his own
money, I’d be stunned if anyone has ever come close to that.”
A first-time candidate, Lucido said he was forced to put together a $250,000 campaign war chest and spend extraordinary amounts of money to counter nasty campaign flyers sent by
two political action committees, or PACs, that are pro-Grot.
“Look what I’m up against with these PACs. I think it’s
now nine pieces they have put out that are full of a web of lies,” he said. “I …
am trying to ward off evil.”
Longtime political observer and former campaign
consultant Joe Munem of Sterling Heights said Lucido and Grot have shifted Michigan
House races into a higher gear with a combined $350,000 in fundraising for a
primary.
“That’s a number that just left me stunned. This is
gargantuan,” Munem said. “If you split that by two, that’s $175,000 apiece. It’s
an unheard-of number.”
A veteran political operative, Grot has predicted for months that he would be outspent
by a wide margin, with Lucido waging a $300,000 campaign to win the open seat
in the 36th District – consisting of Washington Township, Romeo,
Bruce Township and most of Shelby Township. The Shelby clerk has repeatedly complained that Lucido “is trying to buy this election.”
Outgoing GOP incumbent Rep. Pete Lund, who is barred by
term limits from seeking re-election, has remained neutral in the furious
battle for his seat. The winner of the GOP primary in the heavily Republican
district is almost assured of victory in November. The lone Democratic
contender is perennial candidate Robert Murphy of Romeo.
In the past, hotly contested primary races for state
representative might see a candidate spend $50,000. While Grot did not announce
his intentions to run until late March, Lucido started gearing up early, in
August 2013, and had mapped out a long-term campaign strategy within a month.
By November, he had already loaned his campaign $50,000, according to his
campaign finance report.
Those reports only reflect money raised and spent through
July 20, not including the last-minute flurry of campaigning that is likely
coming by Election Day on Aug. 5.
In addition, it’s still possible that Lucido funneled up
to $285,000 of his own money into the campaign while still catching up with all
of his bills, many of which consist of advertising purchases with local weekly
newspapers.
After he turned in his paperwork, Lucido filed a “late
contribution report” with the state, a routine matter. But in this case, the
late report was a $150,000 donation by Lucido to his election effort.
The Lucido report is complicated by a confusing mix of
personal loans and donations to his campaign, including one $50,000 allocation on
May 28 that was listed as both a loan and a donation.
Lucido, 55, said the bottom line is that he personally
put forward $150,000 in his high-stakes bid to win the House seat. He said he’s not aware
of, nor particularly interested in, claims that he has broken state campaign finance
records. Lucido noted that has assisted more than 50 charities over the course
of his legal career and he never considered backing away for financial reasons from
the barrage that Grot sent his way.

“All I can say is that it costs a lot of money, and it
requires a lot of mailings, to set the record straight,” he said. “I’ve been
blessed with a lot of good things that happened to me, and my family has been
blessed with good things. I’m not going to put my toes into the sand. I’m going
to stand up for my issues and for the families of Macomb County.” 

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