The bank’s renewed notice of default, dated Dec. 12, detailed more than $10,000 in accrued interest and $707 in late fines for missed payments on the $509,009 loan principal.
It’s the latest evidence of financial struggles for the Michigan GOP, which is mired in a leadership dispute fueled in part by the fundraising woes of Kristina Karamo, who was elected as party chair in February 2023.
As the Feb. 27 state presidential primary nears, Karamo insists she’s still in charge of the party and deemed a recent vote by a faction of party leaders to remove her as “illegal.”
She has said she inherited a financial mess and wants to sell the party’s former headquarters in Lansing to relieve debt she says was inherited from the administration of her predecessor, Ann Arbor real estate magnate Ron Weiser.
"It's an illusion that (the debt) is a function of the Karamo administration,” her executive director, Jim Copas, told Bridge Michigan on Wednesday. "The Karamo administration has never taken one penny or created one-cent worth of debt with Comerica.”
The Michigan GOP could pay off the debt "tomorrow if we chose to,” Copas said. But the bank has not provided the administration requested details about the loan, and “we’re not convinced it’s legitimate,” he said.
The Michigan GOP last month sued Comerica and The Michigan Republican Party Trust, which includes former party chairs who have managed the building that is formally owned by a separate entity, Seymour Street LLC.
Comerica disclosed the Michigan GOP’s latest default notice in a response filing, asking a judge to dismiss the bank from what it’s attorneys called a “longwinded and perplexing complaint” that should be limited to the state party and building owners.
Attorneys for the MRP Trust, meanwhile, have also requested dismissal of the case, along with sanctions against Karamo and the Michigan Republican Party’s state committee.