(WXYZ) — A Bureau of Elections report on the signature fraud upending the Republican gubernatorial race makes reference to a Michigan company whose owner had previously been convicted of election fraud in another state.
Shawn Wilmoth is an independent political consultant who, according to his LinkedIn profile, has managed campaign operations on more than 100 successful petition drives across 23 states.
In 2011, he pleaded guilty plea to two counts of election fraud in Virginia. According to media reports, Wilmoth was accused of instructing employees to fraudulently sign petitions related to a ballot initiative there. He was sentenced to two concurrent five-year sentences with four years and eight months suspended on the condition of good behavior.
The report does not directly name Wilmoth, but his conviction is referenced in multiple footnotes in the report.
Wilmoth's company was hired by at least one of the gubernatorial campaigns that the Bureau of Elections said should be disqualified.
“It does concern me that someone who was convicted of an election related crime had anything to do with Michigan elections,” said Andrea Bitely, a Republican political strategist who is also a the director of communications and client services for Truscott Rossman.
Bitely was not familiar with Wilmoth or his prior conviction, but said it’s incumbent upon any campaign to vet its petition circulators and ensure that signatures gathered aren’t fraudulent.
“What you say when you submit fraudulently petition signatures if you aren’t prepared or aren’t capable of taking his job seriously,” Bitely said.
Here in Michigan, candidate Michael Brown — a Michigan State Police captain — told 7 Action News that he hired Wilmoth’s company to collect signatures for his campaign.
Monday, Brown was one of five candidates the Bureau of Elections said should be disqualified.
Related:
- Petitioner, political consultant weigh in on fraudulent signature debacle
- Michigan's Attorney General says she expects to investigate petition fraud
- James Craig calls for AG to investigate after election bureau's claims of invalid signatures
Brown said he believes the signatures Wilmoth collected for his campaign were valid, but adds that when he tried to reach Wilmoth by phone yesterday and today, his cell phone was suddenly disconnected.
“He’s in the wind,” Brown said.
Attempts by 7 Action News to reach Wilmoth were not successful, but he had previously defended his record last year to a Florida TV station who raised questions about his work there.
According to WFLA-TV, Wilmoth released a statement which reads in part:
In 2011, I was convicted of 2 counts of false statements on required form. I was given 3 years’ probation for the conviction and have not been in trouble for anything since the incident. I often work with judges, lawyers, prosecutors and other members of law enforcement in my line of work. If I was doing something illegal or not by the book in some way, I wouldn’t still be in business.
I was accused of knowingly hiring individuals with felonies and directing them to circulate petitions even though they were not legally eligible to do so under Virginia law. The law that I was accused of violating has since been overturned as unconstitutional since my conviction.
The truth is, there are many people that make a once in a lifetime mistake and that shouldn’t make them a criminal for life. Due to the nature of my conviction, I have to go the extra mile in everything I do so that people don’t question my integrity. I am often accused of wrongdoing by my competitors who work in the same industry because they don’t like competition. I have a long list of happy clients and successful projects because my work speaks for itself. Anyone who has worked with me would never question the legitimacy of my work.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
