County’s Chief Asst. Prosecutor Owes Thousands in Campaign Finance Fines Related to Failed Run

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by P.D. Lesko

Campaign finance statements show that Washtenaw County’s Chief Asst. Prosecutor Victoria Burton-Harris has ignored warnings and reminder letters, bills for thousands of dollars in campaign finance fines, and has neglected to turn in a over a dozen required campaign finance statements. Since 2020, the Wayne County Clerk’s Election Division has sent Burton-Harris fifteen Reminder to File Notices, five Error/Omission Notices, six Failure to File fee notices (bills for fees), four Second Failure to File Fee notices, one Late Contribution Fee notice, one late Filing Fee Notice, two Second Late Contribution Fee Notices, and one Reporting Waiver Denied letter. On her Statement of Organization, Victoria Burton-Harris is listed as her own campaign treasurer.

According to public records, Burton-Harris did make one fine payment for submitting her pre-primary campaign statement late. She was assessed $25 on July 20, 2020 and paid the $25 by check on Aug. 18, 2020.

According to the latest (Feb. 2023) letter to Burton-Harris’s home address sent by Wayne County Elections Division officials and signed by Gil Flowers, Ms. Burton-Harris was reminded about her unpaid fines, and threatened that her unpaid fines would be turned over to the Wayne County Treasurer for collection.

The Washtenaw Chief Asst. Prosecutor’s campaign finance fines, the bulk of which are over 180 days past due, were turned over to the Michigan Dept. of Treasury for collection. Because of Burton-Harris’s repeated failure to file campaign finance disclosures the Wayne County Clerk is required by Michigan law to report Burton-Harris’s campaign committee to the Michigan Attorney General’s office.

The Wayne County Election Division notices have been sent to Burton-Harris’s home address in Grosse Pointe, and to the office of McCaskey Law, PLC in Detroit’s Penobscot Building (Victoria Burton-Harris also uses the name Victoria McCaskey). Candidates whose committees are still active—and Burton-Harris’s campaign committee is still active—are legally required to keep their committee contact information accurate and up to date.

In July of 2021, Burton-Harris asked the Wayne County Clerk for a campaign finance reporting waiver, so that she would not be required to file the necessary campaign finance statements. The request was denied: “Your request for a reporting waiver has been denied because you reported an ending balance of $16,957.82 as per your filed post-primary 2020 Campaign Statement. This reported amount is over the reporting waiver limit of $1,000.”

Ed Golembiewski heads up the Washtenaw County Elections Bureau in the Office of County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum. When asked about the multiple notices sent to Victoria Burton-Harris’s Committee for her failure to file years of campaign finance disclosures, Golembiewski pointed out that Michigan law requires County Clerks to contact the office of the Michigan Attorney General by letter to report candidate committee failures to file disclosures in a timely manner. When asked what would happen if a county clerk neglected to follow the law that requires alerting the Michigan AG’s office of such violations, Golembiewski was quiet for a moment then said, “It’s what all county clerks are required to do.”

According to Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act: “A late filing fee assessed by a county clerk that remains unpaid for more than 60 days is considered a debt of the county, and the county treasurer shall collect that fee in the same manner as other county debts are collected. A late filing fee assessed by the secretary of state that remains unpaid for more than 180 days must be referred to the department of treasury for collection.”

Public records show The Committee to Elect Victoria Burton-Harris owes thousands of dollars in outstanding fines, and has neglected to file required campaign finance disclosures going back to 2021.

In addition, Buton-Harris’s three campaign finance disclosures filed in 2020 reveal some questionable campaign expenses. For example, in Burton-Harris’s July 2020 pre-primary campaign finance disclosure, campaign expenses included $3,500 for campaign staff wages to “JBB Consultants.” That entity is not a company registered in the State of Michigan. The address for JBB Consultants, 15354 Piedmont, Detroit, MI 48126, is a home owned by Jacqueline Brianne Robinson, according to public records. Burton-Harris also disclosed spending money for a DoorDash food delivery in San Francisco and claimed it as an “Party Expense–Election Night.” The same campaign finance disclosure shows Burton-Harris spent $1,048.45 at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel (now the Fort Pontchartrain Hotel) in Detroit to house staff.

Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett and the County’s Director of Elections, Gregory Mahar, were both asked by email whether the Burton-Harris committee’s unpaid fines had been referred to the Wayne County Treasurer, the Michigan Dept. of Treasury and the Attorney General’s Office. The A2Indy’s questions were referred to the County Clerk’s Dir. of Communications, Lisa Williams, as well as the Gregory Mahar, Dir. of Elections, and Deputy Dir. of Elections, Jennifer Redmond. Mahar, Redmond and Williams have not yet replied.

In 2020, Victoria Burton-Harris, a Wayne County Asst. Prosecutor, ran in Wayne County as a progressive candidate for County Prosecutor. Like Washtenaw County Prosecutor Savit, Burton-Harris was backed by George Soros and with the public “endorsements” of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, and John Legend (a pop singer).

It’s 2022, and one-by-one Soros-backed prosecutors—so-called “soft on crime” prosecutors—are facing recalls. In June 2022, San Francisco voters recalled Chesa Boudin, that city’s Soros-backed prosecutor. In Los Angeles, nearly 98 percent of Los Angeles prosecutors voted to Recall Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascón. The 800 member Association of Deputy District Attorneys who work for the County of Los Angeles, in Feb. 2022 voted overwhelmingly to support the recall of Gascón.

George Soros-backed groups have spent $40 million to elect 75 progressive prosecutors over the last decade – meaning one in five Americans now live in areas covered by his criminal justice reformers, including Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. In Loudoun County, Virginia, Soros backed Buta Biberaj with $922,000 through his New Virginia Majority and Virginia Justice and Public Safety PAC. 

Biberaj beat an unsuccessful 2022 attempt to recall her, with opponents accusing her of “letting criminals run rampant on the streets” – in particular, “wife beaters and child abusers.”

Eli Savit’s office has faced similar criticisms and “Recall Eli Savit” bumper stickers are increasingly seen in and around Ann Arbor. Domestic violence advocates say in Washtenaw County Savit’s “no cash bail” policies mean perpetrators of domestic violence, including child abusers, are routinely given release on personal recognizance (PR bond). This, say the DV advocates, puts domestic violence victims and their children in grave danger.  

Victoria Burton-Harris was asked in an email if she plans to adhere to Michigan law, pay her overdue fines and file the required campaign finance disclosures/amended statements for 2021 and 2022. She has not yet replied.