Mount Clemens — The wheels of justice turn slowly.
But when Dana Nessel’s deputy saw me standing in the halls of the Macomb County courthouse this week wielding the microphone of truth, he scurried down the back stairs quicker than a rat up a drainpipe.
I was there for yet another pretrial hearing for Shawn Wilmoth—aka One-Finger Freddy—the corpulent, T-shirt-wearing ex-con who stands accused of defrauding five GOP candidates for governor. Freddy turned in thousands of bogus signatures on the candidates behalf and then pocketed $700,000.
I cannot accurately report what happened in court because the parties secretly met in the judge’s chambers and then fled down the back entrance. I’m told Freddy’s trial has been pushed to next year—Nessel’s last in office.
Freddy is important here because it appears he probably swindled Alanna Maguire as well.
Maguire is important here because she is Dana Nessel’s wife.
Maguire was co-chair of Fair and Equal Michigan, an organization that was pushing to get gay-rights legislation on the ballot. It never made it because tens of thousands of signatures were ruled to be bogus by the secretary of state.
Freddy was never charged in that case. One wonders why, until you realize that Fair and Equal Michigan is a named suspect in a criminal referral from the secretary of state alleging campaign-finance fraud. That referral molders on Nessel’s deck.
The newspapers refuse to report this. Meanwhile, their stenographers sit in a different courthouse cranking out political trivialities about a case involving Republicans.
That case also involves the use of a nonprofit to fund the Unlock Michigan campaign—a failed ballot proposal seeking to abolish the emergency powers seized by Whitmer during Covid.
One of their recent headlines squeaked: ‘No one will know’: Records reveal secret money flowing through Lansing
Secret money flowing through Lansing? No kidding? Give that guy a Pulitzer!
Yet nothing on Nessel. Or her wife. Or Freddy. Not a word. Friends don’t do that kind of thing to each other.
It’s a journalistic crime. Those reporters ought to be charged with manslaughter—for boring their readers to death.
If ever there was a need for a special prosecutor, Nessel is Exhibit A. It’s been 27 months since she received the criminal referral from Jocelyn Benson involving her wife. And not a peep. That’s why they were hiding in the judge’s chambers this week. There’s nothing to see if you’re not allowed to see it.
There is a bright spot in all of this for those who are fans of equal application of the law. The state House Oversight Committee is now in possession of the documents concerning Nessel’s wife and political family members.
Hearings are likely, I’m told.
That’s why I was in the Macomb courthouse holding the sword of justice. I wanted to ask Nessel’s left-hand man if the boss would answer a subpoena from the committee. I also wanted to ask him if he would issue a warrant for Nessel’s arrest if she refused to appear.
I wanted to ask him, but alas, he ran away.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Justice is supposed to be blind, but under Dana Nessel, it’s just plain stupid.
Charlie LeDuff is a reporter educated in public schools. Follow him on X @Charlieleduff.
