By, Michelle Hazekamp
December 29. 2022
Looking Back Before Moving Forward
As we usher in 2023 with exciting new opportunities, let's first look at the bitter challenges and many successes of 2022.
The January 6 Commission Captivates Injustice & Disgrace
The January 6 fake insurrection was still the main focus of the left as they formed their January 6 Commission to perform a one-sided investigation into the events of that day. In July, a spectacle of bad acting was displayed on our televisions for the absurd hearings, while prisoners of January 6 still to this day remain captive under the penalty of injustice. What has been the end result of this clown show is the humiliation and disgrace of our Nation & Constitution.
Did SCOTUS Act UnConstitutionally?
Lockdowns had come to an end and most kids were finally back in school full time, yet the Covid vaccine mandates were still facing us head-on and knocking on our business's doors. Business's with 100 or more employees and health care facilities were soon approaching the deadline to enact full enforcement. Lawsuits agains OSHA and medical facilities were running through the circuit courts until finally it hit the U.S. Supreme Court. On January 12th the Supreme Court of the United States issued opposite "stays," thereby eliminating the mandate for business's, yet to keeping the mandate in place for health care facilities, providing for a grave disappointment in our constitutional process.
How Angry Were We?
Coming out of the Covid-19 lockdowns and mandates, Republican and independent voters were fired up and angry.
We were angry at a Governor who bankrupted "non-essential" small businesses while favoring big box stores and pot shops, who closed schools and muzzled the masses with masks that we knew never worked.
We were angry at an Attorney general who acted as a political weapon against restaurants who tried to stay open, and lawyers challenging election impropriety.
We were angry at a Secretary of State who worked to make elections as vulnerable as possible to impropriety. And we were angry at judges who looked the other way.
But even greater than that the democrats managed to anger the largest voting block in existence: Parents. The irony was utterly lost on school board members, who'd shut down public comments from parents reading excerpts of the outrageous pornographic books offered to their children in school. We were up in arms! The schools are sexually grooming our kids, and they could care less what we think.
With all this going for us how could we lose in 2022?
Failure at our #1 Priority
We aren't going to sugar-coat it. This year will most likely be remembered as the year we tried hard and failed to replace the trinity of tyranny; Governor Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Joslyn Benson.
What's worse is now that Proposition 2 has passed, the election system is legally rigged to favor the Democrats. The game of elections has changed forever and we cannot continue to play by the same rules.
What do We Have to Celebrate?
Take courage; hope is far from lost. These challenges, though difficult, are not insurmountable, because 2022 has given us a lot to celebrate in Muskegon County. We've only made giant strides forward, and momentum is only building.
In actuality, Republicans did better in nearly every demographic group... except one.
Utter Devastation with Prop 3
Young single women came out in droves to pass Prop 3, the most extreme pro-abortion/pro-gender mutilation law on the planet, and codified it into our state constitution. With multimillions in advertising, Prop 3 promotion was ubiquitous. And what about the opposition? Under funded and nearly nonexistent. The vast majority churches? Silent.
The losses statewide weren't disappointing, they weren't even devastating, they were nothing short of catastrophic.
What's worse is that we as a party nominated our most conservative slate in a generation. These candidates weren't the plastic, backstabbing, lesser-of-two-evils we have become accustomed to. They had quality platforms and visions with practical conservative solutions to improve our state.
Meeting John Gibbs
January 8, 2022 John Gibbs showed up on our GOP doorstep, introducing himself as a candidate for the 3rd Congressional District. John Gibbs won our hearts that night, as his honesty, integrity and love for our nation poured out in his speech, and our dedication to his campaign became one of our top priorities. John's opponent, Republican Incumbent, Peter Meijer, proved himself unworthy on multiple occasions, however, most notorious was his vote in favor of red flag gun laws. We helped ignite the "Fire Meijer" campaign and wrote a resolution "disavowing" Peter Meijer, thereby aiding in John Gibbs Primary Election victory on August 8.
Our SOS Champion
When introduced to Kristina Karamo the previous year, she too had our full support from day one. Kristina proved she would be a powerful leader in the battle to take our state back, and her devotion to serving "We the People" and fixing our elections made her a champion to most. Kristina has been the key speaker at many of our events this past year, and always a favorite!
Continued Voices of Hope
Though our state-wide slate didn't win, they continue to be thought leaders who are giving voice to the Republican base that has felt ignored by the party for so long.
I promise the news gets better, it really does, but first let's quickly cover the county commissioner races.
Are We Moving in the Right Direction?
On paper it looks like Republicans had the 5-4 majority rule on the Muskegon County Board of Commissioners 2021-2022. In reality only three of the Republican Commissioners were reliable conservatives, one soft conservative, and one voted with the Democrats. Every. Single. Time.
2022 redistricting meant the commissioner board was reduced by two seats from nine to seven. Since redistricting was controlled by the democrats, three districts leaned Republican and four were solid Democrat. The bright spot is that all three Republican Commissioners are solid conservatives.
Republicans across the country aren't playing on a level playing field, but that doesn't mean we are going to give up and surrender to Leftist tyranny. We must work harder and smarter than ever before. And thankfully, that work has already begun in 2022.
Now for the good news: Our organization is growing and active like never before.
Accomplishments Amongst the Chaos
2022 quickly became busy as we began recruiting grassroots candidates to run for elected offices at ALL levels. School board candidates were especially important in taking over our schools from the liberal indoctrination of sexualizing and transgenderizing our kids and became top priority. "Mama Bears" became a household name both nationally and state-wide, including Muskegon County, and we became the "Party of Parents" as our battle now was focused on the Public School system.
We put a lot of effort into recruiting Precinct Delegates as well, and by the April deadline, we had acquired almost 300 new Delegates. These individuals vote for the Republican leadership on the local, district, and state level, and nominate most of the state-wide candidates.
Total Victory for Grassroots at State Conventions!
Two County and two State Conventions in April and August, gave way to victory for state-level grassroots candidates across the board. In April, over 2,000 Precinct Delegates voted for the grassroots candidates who would be endorsed for the Primary Election in August. Winners were Kristina Karamo for S.O.S., Matt DePerno for A.G., Travis Menge & Mike Ballow for MSU Board of Trustees, Lena Epstein & Savag Vartanian for U of M Board of Regents, & Tami Carlone & Linda Lee Tarver for MI Board of Ed.
Did We Get the Desirable Party Ticket?
The purpose of the August Convention was to nominate those Republicans who won the election at the April Endorsement Convention and get them on the ballot for the November General Election. However, this time, after having a declared victor from our Governor candidates, we also voted for a Lt. Governor pick. Tudor Dixon had won the Primary Election as our Governor candidate who would go up against Whitmer, and her pick for Lt. Governor won the Precinct Delegate votes at the August Nominating Convention. Thanks to so many citizens of Michigan stepping up and becoming Precinct Delegates, we acquired the desired grassroots nominee's for a desirable straight party ticket. Many of us also got to meet Rudy Guliani & Mike Lyndell at the April State Convention!
Electing New Executive Committee Officers
While the first two State and County Conventions gave way to many great memories, at our 3rd Muskegon County Convention in November, we elected our new Executive Committee At the following Executive Committee meeting our new officers were elected. This was bittersweet as we said good bye to our 2 year standing Chair, Zach Lahring, and elected our Vice Chair /Commissioner Malinda Pego as our new County Chair. As a new team of Executive Committee members becomes organized, we will attend another State Convention in February, 2023 to elect new Congressional Distrct Leverl and State Party Leadership.
2020 Election Investigation Results
After almost a year and a half of our own investigations into the 2020 Muskegon County Presidential Election, in May, our Elections Committee turned in a detailed report to publish. This 24 page report noted many discrepancies in our county elections; of those included dead voters and the addition of large numbers in newly registered voters added to our voter roles, and then mysteriously removed in January of 2021. You can read the full election report by clicking here.
Did We Do Enough?
As Campaign season kicked off on Memorial Day, so did our outreach to communities by way of fairs, festivals and parades. The Muskegon County GOP had a presence at every event, promoting our candidates, giving out yard signs and literature. Our GOP float was top notch thanks to the volunteers & candidates who decorated and participated in the parades, Our Outreach Committee worked very hard at preparing for events and having candidates prepared for door knocking by putting together campaign literature bags. We could not have done it with out them!
How did a Victory Turn into Tragedy?
In June, SCOTUS awarded conservative pro-lifers a huge victory when they overturned Roe vs. Wade, giving it back to the states. However, Planned Parenthood went on the defensive here in Michigan and took action by circulating a petition that would get the diabolical Constitutional Amendment, known as Proposal 3, on the November, General Election ballot. Potrayed as solely being about abortion rights, it deceived the masses from a hidden agenda; giving children the ability to obtain an abortion and transgender therapies/surgeries without consent, thereby removing parental rights. The petition received enough signatures to make it on the ballot, and with great sadness & disappointment, it passed in November.
Election Crime Now Becomes Legal!
Proposal 2 was another battle at the ballot as its intentions were to legalize ballot harvesting, removed voter I.D. requirements, and more. After months of working hard to inform as many as we could to the dangers of both Proposal 2 & 3 by way of massive "Vote No" marketing campaigns, social media and door knocking methods, the deception from the left was far greater than we had imagined. However, we will not give up fighting for the right to life and morality, fair elections or our freedoms.
A More Personal Loss
Tragedy struck when we suffered a loss of a dear friend in 2022. Mike Kempf, a beloved member and husband to our Secretary, died from a battle with cancer. Mike will always be remembered in our hearts & memories, as he was a vital member to the GOP family.
Best Year of Events!
We had many successful events throughout 2022. In February, Matt Tewhella, author of "Defy Tyrants," came and educated us on the role our leaders have in defending and protecting us as "magistrates" to we the people. In March we honored the Precinct Delegates to show our gratitude with an "Appreciation" dinner. The Annual Lincoln Day Dinner in May was a big hit with guest speaker, Justin Barclay. July brought us the Summer Patriotic Picnic where a large turn out of curious voters attended to hear from the great line-up of candidate speakers we attained. Candidates such as John Gibbs (3rd Congressional District), John Moolenaar & Tom Norton (2nd Congressional District), Ryan Kelley & Ralph Rebandt (Governor candidates), State Representative candidates Mick Bricker, Andrew Sebolt & Greg VanWoerkom, along with Senator Jon Bumstead and more came to meet their constituents and persuade their vote.
Our annual Freedom RoundUp Fundraiser in September brought us the power-house line up of Kristina Karamo and John Gibbs. A last minute glitch of double booked fundraisers for both threw a wrench into our event when the VanKampen Family had arranged a special fundraiser for Kristina & John, with special guests Donald Trump Jr. & Kellyanne Conway. But thanks to the quick actions of our then Vice Chair, Malinda Pego, we were able to not only secure Kristina & John as our guest speakers, but also were graced with a special appearance from Don Jr. & Kelleyanne Conway themselves! The Freedom Roundup turned out to be a night we will never forget! We had a huge show of constituents, even with it being arranged last minute.
Weapons of Voter Persuasion
The General Election on November 8th brought us much disappointment as our top state candidates lost the Governor, A.G. & S.O.S. races. We have been thrown to the wolves as we face 4 more years of tyranny with the 3 witches of Michigan, Whitmer, Nessel & Benson. We lost many more races that we believed to be sure wins, however, the left perverted the election system once again to favor their desired victory. And although we are not surprised, as nothing has been done to correct the 2020 election, once again the left had a weapon to sway voters to their side. Akin to Whitmer getting elected on the coattails of legalizing marijuana in 2018, their newest weapon was Prop 3. By deceit, manipulation & fear propaganda, they were able to convince the masses of pro-choice & young voters that rights to abortion and health care were at risk for all woman, no exceptions.
The Calm After the Storm
After an exhausting campaign season, our adrenalin levels we were able to return to normal from the chaos and intensity of campaigning and the elections, making our last two events of the year a little more appreciated. In October we all were able to sample delicious homemade chili at our Annual Chilli Cook Off event. Each local candidate was required to make a chili for the competition and for everyone to sample. The Executive Committee was assigned desserts to be auctioned off at the end. Pastor Tim Cross (Whitehall School Board candidate/winner) won first place, Commissioner Doug Brown won 2nd and Precinct Delegate Bill Ryder came in 3rd.
Our Annual Christmas Party closed out the year as we celebrated the birth of Christ and reflected on the blessings we have been given in 2022. Mitch & Ann Derouin received the Pat Camp Volunteer of the Year Award for their tireless efforts and hard work during campaign season.
We Must March Onward!
2022 was quite an emotional roller coaster as we suffered grief, disappointment and victories But our battles continue as long as we face the evil agenda of the left who ignore laws and the Constitution and are set on hurting our children and families with the likes of Prop 3 and the absurd, unconstitutional mandates.
It is for our kids & grandkids that we are here, getting involved, ensuring voters have a conservative choice on the ballot and to be a force that will push back against all that is evil.
The Future of Elections Will Not be the Same
Looking ahead to 2023, there is no longer any such thing as targeting "likely voters". Every vote is attainable, we just need to get out there and use the new rules to increase Republican turn out.
We will partner with willing churches and organizations to register voters and host drop-off boxes.
None of this is possible without building a network of district teams and precinct teams. If you are interested in joining these teams we will train and equip you all the way. Contact us at communications@muskegongop.com
Goodbye 2022! Here we come 2023!
