LANSING – The Michigan Attorney General’s office has been successful in its pursuit of the bad actors of the 2020 and 2024 election schemes.
Recently, Sandra Baxter, 65, of Caledonia, was sentenced to three months of reporting probation, 20 hours of community service, and a $2,500 fine — the maximum allowed — for knowingly providing a false statement during the Unlock Michigan campaign finance investigation, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.
Baxter pleaded guilty in June to one count of knowingly and willfully providing a false or misleading statement to a peace officer regarding a material fact in a criminal investigation. She was initially charged in February with perjury.
“For too long, dark money has operated in the shadows of Lansing with little accountability,” Nessel said. “The Unlock Michigan investigation shed light on corruption in campaign finance that was long considered common practice. Fair elections depend on transparency and honesty, and attempts to skirt the system or mislead law enforcement and the people of Michigan will not be tolerated.”
The case began when Robert LaBrant filed a complaint with the Michigan Department of State in May 2021, alleging a “dark money scheme” to use the nonprofit Michigan! My Michigan! to fund the Unlock Michigan ballot initiative in violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act. The complaint was referred to the attorney general’s office in June 2022.
Baxter, a fundraising consultant for Michigan! My Michigan!, admitted that during a sworn interview with investigators in March 2023, she made false statements about a material fact in the investigation.
Burkman, Wohl plead no contest in voter suppression scheme
Also on Wednesday, Nessel announced that John Burkman, 59, of Arlington, Virginia, and Jacob Wohl, 27, of Fairfax, Virginia, pleaded no contest to multiple felonies for orchestrating robocalls designed to intimidate and mislead Detroit voters ahead of the 2020 general election.
They pleaded to:
One count of election law – bribing/intimidating voters, a five-year felony.
One count of conspiracy to commit an election law violation, a five-year felony.
One count of using a computer to commit the crime of election law – intimidating voters, a seven-year felony.
One count of using a computer to commit conspiracy, a seven-year felony.
“Deceptive and racially targeted suppression schemes will not be tolerated in Michigan,” Nessel said. “My office will continue to pursue and prosecute voter intimidation, no matter how long it takes, to ensure that Michiganders can exercise their right to vote free from fear and deception.”
The late August 2020 robocalls, which went to nearly 12,000 Detroit residents, falsely claimed voting by mail could lead to arrest over outstanding warrants, debt collection, or mandatory vaccinations. The calls identified Burkman and Wohl as founders of “Project 1599” and urged recipients not to “be finessed into giving your private information to the man.”
The case withstood multiple appeals, including challenges in the Michigan Court of Appeals and Michigan Supreme Court, both of which upheld the state’s right to prosecute the conduct as alleged.
Burkman and Wohl are scheduled for sentencing Dec. 1 before Judge Margaret VanHouten in Wayne County Circuit Court.
