Calls target Julie Vandenboom

Caller requested residents pledge to vote for anyone else

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1 — Some Lansing residents received phone calls over the weekend with an unusual request: Vote for someone other than Julie Vandenboom in the at-large Lansing City Council race.

Vandenboom said she was out knocking on doors Saturday when she started getting messages  from people who had been called. They told her the calls had come from political nonprofit Michigan Vindicated and told residents she was a socialist who was anti-development and wanted to give taxpayer money away to homeless people.

Recipients said the calls were from a real person, not robocalls. 

One of the people to reach out to Vandenboom was 4th Ward candidate Heath Lowry, who received one such call.

“The person said they were calling from Michigan Vindicated and went through just talking about Julie, calling her a socialist and saying that she wants to give away our tax money and that hardworking families deserve someone else,” Lowry said. “They asked if I would pledge to vote for anyone other than Julie.”

City Pulse was unable to confirm if Michigan Vindicated facilitated the calls.

If so, though, it was not the first time dark money has become involved in this year’s race. Michigan Vindicated funded a mailer targeting at-large candidate Aurelius Christian in June. The mailer accused Christian of mismanaging the Ingham County Health Centers’ budget during his time on its board of directors. 

Michigan Vindicated was established by Lansing-based attorney Reid Felsing, who was appointed as an Eaton County District judge last year. He said in June that his former law firm, now Nova Law PLC, serves as the group’s registered agent. But because 501(c)(4) nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors, it’s impossible to know who actually gave Michigan Vindicated the money for these campaigns.

Vandenboom said her campaign’s affiliation with the Greater Lansing Democratic Socialists of America is no secret: She is endorsed by the Greater Lansing DSA and says as much on her mailers, and is a paying member. She also said “developers have done a lot for the city of Lansing” but that she had refused to take money from developers and wanted to “hold them accountable.” She is the only at-large candidate out of four not endorsed by the Greater Lansing Chamber of Commerce’s PAC.

Commenters on Facebook and Reddit who say they were called have mostly taken the opportunity to criticize dark money and support Vandenboom. A post on the r/lansing subreddit from a user said receiving the call “makes me want to vote for only her and search the couch cushions to find money to send to her campaign.” The post had garnered 88 “upvotes,” a sign of support.

Vandenboom said the calls are not the only campaign-related attack she has dealt with recently. She also received a “campaign-related death threat” recently and filed a police report.

“You wonder why people don’t want to run for office,” she said wryly.

Lowry said the calls are “insulting to the voter.”

“Voters should have the ability to look into candidates on their own,” he said. Referring to whoever paid for the calls, he added, “It’s almost cowardly to hide behind the 501(c)(4) title where you don’t know where the money’s coming from.”

Vandenboom said the calls are “a sign that someone is worried I have an actual chance at getting the seat” She said she does not think they will damage her election chances.

“When these calls went out, I had an influx of new Facebook followers and I got a lot of donations,” she said. “Some of the people specifically said, ‘Hey, I got this phone call about you, and it moved me to check you out, and now I’m going to be voting for you.’

“I think they did me a favor, honestly.”