Complaints
could’ve hoped for today,” he said. “They’ve got all the evidence they need. It’s pretty clear that there were violations here just like there were for Marrocco.”
Brewer was making reference to former county Public Works director Anthony Marrocco who was fined $125 by the board several years ago under a similar allegation. Morocco filmed a campaign video at a county facility, the Chapaton Pump Station in St. Clair Shores.
Attorney Todd Perkins, representing Lucido, said after the meeting he believes the board should have dismissed the complaints outright but said is confident Lucido will prevail under due process.
“I believe it should have been dismissed summarily,” he said. “I’m not disappointed. I have faith in the process. I feel confident that they’re going to make the right decision in this matter.”
The meeting was held in a conference room in the county Administration Building in Mount Clemens.
Chair Dorie Vazquez-Nolan abstained from voting because she said she has a conflict of interest as the Prosecutor’s Office has a “statutory” seat on the board of Care House in Mount Clemens and Warren, of which she is the executive director.
Another seat on the five-member Ethics Board is vacant due to the March 12 resignation of Ann Rescoe. The county Board of Commissioners is expected to approve appointing Linda Smith to the post at its meeting Thursday.
In his complaint, Brewer says in 2021 Lucido allowed then-candidate for Sterling Heights City Council, Paul Manni, to use “county property, buildings or offices to create photographs for political campaign purposes.” Lucido’s alleged actions violate the “general standards of conduct” section of the ordinance, Brewer added.
In two pieces of campaign
literature, Lucido endorses Manni and is shown in photographs with Manni in Lucido’s office. Lucido also provides a quote in support of Manni’s council campaign that year.
Lucido denies wrongdoing in connection with both complaints.
He says he was unaware Manni would be using the photos for campaign purposes, and Perkins says the photo of Lucido at his desk in his office also was not taken for campaign purposes. Lucido’s daughter took the photo, he says.
Perkins in his written response also provides numerous examples of several county elected officials, including multiple county commissioners, using photos of themselves in county offices on their campaign web site or Facebook
page. He includes copies of the photos in the response.
“Mere photos of elected officials in or around the county buildings do not violate the Ethics Ordinance,” Perkins says in a written response. “The outlined instances of media platform usage by various County Commissioners have served to contextualize Prosecutor Lucido’s actions, emphasizing their alignment with prevailing norms.”
He also accuses Brewer of filing the complaints “to create publicity to smear Lucido,” noting Brewer supports Chiristina Hines, a Democrat who is seeking to run against Lucido in his re-election bid this year. He described Brewer’s complaints as “politically motivated conduct and partisan bias.”
He also attacks Brewer’s unsuccessful record in filing five campaign-finance complaints with the Bureau of Elections with the Michigan Secretary of State last year, “raising questions about the credibility and substantiveness of his claims in the realm of campaign finance violations.”
“This pattern suggests a possible agenda-driven approach rather than a genuine commitment to upholding ethical standards,” Perkins wrote.
Perkins also has pointed out that under Brewer’s leadership, the state Democratic Party was fined $500,000 for bingo games
that were run from 1995 to 2013.
Brewer declined to respond to the allegations, calling them a “distraction” from the merits of his claims.
He said he would file similar complaints for potentially similar violations against Democratic candidates if made aware of them and they clearly were in violation.
The board has 60 to 90 days to complete its investigation before deciding whether the complaint should move forward to a hearing.
The board also met in closed session for nearly one hour with Corporation Counsel John Schapka.
In a separate but related matter, Brewer filed a multi-pronged complaint against Lucido with the state Bureau of Elections for alleged similar acts: using a county email to send a newsletter to county employees at their county email addresses that includes a heading with a link to his campaign web site, distributing campaign items — a tote bag with his campaign web site address printed on it — at a county-sponsored senior event last fall and using county employees and resources for personal and campaign activities, including a former intern who quit because she said she was performing campaign work in the office.
State officials are reviewing the complaint.