{"id":725679,"date":"2021-09-07T05:05:51","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T09:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=725679"},"modified":"2021-09-07T05:05:53","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T09:05:53","slug":"independent-michigan-redistricting-commissioner-donated-to-left-wing-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/independent-michigan-redistricting-commissioner-donated-to-left-wing-causes\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Independent\u2019 Michigan Redistricting Commissioner Donated to Left-Wing Causes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Findependent-michigan-redistricting-commissioner-donated-to-left-wing-causes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=725679&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"30.704347826087\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><a class href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/\">Elections<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">Liberal partisans hold at least 40 percent of &#8216;independent&#8217; slots on body that will redraw Michigan&#8217;s political map<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Rebbeca_Szetela_730056_7_736x514-1.jpg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Rebbeca_Szetela_730056_7_736x514-1.jpg 736w, https:\/\/s3.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/09\/Rebbeca_Szetela_730056_7_736x514-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/s3.freebeacon.com\/up\/2021\/09\/Rebbeca_Szetela_730056_7_736x514-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tCommissioner Rebecca Szetela \/ Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/collin-anderson\/\" title=\"Posts by Collin Anderson\" class=\"author url fn text-red-700\" rel=\"author\">Collin Anderson<\/a> \u2022 September 7, 2021 4:58 am<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"122.96191910499\">\n<p>A self-described &#8220;independent&#8221; commissioner tasked with redrawing Michigan&#8217;s political districts donated to left-wing causes and spoke at a local &#8220;progressive Democratic&#8221; group&#8217;s general meeting.<\/p>\n<p>Attorney Rebecca Szetela, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.michigan.gov\/documents\/sos\/Candidate_1_694359_7.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">applied<\/a>&nbsp;in Oct. 2019 to serve on the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission as an independent, has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/receipts\/individual-contributions\/?contributor_name=rebecca+Kesler&amp;contributor_state=MI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contributed<\/a> at least $225 to EMILY&#8217;s List, a powerful pro-abortion group that spends millions of dollars to elect Democratic candidates. Szetela also contributed to liberal candidates and causes at the state level, including multiple donations to the Southwestern Wayne Democratic Club and one to former Washington governor Christine Gregoire (D.).<\/p>\n<p>Szetela in May also <a href=\"https:\/\/us13.campaign-archive.com\/?u=ec22ea86a5d5d1f88a52364ba&amp;id=b6e97727f2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">addressed<\/a> the Progressive Democratic Women&#8217;s Caucus of Muskegon County, a group that works to &#8220;ensure that Progressive Democrats are elected to county, state, and federal offices in the upcoming elections.&#8221; While Szetela stated on her application that she does not &#8220;affiliate with either the Republican or Democratic Party,&#8221; she declined to answer a follow-up question asking &#8220;why you don&#8217;t affiliate with either&#8221; party.<\/p>\n<p>Independents are supposed to serve the largest single bloc on Michigan&#8217;s redistricting body, holding 5 of its 13 seats; 40 percent of those coveted positions, however, may be held by partisans. Like Szetela, 29-year-old medical student Anthony Eid publicly backed Democrats and liberal causes before applying to the board as an independent. He said he was &#8220;proud to live in a state that voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary&#8221; in 2016 and endorsed then-Minnesota congressman Keith Ellison for Democratic National Committee chairman, the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/independent-michigan-redistricting-commissioner-actually-bernie-bro\/\">reported<\/a> in August.<\/p>\n<p>Both Szetela and Eid now play a crucial role in Michigan&#8217;s redistricting process, which will reshape the state&#8217;s political landscape for the next decade. To enact a new map, two independent members must vote for it, meaning Szetela and Eid could align with their Democratic colleagues to fulfill the quota. Eid in May acknowledged that commission applicants merely had to &#8220;self-identify&#8221; their partisan affiliation but said he did &#8220;not think anyone who was selected misrepresented themselves.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission did not return a request for comment. The commission told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> in August that it did not vet candidates.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Szetela&#8217;s political contributions, which were made under her maiden name, Szetela&#8217;s husband <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/receipts\/individual-contributions\/?contributor_name=tim+szetela\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">donated<\/a> to Sen. Bernie Sanders&#8217;s (I., Vt.) Democratic presidential campaign on three occasions in 2016 and again in 2019. Szetela&#8217;s husband also <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20190708210534\/http:\/\/bellevilleareaindependent.com\/vbt-recount-affirms-combs-still-tops-for-supervisor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ran<\/a> unsuccessfully in the 2012 Democratic primary for a local supervisor role. Prospective commissioners are deemed ineligible if their spouses ran &#8220;for partisan election office in federal, state, or local office&#8221; at any time since Aug. 15, 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan voters transferred redistricting powers from the state legislature to the commission through a 2018 ballot initiative, which came as Republicans held control of both chambers of the state legislature.<\/p>\n<p>More than 9,300 Michiganders applied to serve on the commission, which consists of four Democrats, four Republicans, and five independents. The state then hired an outside firm to randomly select 200 semifinalists. Leaders in the state legislature were allowed to remove just 20 applicants. The commission&#8217;s final 13 members were also randomly selected.<\/p>\n<p>While the Michigan group behind the ballot initiative, Voters Not Politicians, calls itself a &#8220;nonpartisan grassroots organization,&#8221; it received $250,000 from the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a direct affiliate of the Democratic Party that is chaired by former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder.<\/p>\n<p>Voters Not Politicians executive director Nancy Wang defended the group&#8217;s decision to accept the contribution, saying, &#8220;We were pleased to accept funding from any group that supported our nonpartisan solution to end gerrymandering.&#8221; Wang also said, &#8220;The fact that you are asking about certain commissioners&#8217; backgrounds is a testament to the transparency of the voter-approved redistricting process.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We believe the commission is doing a far better job already, just by meeting in public and accepting public input on communities of interest, than the past practice of politicians gerrymandering lines in secret to give themselves an unfair partisan advantage,&#8221; Wang said in a statement. &#8220;We will continue to monitor the commission closely to see that it lives up to the amendment&#8217;s words and spirit.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elections Liberal partisans hold at least 40 percent of &#8216;independent&#8217; slots on body that will redraw Michigan&#8217;s political map  Commissioner Rebecca Szetela \/ Michigan Independent Citizens &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-725679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}