THE HILLSDALE CONSERVATIVES
Truth • Liberty • Local Stewardship
Hillsdale County, Michigan • Aug 16, 2026 • 2¢
Apparently, Hillsdale County has discovered a revolutionary new method of grassroots growth.
You shrink the grassroots.
It is elegant, really.
If too many Republicans become involved, you simply reduce the number allowed into the Party structure.
If they continue organizing, reduce it again.
If District leadership objects, ignore them.
If the State Convention acts to remove you, wait it out.
If the Credentials Committee gets involved and removes you, try again next cycle.
If the State Party Policy Committee finally investigates, finds bad faith, and specifically tells you how to correct the problem?
Well… Simply ignore them.
Reduce the delegates again, who can stop you?
Welcome to the Hillsdale County Republican Party, where Republican participation has been growing for nearly a decade while local government officials use their positions to do this.
2020 — 133 precinct delegates
2022 — 100
2024 — 50
2026 — 43
At this rate, by 2030 Hillsdale County Republicans may achieve the perfect Establishment convention:
Brent Leininger, Abe Dane, one folding chair, and nobody left to disagree with them.
The Grassroots Grew. Can’t have that.
Since roughly 2016, something inconvenient has happened in Hillsdale County.
Republicans started acting like Republicans.
People began attending government meetings.
They started reading agendas.
They questioned taxes.
They challenged spending.
They organized around election integrity, property rights, parental rights, limited government, energy policy, constitutional government, and government accountability.
Groups formed.
Citizens who had never considered themselves political activists got involved.
People became precinct delegates.
They started asking why Republican elected officials kept supporting things Republican voters didn’t particularly want.
This should have been fantastic news for a Republican Party.
More participation.
More volunteers.
More precinct delegates.
More organization.
More people willing to work.
Instead, Hillsdale County appears to have adopted a different philosophy:
The more Republicans who show up, the fewer Republican positions we should have.
That is certainly one way to deal with the grassroots.
It is roughly the political equivalent of fixing overcrowding at church by removing pews.
133 → 100 → 50 → 43
Those numbers deserve to be repeated because they explain almost everything.
Hillsdale County Republican precinct-delegate representation has progressively collapsed:
133 in 2020.
Then 100.
Then 50.
Now 43.
This did not happen because Hillsdale suddenly became a Democrat county.
Quite the opposite.
The Republican grassroots continued growing.
Yet the formal mechanism through which those Republicans participate in their Party became progressively smaller.
And precinct delegates aren’t decorative titles handed out with a sticker and a firm handshake.
They constitute the voting base of county conventions.
They help determine county Party leadership.
They participate in filling vacancies.
And they select the people sent to represent Hillsdale County at Michigan Republican conventions.
Fewer available precinct-delegate positions means fewer Republicans can become delegates.
Fewer delegates means a smaller convention electorate.
A smaller convention electorate changes who controls the convention.
And whoever controls the convention determines who gets sent to State Convention.
Funny how that works.
Michigan Law Apparently Didn’t Get the Memo
There is one irritating problem with this ingenious system.
Michigan has laws.
MCL 168.623a governs precinct-delegate allotment.
The Michigan Republican State Committee bylaws also contain their own equal-apportionment requirement in Article XIII(I).
Hillsdale County’s Republican bylaws go still further, expressly stating that the organization exists to perform duties provided by law and operate consistently with duly constituted Republican district, state, and national organizations and conventions.
In other words, there are rules governing this.
Several layers of them.
The credentials challenge now filed for the August 22 State Convention lays them out directly.
Not vaguely.
Not philosophically.
Not in the traditional Establishment dialect of:
“Well, there are many interpretations…”
The challenge identifies the law.
It identifies the bylaws.
It identifies who performs which duty.
It identifies how Hillsdale’s representation was reduced.
And it identifies what that reduction did to the August 13 county convention.
Enter Brent Leininger
Under Michigan law and the State Party bylaws, the county Republican chair has responsibility for the precinct-delegate certification.
That means Brent Leininger, acting as county Republican chairman, isn’t some innocent observer wondering how all these tiny delegate numbers keep appearing every two years.
The certification comes through the county Party chair.
And yet Hillsdale County went:
133 → 100 → 50 → 43.
It is an extraordinary coincidence.
One might begin to suspect there is a pattern.
And Then There Is Abe Dane
The Abe Dane situation is even more interesting, considering he has already confessed to violating multiple election laws “Many Times”.
Dane is not simply a county clerk sitting somewhere behind a government counter receiving mysterious Republican paperwork from strangers.
He also holds a position within the same local Republican organization involved in this dispute.
Meanwhile, in his public capacity, Abe Dane is the Hillsdale County Clerk and therefore occupies a statutory position within the county election machinery.
So we have the unusual situation where one individual occupies a position inside the political organization benefiting from the reduced delegate structure while simultaneously occupying a government office involved in administering elections.
Nothing concerning about that arrangement.
Move along.
No possible reason whatsoever to insist upon strict compliance with every statute and bylaw involved.
Certainly no reason to avoid even the appearance that Party power and Government power are being used together.
Besides, that would require accountability.
And Hillsdale already has far too many Republicans asking for that.
Don’t Worry: The Party Has Already Addressed This.
Several times.
This may be the funniest part.
None of this has been hidden.
Nobody can credibly claim:
“Gee, if only somebody had told us.”
They were told.
Repeatedly.
The Fifth Congressional District acted.
The Michigan Republican State Convention acted.
Previous credentials proceedings dealt with Hillsdale.
The issue went before the Michigan Republican Party Policy Committee.
The Policy Committee reviewed the Hillsdale dispute and concluded that the Hillsdale County Party and its Executive Committee had acted in bad faith toward members and delegates.
That is not our characterization.
That is the State Party’s own committee.
The corrective process specifically addressed Hillsdale’s precinct-delegate allocation and contemplated refusal of credentials at subsequent State Conventions if compliance did not occur.
Finally!
Problem solved.
Surely after District 5 acted, State Convention action occurred, credentials disputes erupted, years of controversy followed, and the Policy Committee specifically addressed delegate allocation, everyone sat down and fixed the problem.
Absolutely.
The delegate allotment went from 50 to 43.
Excellent work, everyone.
Establishment Accountability, Michigan Edition
There appears to be a curious operating principle inside parts of the Michigan Republican establishment:
When grassroots Republicans violate some obscure procedural expectation, there is suddenly an intense appreciation for rules.
Emails fly.
Lawyers appear.
Committees convene.
Bylaws emerge from dusty folders like the tablets from Mount Sinai.
But when the right people violate the rules?
Suddenly everyone becomes a philosopher.
“It’s complicated.”
“There are competing interpretations.”
“We need unity.”
“We don’t want to get involved in county disputes.”
Apparently “unity” now means everyone agreeing not to notice what is happening.
That might be tolerable if this were merely an argument over personalities.
It isn’t.
This determines representation.
August 13: The Convention Where Questions Became Inconvenient
The August 13 Hillsdale County Republican Convention provided another demonstration of the problem.
The convention was recorded.
You can watch it yourself:
Precinct Delegate Lance Lashaway repeatedly attempted to address the delegate process and the issues now contained in the formal credentials challenge.
Those efforts were repeatedly shut down by Brent Leininger and Abe Dane.
Which is unfortunate.
Because conventions are traditionally places where delegates deliberate.
Apparently Hillsdale has upgraded the system.
Delegates may deliberate so long as their deliberations do not interfere with decisions already being made.
Efficiency!
The Fayette Miracle
Then came Fayette Township.
Fayette had an open precinct-delegate position.
Stephen Oleszkowicz wanted it.
He contacted Abe Dane before convention and told him so.
He also personally informed Brent Leininger before convention began.
Simple enough.
Republican.
Lives in the precinct.
Wants to serve.
Actually showed up.
You would think this would be exactly the kind of person a grassroots Republican Party wants.
Apparently not.
When the vacancy process occurred, his name wasn’t presented.
Instead, another individual was selected.
She wasn’t there.
According to Oleszkowicz’s signed statement, she subsequently indicated that she didn’t even know she had been nominated or elected.
This is a remarkable innovation in grassroots participation:
You don’t even have to know you’re participating.
Meanwhile, the Republican who actually asked to participate?
Sorry.
No room.
Perhaps someday scientists will understand this sophisticated delegate-recruitment methodology.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party Keeps Asking Where the Grassroots Went
This is the part that would be hilarious if it were not so destructive.
Across the country, Republican organizations spend enormous amounts of time discussing:
- grassroots engagement,
- precinct recruitment,
- volunteer development,
- voter turnout,
- local organization,
- candidate recruitment,
- and building the Party from the bottom up.
Hillsdale has those people.
They already showed up.
They organized themselves.
They became involved.
They filled meetings.
They built groups.
They challenged government.
They ran for precinct delegate.
And somehow the institutional response has repeatedly been to make fewer places for them.
Then political leadership wonders why ordinary Republicans believe the system is controlled by insiders.
It’s one of history’s great mysteries.
The Credentials Challenge
Following the August 13 convention, a formal challenge was prepared and submitted concerning Hillsdale County’s representation at the August 22, 2026 Michigan Republican State Convention.
The challenge does something political establishments tend to dislike:
It puts everything in one place.
The statutes.
The State Party bylaws.
The Hillsdale bylaws.
The delegate history.
The District 5 action.
The State Convention history.
The Policy Committee action.
The convention video.
The Fayette witness statement.
The lawful Hillsdale delegation.
And the direct explanation of how artificially restricting the precinct-delegate base altered the electorate that selected the challenged State Convention delegation.
Copies have also been sent to Republican county chairs throughout Michigan and to the Credentials Committee.
Because Hillsdale should no longer be treated as some obscure local feud everyone else can conveniently ignore.
The principle affects every county.
If a delegate base can simply be reduced until the politically preferred group controls the convention, then precinct delegates aren’t really choosing Party leadership.
The size of the electorate is choosing it.
And whoever controls that number controls the game before the first ballot is cast.
But Please, Tell Us More About “Democracy”
Republicans correctly complain when Democrats manipulate political systems to preserve power.
Gerrymandering.
Ballot rules.
Administrative maneuvering.
Government bureaucracy.
Unelected officials controlling outcomes.
But principles become rather embarrassing things if we only believe in them when Democrats violate them.
If equal representation matters, it matters in Hillsdale County.
If election law matters, it matters when Republicans are administering elections.
If bylaws matter, they matter when enforcement is inconvenient.
If grassroots representation matters, it matters even when the grassroots elect people the Establishment doesn’t like.
Otherwise we don’t have principles.
We have slogans.
State Committee Has a Choice
At this point the Michigan Republican State Committee cannot credibly claim ignorance.
District 5 acted.
State Convention action occurred.
Credentials bodies have dealt with Hillsdale.
The Policy Committee investigated.
Corrective measures were contemplated.
The dispute continued.
Representation shrank again.
The August 13 convention produced another contested delegation.
And now the entire history has been placed directly before the Credentials Committee.
Doing nothing is no longer neutral.
Credentialing the product of the same process simply gives that process another two years of life.
And two years from now perhaps we’ll discover the next exciting chapter:
43 → 27.
Then 14.
Then seven.
Eventually Hillsdale County Republican Convention can be held comfortably inside a Buick.
Very efficient.
Restore the Republicans to the Republican Party
Hillsdale Republicans aren’t asking for extra representation.
They aren’t asking for special privileges.
They aren’t asking State Party leadership to manufacture delegates.
They are asking for something considerably more radical:
Follow the law.
Follow the State Party bylaws.
Follow the County Party bylaws.
Respect the actions already taken by Republican bodies.
Allow Hillsdale County Republicans their lawful representation.
That shouldn’t be controversial inside the Republican Party.
Yet somehow here we are.
The grassroots did exactly what Republicans have spent years asking citizens to do.
They showed up.
They organized.
They got involved.
They ran.
They challenged their government.
They challenged their Party.
They refused to leave.
Perhaps that is the real problem.
Because you can manage apathy.
You can manage disengagement.
You can manage people who never read the rules.
What becomes considerably harder to manage is a county full of Republicans who finally do.
Read the Record Yourself
The documents accompanying this article include the formal Hillsdale County Credentials Challenge, the applicable laws and Party bylaws, prior District and State Party actions, the Fayette Township witness statement, and the lawful Hillsdale delegation submitted for the August 22 State Convention.
The August 13 county convention can be watched here:
Don’t take anyone’s word for it.
Read the documents.
Watch the convention.
Compare the delegate numbers.
Read the statutes.
Read the bylaws.
Then decide whether:
133 → 100 → 50 → 43
looks like Republican grassroots growth—
or a political establishment progressively making sure there is less grassroots left to govern.
in liberty,
Sameul Adams
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