Hillsdale Republican politics has produced plenty of arguments over the last few years.

What it has never lacked is paperwork.

That stack got a little thicker Monday.

A Formal Notice of Violations and Demand for Removal of HCREC Officers was submitted August 31 to the Hillsdale County Republican Executive Committee Secretary and officers, with District 5 and Michigan Republican State Committee members copied on the filing.

By now, most Hillsdale County residents know the basic history.

Hillsdale’s Republican precinct-delegate allotment went from:

133 in 2020
100 in 2022
50 in 2024
43 in 2026

District 5 has dealt with it, multiple times.

State Convention has dealt with it, multiple times.

The Policy Committee dealt with it and found the Hillsdale County Party and Executive Committee had acted in bad faith toward members and delegates.

The allotment still dropped again.

Then came the August county convention, followed by the August 22 State Convention, where the Credentials Committee sustained District 5 Chairman Ben Myers’ challenge and denied credentials to the Hillsdale delegation submitted under Brent Leininger’s authority.

So the newest filing asks a considerably simpler question.

What Happens Locally?

Article IV, Section 3 of the HCREC bylaws provides for removal of officers who fail to fulfill the responsibilities of their offices.

The formal demand asks the HCREC to use that provision and determine whether its officers have done so.

It does not ask the committee to decide whether anyone committed a criminal offense. Courts and investigative agencies get that particular headache.

The question before the Republican committee is its own:

Did its officers fulfill the duties required by the HCREC bylaws?

There is one procedural wrinkle.

A precinct delegate is not automatically an HCREC voting member and therefore cannot simply walk into the meeting and make the removal motion.

An eligible HCREC voting member has to do it.

The filing therefore formally asks one of those members to put the question on the floor.

If somebody makes the motion, there will be a decision.

If nobody will make it, there will be no decision, but there will still be a record of why.

And after several years of everyone arguing about who knew what, when they knew it, and what somebody supposedly meant three conventions ago, a written record seems like a remarkably modern invention.

Tonight at 6:00 PM

The HCREC meets today, August 31, at 6:00 PM.

Hillsdale County Republican precinct delegates and residents interested in seeing how the committee handles the filing can attend and observe the proceedings for themselves.

There is not much mystery left in the underlying dispute.

The delegate numbers are known.

The District actions are known.

The Policy Committee action is known.

The State Convention credentials decision is known.

Now the local committee has the written demand in front of it.

Tonight’s question is simply what it chooses to do with it.

Or, perhaps just as importantly, what it chooses not to do.

in liberty,

Marcus Aurelius