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Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield
The polls have consistently shown Detroit City Council Mary Sheffield as the front runner in the race for mayor. And so it goes, that front runners often come under more scrutiny from the media and opponents.
Detroit Free Press investigative columnist M.L. Elrick reports that a recent campaign email from the Sheffield camp was not true.
He writes that a campaign email sent out on June 16, right after the WDIV mayoral debate, was misleading at best. It said the city council president is "not backed by billionaires or corporate PACs. It's not true."
He notes that campaign donations have come from wealthy mortgage mogul Dan Gilbert and the very well-heeled Moroun family. There's also campaign contributions from other wealthy people, Elrick notes.
In 2023, two months after creating a mayoral committee, Gilbert's Rock Holdings State PAC donated $13,000 to Sheffield's campaign.
He goes on to write:
Then there were the max contributions Matthew and Lindsay Moroun made in 2023, three months after Sheffield created her mayoral campaign committee. They each gave $8,325, which is the most an individual can give to a mayoral candidate. Over the years, the Morouns and their late patriarch, Matty, have made nearly $24,000 in direct contributions to Sheffield's campaigns.
He goes on to write:
Sheffield declined to discuss the campaign email with me last week, referring me to campaign spokeswoman Antonice Strickland. She attributed the error in the email to an overly enthusiastic staff member "using standard campaign language ... from previous fundraising campaigns."
