ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL

The takeover by the “MAGA” wing of the Michigan Republican party is being blamed by many in the party on state GOP co-chair Ron Weiser, a wealthy Ann Arbor real estate owner, former Ambassador to Slovakia under President George W. Bush and University of Michigan regent. This is Weiser’s third gig as party chair, but it seems he is not currently as focused on matters at hand, more concentrated on health issues and a new girlfriend after getting divorced, letting co-chair Meshawn Maddock (wife of renegade state House member Matt “Mad Dog” Maddock (R-Milford), a rabid Trump devotee, run with it. Even staunch Republican Detroit News editorialist Nolan Finley wrote after the state convention, “The view among convention delegates was that he’s checked out, focusing instead on changes in his personal life and no longer actively directing the party. That leaves Maddock with free rein to run things, and she seems intent on running them into the ground.” “A lot of people are pissed with Weiser because he’s not focused and he’s just letting Meshawn run with it,” said one insider, noting that voting at the convention “was just messed up and wrong. A lot of cheating was going on.”  As one party stalwart observed: “That’s what you get when you elect a millionaire, aloof chairman who spends more time out of the state” than in the state.