The Michigan Conservative Coalition was a key organizer of protests in Lansing on Wednesday against the Democratic governor's stay-home order. But it also goes by another name: Michigan Trump Republicans, according to The Washington Post, which cites state corporate filings.
The group’s president, Rosanne Ponkowski, identified herself as a homemaker last year in federal campaign finance records. But its other directors are longtime GOP insiders, state records show. They include Marian Sheridan, the state Republican Party’s vice chair of grass-roots efforts.
Sheridan has “worked in Michigan grass roots for the last 10 years” and started her political career as a tea party leader and organizer, according to the state GOP’s website. Sheridan, Ponkowski and the Michigan Republican Party did not respond to messages from The Post.
The Michigan Conservative Coalition page displays a big logo for "Michigan Trump Republicans" and says the coaltion and "its associated activities like Michigan Trump Republicans, Battle Cry, Women for Trump and more, helped create a large network of grassroots leaders, volunteers and patriots spread across Michigan."
President Donald Trump has publicly supported protesters in Michigan and two other states with Democratic governors who find the stay-home order too restrictive and who are pushing for the economy to reopen as quickly as possibly.
The Post reports that social media accounts indicate part of the goal of protesters in Michigan was to damage Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has appeared frequently on national television during the pandemic and has been mentioned a possible vice presidental candidate. She and Trump have clashed, and on Friday he posted a tweet saying: "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!"
Some people during the Lansing protest waved Trump banners and Confederate flags, and stood close to each other in front of the capitol in violation of social-distancing practices.
A day after the protest, the paper says, the Michigan Trump Republicans posted a conservative opinion writer’s column on its Facebook page. The column, which appeared in The Washington Post, asserted that the protest had all but killed Whitmer’s chances to be vice president. “Mission accomplished?” the group wrote.
Whitmer, hours after the protest, went on MSNBC and declared it nothing more than a political rally.
