News · Press Release

Questions Tom Barrett Must Answer After Politico Reporting Uncovered Barrett Paid $50,000+ in Campaign Cash To Companies His Wife Works For

New reporting from Politico uncovered that Tom Barrett’s campaign funneled nearly $56,000 in campaign cash to companies that his wife works for and received money from one of the companies’ PACs for the first time ever – all after she came on board.

Tom Barrett’s actions raise serious ethical concerns and Michiganders deserve answers to the below questions:

  1. Did your wife personally profit – and thus did you and your household profit – from any income thanks to your campaign’s payments to Butzel Long? 
  2. Did your wife personally profit – and thus did you and your household profit – from any income thanks to your campaign’s payments to Aristotle? 
  3. Did you pay Butzel Long a fair market rate for legal services, or did your campaign receive a favorable hourly rate as a result of your wife’s employment at the firm?  
  4. Did your wife have any decision making role in the Butzel Long PAC’s political contributions? Did she encourage her employer’s PAC to donate to your campaign – as they had not before she came on board the firm? 

DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Tom Barrett directed nearly $56,000 in campaign cash to companies his wife works for, all after she was hired. Michiganders are sick and tired of this kind of slimy inside dealing and Barrett’s actions raise serious ethical questions: did Barrett personally profit from these payments, and what exactly did he know?” 

Read more:
Michigan Advance: GOP Rep. Barrett scrutinized over payments to firms employing spouse

  • The Michigan Democratic Party and the campaign arm for U.S. House Democrats is slamming U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett following a report that Barrett’s campaign and joint fundraising committee paid nearly $56 thousand to firms where his wife was employed as a campaign finance lawyer.
  • First reported by Politico, the Charlotte Republican and his joint fundraising committee – Barrett Brigade Victory Fund – first paid the law firm Butzel Long for legal services on Aug. 7, 2023, with campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission showing he paid $31,000 for legal services over the course of the campaign.
  • Ashley Barrett was hired as counsel at the firm on May 2, 2023.
  • The firm also contributed more than $13,000 to Tom Barrett’s campaign and the Barrett Brigade Victory Fund between August 5 and Oct. 16 2024, despite not donating to Barrett in the 2022 campaign cycle, where he unsuccessfully challenged then-U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly). 
  • Barrett’s disbursements to Aristotle International, a political software firm also sharply increased during the 2023-2024 campaign cycle, more than tripling between Oct. 28, 2022, and the campaign’s next disbursement on Aug. 7, 2023… Aristotle International announced that it had hired Ashley Barrett as a compliance attorney for the platform on Feb. 28, 2023.
Politico Influence: ALL IN THE FAMILY: Rep. Tom Barrett’s (R-Mich.) campaign and affiliated committees have paid two firms his wife works for more than $50,000 for political work over the last two cycles, Morning Score reports.

  • Barrett hadn’t paid the Butzel Long law firm before his wife Ashley Barrett, a campaign finance lawyer, was hired there in May 2023. Butzel Long, which hadn’t donated to Barrett in an earlier cycle, also donated $13,300 to Barrett’s campaign and joint fundraising committee in 2024. In the other case, Barrett’s campaign doubled its payments to top political software firm Aristotle International after it hired his wife in 2023, according to a review of FEC records.
  • Ashley Barrett and Butzel Long had no comment. A spokesperson for Aristotle referred a request for comment to the Barrett campaign.

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