How Much Did Plymouth Twp. Supervisor Candidates Spend?

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, MI — The two Republican candidates for Plymouth Township supervisor spent nearly $115,000 on their Aug. 2 primary campaigns, according to campaign finance reports.

Kurt Heise, whose name didn’t appear on the ballot due to a filing error but won the primary as a write-in candidate, spent $54,856.79, according to the most recent reports, and his opponent, incumbent Shannon Price, spent $59,963.28.

There is no Democratic candidate in Republican-leaning Plymouth Township, so Heise will take over the top elected position barring a write-in candidacy like his own. Heise is a term-limited member of the Michigan House of Representatives who is finishing his third term.

Heise told The Plymouth Observer the expenditures were necessary to get his name out since it wouldn’t appear on the primary ballot after the Michigan Court of Appeals removed it for the oversight on his candidacy papers.

“Funding for the campaign was necessary in order to both convey my political objectives to the public and also to educate the public on the write-in campaign effort,” Heise told the newspaper.

Price said he was happy that his campaign committee, the Committee to Elect Shannon Price, ended debt-free

“I was proud of how much I raised,” said Price, who was appointed supervisor in 2015 to fill a vacancy. “We worked really hard and I got a lot of support.”

Heise won the race with 57 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Price.

The actual amount spent on the campaign may have been much greater due to spending by independent groups, the newspaper said.

» For more on this, go to hometownlife.com.

Images: Kurt Heise, left, via Michigan House of Representatives, and Shannon Price via Plymouth Township