Rep. Elissa Slotkin is using her family's eastern Michigan farm as a way to show she understands hardworking voters in the Great Lakes state.
Instead, she's reaping a bitter harvest: Holly's estate, 50 miles northwest of Detroit, has become a bone of contention in a hotly contested battleground state Senate race.
Recently, the Democrat exaggerated the size of his farm, telling attendees at a Michigan Farm Bureau forum: “We grow soybeans and corn on about 300 acres. Right now it's a little less than 300 acres.” Slotkin said.
In fact, she owns 10 acres of land.
This is not the first time Slotkin has been accused of farm fraud.
Last week, the Post reported that a Michigan politician had grandfathered in a farm tax exemption for his home. Hot Dog Heir Property taxes are approximately $2,700 per year.
This is despite the fact that the family stopped raising cattle on the land decades ago, the reason for the original exemption.
And despite her assertion that the land is planted with soybeans, there appears to be no evidence that any farming is taking place there.
The land itself is classified as vacant agricultural land, and aerial photographs available from land records show no evidence of agriculture taking place.
The land next to the Slotkins' is owned by Slotkin Holley Associates, Inc. Slotkin and her brother received their home free of charge through a quitclaim deed, but records show neither are affiliated with Slotkin Holley Associates.
Still, Slotkin's campaign argues that the farm is planted with soybeans and that Oakland County officials approved the agricultural zoning.
“Rep. Slotkin's farm has been in her family for three generations since 1956,” Austin Cook, a spokesman for Slotkin's campaign, told The Post in a statement. “When the congresswoman was a young woman, the farm was a cattle ranch. Today, the land is used to grow soybeans, which are currently being planted.”
The politician has claimed over the past few years that he rents land adjacent to his home, but a financial disclosure earlier this month did not list the farm lease among his assets.
Slotkin's questionable agricultural worker status didn't stop her from attacking her opponent as a carpetbagger.
Recently reviewed ads “Error” by PoltiiFact In the 15-second ad, Slotkin attacks her Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, claiming that after leaving Congress, the former congressman “used his ties to Washington, D.C., to leave Michigan and help Chinese tech companies come to the United States.”
However, AT&T, a client of Rogers at the time, confirmed that Rogers was not involved in any projects involving Huawei, as the Chinese company Slotkin had mentioned in its advertisements. Rogers appeared on 60 Minutes Urge companies to oppose deals with Chinese telecommunications companies.
Before being elected to Congress in 2018, Slotkin was an intelligence analyst who served in the CIA, National Security Council, Department of Defense and Department of State. He returned to Michigan in 2017. when she announced her candidacy for the congressional elections.
“She certainly paid property taxes in D.C. for many years,” Rogers said, “and she didn't claim the deduction there. She got the deduction here because of the police and the firefighters and the schools.”
Recent polls show Ms. Slotkin leading Mr. Rogers by at least 10 points.
