Follow the Money: The Grand Rapids Police Officers Association makes sizable campaign contributions for candidates running for City Commission in GR

As we have been documenting in recent years, the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association, the GRPD union, doesn’t shy away from making campaign contributions to candidates that take a very strong pro-police stance.

In 2020, I posted an article looking at how many different local politicians had received funding from the GRPD union up until that point, with campaign contributions ranging from $200 – $5,000.

However, beginning in 2022, the amount of funding that the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association was providing to candidates increased. The increase was no doubt a direct response to the increasing calls to defund the GRPD and hold them more accountable. In the 2022 election cycle, the GRPD union made $10,000 contributions to Drew Robbins, who was running for a seat in the 1st Ward. Robbins won that election because of the campaign contributions from the GRPD union and contributions from members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure.

So far in the 2024 election cycle, the Grand Rapids Police Officer’s Association has made significant contributions to three candidates, according to State Campaign Finance records:

• $15,000 – Michael Maycroft for Sheriff in Ottawa County
• $12,500 – Dean Pacific for 1st Ward Grand Rapids City Commission
• $12,500 – John Krajewski for 3rd Ward Grand Rapids City Commission

These amounts are the largest for local candidates in the history of the Grand Rapids police union. If you are wondering why they did not contribute money to 2nd Ward candidates, it is partly because Mindy Ysasi is running uncontested and because Ysasi considered voting to reduce funding for the GRPD in 2020, even though she has approved the ever growing GRPD budget in each of the years she has served as the 2nd Ward City Commissioner. 

For those who don’t support the GRPD and their continued repression against BIPOC people, immigrants, the poor and political dissidents, you might want to avoid voting for these candidates in 2024.