Republican fundraiser gets probation, fine after Attorney General's campaign donor probe
Lansing — An Ingham County judge has sentenced Republican political fundraiser Sandra Baxter to three months of probation and a $2,500 fine, after she pleaded guilty to misleading law enforcement officials as they investigated the flow of nonprofit money to the Unlock Michigan petition campaign.
Attorney General Dana Nessel's office announced the sentencing decision by Judge James Jamo in a press release on Wednesday.
In June, Baxter signed a plea agreement and acknowledged, during an appearance in Ingham County Circuit Court, that she had provided investigators faulty information.
Nessel's office had been probing the movement, in 2020, of more than $2 million in cash from nonprofit organizations that didn't have to disclose their donors' names to Unlock Michigan, which did have to report its contributors to the public. The Unlock campaign committee was gathering petitions for a proposal to reduce Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic. By moving the money through nonprofits, the original donors' names were concealed.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/14/republican-fundraiser-fine-probation-nessel-unlock-michigan-investigation-whitmer-covid-lockdown/85659472007/