The Albion man who recently filed his sixth recall petition against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, told the Michigan Advance the effort is more focused on trying to get his driver’s license reinstated than it is about actually gathering signatures and following through with the petition process.
Chad E. Baase, 43, filed the petition on Jan. 2 with the Board of State Canvassers (BSC) in which he claims that Whitmer has “Budgeted funding for Law Enforcement throughout Michigan that enforce Michigan Statutes that have similarities to Slave Licensing, Black Codes, and Jim Crow Laws without adequate safeguards to prevent from discrimination against low income individuals and communities echoing the behavior of slave traders against those of color.”
In a text exchange with the Michigan Advance, Baase says this latest attempt concerns the loss of his driver’s license based on past convictions for driving while intoxicated or impaired, including a 2018 prison sentence after a third conviction for operating while intoxicated.
Recall petitions filed against 5 Democratic, 1 Republican House members
“Personally I’ve been denied the ability to get a higher education due to no public transportation over the past 20 years in Albion,” said Baase. “I’ve been denied employment opportunities. I’ve been denied access to medical appointments because there is no public transportation.”
Baase unsuccessfully ran for the state House as a Republican in 2020. He also served 30 months in prison following a 2014 conviction for making a false report or threat of terrorism during a child custody dispute with his ex-wife, when he told a Calhoun County commissioner he would kill 10,000 people by poisoning the water. Baase said he was intoxicated when he sent the messages and never had any intent to carry them out.
Baase’s latest petition, which will be reviewed by the BSC at its next meeting Friday in Lansing, is based on his belief that the state’s current system of licensing for drivers is comparable to systems of oppression used in the slavery era in which humans were held in bondage, while being legally murdered, raped and sold as property.
“The major similarities between slave licenses is that the executive branch wielding judicial powers where they have a vested interest in the outcome of the hearing,” wrote Baase in a message exchange with the Advance. “The burden of proof is put on the licensee in violation of due process. Limited appeal rights. Lack of a judicial review process. And the executive branch wielding legislative powers to create policy and procedures with limited legislative oversight.”
When asked why he wasn’t pursuing his claim in the court system where it might more properly belong, Baase admitted he would be unlikely to prevail and thus is using the petition process instead.
“With Michigan still practicing slavery it needs [to be] addressed,” he responded. “While the United States district court would be the best venue, Michigan attorneys have a vested financial interest in keeping the laws the same for their personal profit. Likewise, financially I’m prohibited access to the courts as I’m unable to afford legal counsel. If I was to proceed I couldn’t make it past summary judgment, leaving many in Michigan still vulnerable.”
According to records with the Michigan Secretary of State, this latest petition is the sixth filed against Whitmer, along with six against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, two against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and one against Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. All are Democrats.
While most were rejected, of those that were approved, none have ever been turned in with signatures, including one seeking Whitmer’s recall that was approved by the BSC on June 8, 2020, but which later collapsed after approximately $2,000 in campaign funds went missing.
As the Michigan Campaign Finance Network reported at the time, a volunteer with the campaign alleged Baase spent the money on a gambling addiction, while Baase claimed it had been stolen by a girlfriend whose last name he didn’t know.
Whitmer raised more than $3 million to fight the recall effort during her first term. Her Fight Like Hell PAC sent out a fundraising text last week after Baase’s latest recall attempt was filed.
Baase says he only plans to submit this latest petition for signatures if there’s enough public interest. However, he said if he decided to do so, he’d seek help from groups such as Stand Up Michigan and Restore Freedom, both far-right organizations that were created to oppose Whitmer’s COVID-19 actions.
Many of the previous petitions filed by Baase also targeted the governor’s powers to combat the public health crisis that has resulted in the deaths of more than 43,000 Michiganders.
Chris Trebilcock, an attorney for the Gretchen Whitmer for Governor campaign, previously told the Advance that Baase’s recall effort was “another extreme, bad-faith attempt to roll back the progress Governor Whitmer has made in Michigan.”
Baase vows this latest effort is just the start of what he expects will be a sustained campaign against the state’s top Democrats.
“The next 2 years of the Whitmer, Benson and Nessel administration will be plagued with recall language hearings until all 3 are approved consecutively,” he said. “I will also be recruiting others to submit recall language focusing on the similarities of slavery and slave courts even after my language is ultimately approved. If Michigan didn’t recognize slavery still exist[ed], the Michigan senate republican [sic] members would not be proposing a constitutional amendment to be voted on to remove, except for punishment of a crime from the slavery and involuntary servitude clause.”
Baase says he has also been reaching out to the United Nations for help with what he believes are “the human rights violations existent in Michigan,” and that now that he has his passport he intends to “bring the United States slavery practices to light of the world.”
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