Macomb Prosecutor Lucido accused of ethics violation for photo with election fraudster

A county ethics board will soon review a complaint that alleges Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido violated a local election law by using his county property to promote a Republican candidate who was later charged with forging signatures on absentee ballot applications.

Mark Brewer, the former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, claims Lucido, a Trump-supporting Republican, used his office to pose for a photograph that was used by Paul Manni in campaign mailers when he was running for a seat on the Sterling Heights City Council in 2021.

In two campaign mailers, Lucido endorsed Manni, and the two are photographed together in Lucido’s office.

Manni lost the race and was later charged with nine felony counts of forging a signature on an absentee ballot and nine misdemeanor counts of making a false statement on an absentee ballot application.

The Sterling Heights clerk became suspicious after Manni dropped off about 50 absentee ballot applications with his signature. Nine of the voters reached by the clerk’s office said they were not seeking an absentee ballot.

The clerk reported the suspected fraud to the Michigan Bureau of Elections, which investigated and referred the case to the Attorney General’s Office.

As part of a plea agreement, the nine felonies and six of the misdemeanors were dismissed, and he was ordered to pay $1,500 in fines during his sentencing in December 2023. Macomb County Circuit Judge Edward Servitto Jr. did not sentence Manni to jail.

Records show that Manni donated $1,500 to Lucido’s campaign in each 2020 and 2021.

In response to the ethics complaint, Lucido’s office provided Metro Times with a sworn affidavit from Manni that insists he used the campaign photos without Lucido’s knowledge.

“I want to clarify that I did not seek or obtain Peter J. Lucido’s consent to utilize these pictures in my campaign literature,” Manni says in the affidavit. “It is important to note that Peter J. Lucido was not aware of my use of these pictures in my campaign literature. Our discussion during the meeting when these pictures were taken did not touch upon any matters related to political campaign activities or endorsements.”

In a letter to the ethics board on Wednesday, Manni’s attorney Micahel J. Balian called the allegations against Lucido “entirely false.”

Balian tells Metro Times that Manni met with Lucido at the time to discuss public safety issues in Sterling Heights.

“It wasn’t about politics,” Manni says.

Lucido declined to comment.

“Prosecutor Lucido says the affidavit speaks for itself,” Lucido’s spokeswoman Dawn Fraylick told Metro Times in an email Friday.

The Macomb County Ethics Board will conduct a probable cause review of the complaint on March 19.

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