Tommy Boy — The Congressman Who Calls Tenant Organizers Felons While His Donors Employ Actual Felons

Tommy Boy

U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) represents Michigan’s 7th Congressional District. On August 13, 2026, Barrett called his Democratic opponent — a tenant organizer, water protector, and co-founder of Mid-Michigan’s tenant advocacy infrastructure — a “convicted felon.”

Barrett’s campaign received $4,000 from Dykema Gossett Federal PAC.

Dykema Gossett incorporated a dark money entity whose president is Kenneth Daniels — a convicted federal felon who structured cash for a $21 million drug ring (DEA press release, May 12, 2014).

The word “felon” travels outward. Actual felons travel inward.

Every claim below is sourced to FEC filings, LARA entity records, IRS 990 data, court records, or published reporting.

The Quote

C-SPAN recorded it. MLive published it. Barrett said it on August 13, 2026, when asked about campaign contributions from Rep. Max Miller’s PAC:

“He didn’t just chain himself to a bulldozer; he tried to shut down a pipeline. He required hours of law enforcement coming in to try and release this ridiculous protest to shut down a pipeline. One of the safest ways of transporting petroleum products and other energy resources is through pipelines. I know you guys want to cover up for him and everything, but it’s indisputable that he’s a convicted felon.”

Sources: MLive · WWMT · C-SPAN video

What Actually Happened

A 22-year-old chained himself to a bulldozer to protect Michigan’s water supply from a pipeline company. He pleaded guilty. He served probation. The conviction was expunged. The law says it’s gone.

Barrett says it’s “indisputable.”

Who Barrett’s Calling a Felon

William Lawrence is not a peripheral figure in tenant advocacy. Public records document his role:

The Tenant Resource Center of Mid Michigan — which Lawrence co-founded — has helped Mid-Michigan families avoid homelessness, trained 18 volunteer resource navigators, and made 39 referrals to Legal Services of South Central Michigan in its first year. It is funded by the Ingham County Housing Trust Fund ($400,000 housing millage + $200,000 ARPA).

When Barrett calls Lawrence a “convicted felon,” he is calling the co-founder of that infrastructure a felon.

Who Funds Barrett’s “Felon” Label

Dykema Gossett Federal PAC → Tom Barrett for Congress

PAC address on filing: 201 Townsend St, Lansing MI 48933 — Dykema Gossett’s Lansing office.

FEC Committee ID: C00793976 (Tom Barrett for Congress). Anyone can look this up at FEC.gov.

What Dykema Gossett Built

Dykema Gossett is not just a law firm that donated to Barrett. It is the infrastructure layer beneath Michigan’s dark money ecosystem. For the full architecture: How To Build an OS →

The relevant entity for this page:

Save Detroit Jobs — LARA Entity ID: 802002459

Three names in five years. Same LARA number. Same Dykema address. Same Dykema phone. Same Dykema compliance email.

Kenneth Daniels — SDJ President

The Projection

Read this slowly:

The word “felon” travels outward — toward a water protector whose record was legally erased.

Actual convicted felons travel inward — into leadership positions within Dykema-incorporated dark money vehicles that fund the congressman deploying the label.

If you chain yourself to a bulldozer to protect Michigan’s water, you are a felon.

If you structure cash for a $21M drug ring but serve on a Dykema-incorporated board, you are a president.

The Amplification Machine

Barrett didn’t act alone. The “convicted felon” label moved through a staged pipeline:

Stage 1: NRCC Pre-Staging

The National Republican Congressional Committee’s democratfacts.org pre-staged “convicted felon” opposition research on Lawrence in 2022 — before Lawrence announced his candidacy AND before Michigan’s automatic expungement provisions took effect.

When Barrett deployed the label in August 2026, the infrastructure was already built.

NRCC spokesman Zach Bannon: “Socialist felon William Lawrence is a radical far-left liberal who puts his extreme climate agenda ahead of common sense and the priorities of hardworking Michiganders.” (WWMT)

Stage 2: Jason Roe ( $782,000 )

Barrett’s campaign strategist Jason Roe — Principal of Roe Strategic LLC, former Michigan Republican Party Executive Director — was paid $782,000 by the Barrett campaign (FEC disbursement records, Committee C00793976).

Roe’s own website boasts: “2024: Strategist for Tom Barrett’s victory in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, one of the most expensive and competitive seats in the nation.”

$782,000 to one consultant. The Tenant Resource Center of Mid Michigan’s annual budget from the Ingham County Housing Trust Fund is $600,000.

Stage 3: Right-Wing Media Cascade

Following Barrett’s remarks, right-wing outlets escalated by targeting individual Rent Is Too Damn High volunteers — publishing personal details, home addresses, and criminal histories. Coalition internal records were leaked and weaponized.

The message to any prospective volunteer with any criminal history: your past will be weaponized against the movement if you participate.

Stage 4: Chilling Effect

Specific individuals lost their capacity to volunteer with the tenant advocacy coalition as a direct result of the smear cascade. Their privacy is not disclosed here because — unlike the smear machine — this site does not publish individual humans’ personal details to score political points.

The effect is measurable: fewer volunteers, reduced capacity, tenant advocacy organizations spending time defending their people instead of defending tenants.

The Other Ad

Separate from the “convicted felon” smear, Barrett’s campaign published an advertisement in a Black-owned newspaper with the wrong Election Day date.

Responses

Lansing NAACP President Harold A. Pope:

“This appears to be a blatant effort to misinform and confuse Black voters in Lansing.” — The New Citizens Press

Michigan Legislative Black Caucus: Filed formal complaint with Ingham County Prosecuting Office alleging violation of state law.

Michigan Attorney General: Issued cease and desist to Barrett’s campaign. The AG letter noted the City Pulse ad (same week, different publication) had the correct date — meaning Barrett’s campaign knew the right date while the Black newspaper received the wrong one.

The same campaign strategist — Jason Roe — managed both the “convicted felon” messaging and the campaign that produced the wrong-date ad.

The Numbers

Barrett’s campaign has raised $6,300,000 (FEC, through July 15, 2026), including $1.48 million from PACs.

Selected donors relevant to this analysis:

Barrett invoked Miller’s ethics investigation when deploying the “convicted felon” label against Lawrence — citing “due process for Max” in the same breath as “due process for my opponent, who’s a convicted felon.” He believes in due process for a congressman accused of domestic violence. He does not believe in the Clean Slate Act for a pipeline protester.

What Lawrence Built While Barrett Called Him Names

While Barrett was calling Lawrence a felon, Lawrence was advocating for tenants at Sycamore Townhomes in Lansing — 350 units, 339 pink-tagged, 150 red-tagged, 60+ residents facing eviction with 30-day notice in a housing shortage.

Lawrence negotiated an extension. He fought for $3,000-$5,000 relocation assistance per family (the receiver offered $1,000). He organized press conferences. He showed up.

While Barrett was calling Lawrence a felon, the MI Rent Is Too Damn High Coalition was pushing five tenant protection ordinances to Lansing City Council:

1. Right to repair your own property
2. Right to legal representation in eviction proceedings
3. Right to renew a lease when in good standing
4. Discrimination protections for formerly incarcerated people seeking housing
5. Protections against retaliation for tenants who organize

Read that fourth one again. Barrett calls a tenant organizer a “convicted felon” while that organizer’s coalition fights for formerly incarcerated people’s right to housing. Barrett’s PAC donor employs an actual convicted felon in a dark money leadership role.

The label is not applied based on conviction status. It is applied based on which side you are on.

The Entity Map

The full Dykema architecture is documented in How To Build an OS. Barrett is one output node of a 30-year system:

DYKEMA GOSSETT PLLC (est. 1926)
    │
    ├── 1993: Authored charter school law (PA 362)
    │     └── Enables 
[data pending]
/yr to schools run by 
9
x-convicted superintendent
    │
    ├── 2016: Incorporated Save Detroit Jobs (LARA 802002459)
    │     ├── President: Kenneth Daniels (convicted federal felon)
    │     ├── Address: Dykema's Lansing office
    │     ├── Phone: Dykema's Lansing phone
    │     └── 
$84,000
 pipeline → Detroit Next PAC → Sheffield
    │
    ├── 2021: SDJ renamed to Detroit Leaders (3rd name, same entity)
    │
    └── 2026: Dykema Federal PAC → 
$4,000
 → Tom Barrett
          ├── Barrett calls opponent "convicted felon" (expunged)
          ├── Wrong election date in Black newspaper (AG cease & desist)
          └── NRCC amplifies: "Socialist felon"

One law firm. One entity chain. One congressman. One label.

And one actual convicted felon — in the entity, not the opposition.

Verify Everything

Related Pages

• Hey Mikey, He Likes It! — Rogers shares donors (Griffin, Schwarzman) and infrastructure (Dykema) with Barrett. Same ticket. Same day. Same $88.8M system. CISPA, AT&T revolving door, Florida mansion.
• Sitting in a Tree — The complete picture: Mike and Tom and Dykema and Banks. One law firm, one compliance specialist, four branches. First comes money. Then comes power. Then comes a charter school with convicted felons in the tower.
• How To Build an OS — The full Dykema architecture: kernel, scheduler, process table, filesystem, bipartisan bus
• Infrastructure Grid — Every node where entity infrastructure touches individual privacy
• They Banked on Banks — Brian Roderick Banks: 9 convictions, 2 charter schools, board chaired by a sitting judge. The convicted felon Barrett’s donor infrastructure protects.
• detroit.primals.eco — The charter school network Barrett’s donor protects
• Brian Roderick Banks — Full Profile — 9 convictions, credential chain, PPO weaponization
• Institutional Immunity — Why the systems that should catch this don’t

Every claim on this page is sourced to FEC filings, LARA entity records, IRS 990 data, DEA press releases, court records, or published reporting from MLive, CNN, NYT, WWMT, WLNS, WKAR, C-SPAN, The New Citizens Press, In These Times, Vox, and Ballotpedia. No private information is disclosed. No tracking. No cookies.

Tommy Boy. Nov 3, 2026. The tenants vote too.