From the Detroit Free Press:
Mich. Trump backer: Venue didn’t like my views, canceled fundraiser
TODD SPANGLER | DETROIT FREE PRESS
WASHINGTON – Days after President Donald Trump’s press secretary was asked to leave a restaurant and other members of his administration faced protesters because of outrage over immigrant families being separated at the Southern border, a congressional candidate and Trump supporter in Michigan said a country club canceled her scheduled fundraiser because of her views.
Businesswoman Lena Epstein, who cochaired Trump’s Michigan campaign in 2016 and is running for the open seat in the 11th Congressional District, said Wednesday that a fundraiser scheduled that day at the Franklin Hills Country Club — and which had been set up more than a month ago — was canceled recently because of her “political views.”
Epstein said in a news release Wednesday afternoon that several days earlier she was “told that a fundraiser being held for me at Franklin Hills Country Club, where my family has been members for generations, had been canceled.”
“I was upset,” she continued, “but did not want to make the issue public. The situation escalated when it was published on social media and picked up by a news outlet. After seeing what’s been happening across the country to (other) Republicans … I wanted the opportunity to share what happened to me.” …
The Michigan Information & Research Service, MIRS, a subscription news service in Lansing, reported that Epstein had been set to hold a $250- to $1,000-per-plate event until a former president of the country club, which has a long history among the area’s prominent Jewish community, posted his concerns about Epstein’s connections with Trump on social media.
Franklin Hills has a well-regarded 1926 Donald Ross-designed golf course.
