Loretta Coltrane

Gallagher Township

Apparently Michelle “Mick” Kunes and her supporters are not pleased about the truth being shared by the Clukey Campaign and Clukey supporters concerning the performance of the County Treasurer’s Office under the direction of Michelle “Mick” Kunes.

Documented facts about inefficiencies in the Kunes’ Treasurer’s Office, discovered through Right to Know requests, have been shared and included in letters to the editor, news releases and social media posts during the 2025 General Election campaign.

In the primary, the Clukey Campaign ran a positive campaign that focused on Leslie’s highly developed financial skills, effective leadership and managerial expertise that will ensure that the Clinton County Treasurer’s Office is run more efficiently and accurately. Nothing was mentioned about the incumbent treasurer in our campaign literature or news articles.

However, just a few days before the 2025 Primary Election, a post in support of the incumbent treasurer Kunes, full of outright lies and innuendo, appeared on a local watchdog group’s Facebook page attacking Clukey Campaign Manager Coltrane, the Clinton County Republican Party and Friends to Elect Leslie Clukey. The only correct statement in that post was that Coltrane had indeed contributed $5,000 to the Clukey Campaign. Candidate Kunes reposted that untruthful smear and lies attack post to her own campaign page.

Apparently Mick conveniently forgot that she had supported that “smear” post because a recent post on her FB page claimed, “Smearing isn’t my way, have at it people, if that is what makes you feel good about things.” Her prior actions prove this statement false.

A Kunes supporter recently wrote a Letter to the Editor published in The Express that was critical of a factual letter submitted by former Clinton County Treasurer Pat Edwards. The Kunes supporter implied that Edwards was “nitpicking” and that Edwards had “forgotten to mention that Mick was training all new people at the time of those audits” (referring to the untimely Reconciliation of Bank Statements by the Treasurer’s Office for two consecutive Fiscal Years 2023 and 2024, cited by an outside audit firm).

One has to wonder about an office that has such frequent turnover that training was still on going for two years. Also should such a training excuse be acceptable for untimely and incomplete work for a period of two years or more by a candidate who claimed “consistently exceeding expectations to ensure tasks are completed and queries addressed?”

The Kunes crowd has labeled the Clukey Campaign a “smear campaign.” We do not agree.

We are sharing documented facts to inform voters about the truth to help them make good decisions and bring accountability to the Treasurer’s Office.

Support truth and facts, vote for Leslie D. Clukey for County Treasurer on Nov. 4.