Dave Trott (politician)

Early life and education

Trott was born in 1960. He graduated from Cranbrook in 1978, and obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1981. He graduated from the Duke University School of Law in 1985, receiving his Juris Doctor. Trott was a member of the Bingham Farms Village Council from 1987-1988.

Career

Trott is the chairman and CEO of Trott & Trott PC, which represents banks and lenders in homeowner foreclosure and bankruptcy litigation. He is the owner of Attorneys Title Agency LLC and its subsidiaries. Trott is also the co-owner of Dietz Trott Sports & Entertainment, and owns Trott Recovery Services. Trott has also served as chairman and CEO of NDeX, and has been affiliated with Detroit Legal News Publishing, the U.S. Foreclosure Network, and First American Financial Corporation. Trott's legal career and impact on the community was profiled on the front page of the Detroit Free Press on May 18, 2014.

Trott has served on the boards of the University of Michigan, On My Own, the Detroit Country Day School, The Community House, and the Karmanos Cancer Institute. He is additionally a partner of 23 energy companies. He was a candidate for the Oakland Community College Board of Trustees in 2012.

Trott chairs the Oakland County Lincoln Day Dinner, an important GOP fundraising event. Trott was a major donor to the Republican National Committee and the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Mitt Romney.

2014 election

On September 4, 2013, Trott announced his candidacy for Michigan's 11th congressional district, challenging incumbent freshman Congressman Kerry Bentivolio. Former Michigan State Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, Wayne County Commissioner Laura Cox, former Congressional candidate Rocky Raczkowski, and Republican Committeewoman Ronna Romney McDaniel were announced as his campaign co-chairs. Both the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the United States Chamber of Commerce endorsed Trott's campaign, joining more than 350 other individuals and elected officials.

On May 27 MIRS – Michigan Information and Research Service published the results of an initial Republican primary poll for the 11th Congressional District which showed incumbent Kerry Bentivolio at 33% to Trott's 21%, with a large portion of the district undecided.

Trott enjoyed a significant advantage in resources over his opponent throughout the campaign, with more than $1 million in the bank following the first quarter of 2014, compared to Bentivolio's $130,000. According to Federal Election Campaign filings Trott had personally contributed over $2,400,000 to his own primary run and outspent the incumbent approximately 20:1. The congressional primary election was held on August 5, 2014 in which he defeated Bentivolio. Bentivolio tried to initiate a write-in campaign for the November 2014 election to run against Trott and Democrat Bobby McKenzie to continue serving the people of Michigan in Congress, however that effort failed.

Committee assignments

2016 election

Trott won re-election with 53% of the vote against Democrat Anil Kumar who had 40% of the vote, Libertarian Jonathan Ray Osment with 3%, and Independent Kerry Bentivolio with 4%.

Trott announced in September 2017 that he would not run for re-election to Congress in the 2018 elections.

Political stances

Trott is pro-life, supports school choice programs, supports gun rights, and is opposed to same-sex marriage, but believes that the issue should be left to the states to decide.

National security

Trott supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the U.S. to citizens of several Muslim-majority countries. He stated, "Until we can adequately vet these refugees and ensure the safety of all Americans, I support President Trump’s executive order to stay refugees from these terror-prone countries."

Health care

On May 4, 2017, he voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and pass the American Health Care Act. He publicly called President Donald Trump "unhelpful on health care."

Controversy

Following the inauguration of Donald Trump in January 2017, Trott was increasingly criticized for not holding a town hall since April 2015. In response, he held a “Tele-Town Hall” on February 7, 2017, which received mixed reviews as some accused Trott of 'cherry-picking' questions over the phone. In addition, over 150 individuals who signed up for the Tele-Town Hall ultimately never received a call to participate. No explanation or apology was provided for the exclusion. During the congressional recess of 2017, individual constituents of Trott's District, Michigan District 11, organized two separate Town Halls in hopes of enticing Trott to attend. Instead of meeting with his constituents, Trott chose to travel to India. Trott's office was not forthcoming with his schedule, and constituents found out about his trip via a story in the India Times just days before the first of the two Town Halls.

After the congressional recess, constituents continued to encourage Trott to hold a town hall meeting where they could meet with their representative face-to-face. In some cases, constituents were turned away at the door of Trott's office and police were called to remove them. Then, on March 18, 2017, Trott held a town hall meeting with a mixed crowd, admitting his supporters a full half hour before the general public and seating them in the first rows of the audience. The majority of the general public were those opposed to Trott. Despite the event being held at a large convention venue, seating for only approximately 250 was provided. The vast majority of the approximately 1,000 constituents who arrived were not admitted to the town hall due to space limitations, and many stayed throughout in protest through a very heavy snowfall.

Topics discussed included the repeal and replacement of the ACA funding for social programs, and whether Trump’s tweets were a good strategy. After the town-hall meeting, Trott and his aide, Stu Sandler, were caught on a hot mic stating “We’re going to take that part where they’re booing funding for the military and I’m going to get somebody to write a story and we’re going to promote the sh*t out of that”, adding “It’s un-American crap.” An aide was also heard stating that they had “bounced” certain questions they did not want Trott to answer. Review of the tape shows that the booing begins after Trott said the American military was “the weakest it’s ever been” rather than related to military funding.