She used to show up at public meetings dressed up like a space cadet.
With almost no campaigning, she became Macomb County clerk.
Macomb County clerk Karen Spranger is due in court today in a lawsuit by other county officials who are trying to have Spranger kicked out of office.
County lawyers will tell a judge that Spranger lied about where she lived to run for office in 2016. Spranger listed a ramshackle house in Warren that neighbors say no one lived in as her place of residence. Spranger and her lawyer say she was a poor person who could not afford heat or running water. Spranger did not have a paying job for more than 20 years before she was elected clerk as Macomb County voted heavily for Trump, who pulled in other Republicans with him.
Spranger displayed an interest in politics. She was seen wearing a costume that resembled Star Trek at some council meetings, and she ran for mayor of Warren and lost.
In her time as clerk, Spranger has fired some office employees, fought against unions, and charges that other county officials have been out to get her and made it impossible for her to do her job.
County executive Hackel and others charge that Spranger is incompetent.