As promised, the Michigan Democratic Party is planning to keep an election-rigging scandal involving House Speaker Jase Bolger and party-switching Rep. Roy Schmidt in the spotlight leading up to the November election.
The state Democratic Party on Friday launched a website highlighting Bolger and Schmidt’s foiled attempt to plant a fake Democrat in a Grand Rapids legislative district to ensure Schmidt’s re-election after he bolted to the GOP.
“When voters head to the polls this November, they should know the whole truth about Jase Bolger, and that’s our goal with Bolgergate.com,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said in a statement.
Bolger has apologized for his role in the scheme while pointing to a Kent County prosecutor’s report that concluded the pair of second-term representatives didn’t break any election laws.
On Monday, the Ingham County Circuit Court judges approved Brewer and Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer‘s request to empanel a one-person grand jury to further investigate Schmidt and Bolger’s actions. The website features a video of Whitmer, D-East Lansing, announcing the Democrats’ petition for a grand jury and a timeline of the events as laid out in Prosecutor Bill Forsyth’s scathing report.
Bolger and Schmidt’s spokesmen have since criticized Brewer and other Democrats for trying to score political points as details about the scheme have trickled out from the Michigan State Police.
But the taint of the scandal has begun to worry some Republican Party insiders that it will be used against them in the general election.
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Related Articles:
Prosecutor halted Schmidt-Bolger probe so voters would know of scheme (The Detroit News, Aug. 20)
Embattled speaker rejects calls to resign (The Detroit News, July 19, 2012)
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