By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A one-person grand jury will collect evidence and decide whether to charge anyone with crimes in a Grand Rapids lawmaker’s switch to the Republican Party, a probe that will involve the top legislator in the Michigan House.
A majority of Ingham County Circuit Court judges agreed to the request by Democratic Party leaders. Judge Rosemarie Aquilina was picked by blind draw to be the lone grand juror, according to an order dated Monday.
She will have the power to investigate and compel witnesses to testify about Rep. Roy Schmidt’s switch to the GOP in May, just before the deadline for the Aug. 7 primary election.
He offered money to a 22-year-old political novice to run as a Democrat against him.
“The court has reviewed the petition and finds there is probable cause to suspect that certain crimes and offenses have been committed,” Chief Judge Janelle Lawless said in a two-page order.
Among the issues will be whether Schmidt, R-Grand Rapids, and House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, knew Matt Mojzak didn’t actually live in the district when he filed his candidacy.
The state Senate’s top Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer of East Lansing, alleges that Schmidt and Bolger may have conspired to aid perjury and obstructed justice.
Aquilina, first elected a judge in 2004, formerly was a lawyer at the Michigan Army National Guard and an aide to a Democratic lawmaker.
If she believes crimes were committed, she will turn the case over to a prosecutor to pursue.
In July, following his own investigation, Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth announced that Bolger and Schmidt broke no laws in Schmidt’s switch to the GOP but said their actions were a fraud on the public.
The state police wanted to get phone records to try to determine if Bolger and Schmidt knew that Mojzak didn’t live in the district when he signed his campaign document.
Forsyth said no, claiming it would take weeks or months to get the information and force him to remain silent about what he already had gathered before the Aug. 7 primary.
Bolger and Schmidt have apologized but insist they broke no laws. Bolger said he will cooperate with the judge.
“While we believe the petition for a grand jury was politically motivated, (Bolger) is putting his faith in the court providing an impartial review of the facts in this case and finding once again that he did not break any laws,” spokesman Ari Adler said.
Schmidt spokesman John Truscott said the one-person grand jury is “nothing more than a witch hunt.”
He said nothing happened in Ingham County, the home of state government, to warrant an investigation in that county.
“There’s never been a grand jury to investigate something that’s already been investigated. ... They’re breaking new ground for political purposes,” Truscott said.
Bing Goei ran against Schmidt as a write-in candidate after Forsyth’s report was released.
Schmidt won the Republican primary by only 423 votes, likely benefiting from absentee ballots that were cast before the controversy became public. He faces Democrat Winnie Brinks in November.
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