FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan

Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Contact: Jessica Tramontana, (517) 974-6302, jessica@progressmichigan.org

Corrupt Speaker has clear pattern of skirting the law

LANSING – New documents obtained by Progress Michigan reveal that Speaker Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) – who is under grand jury investigation for election fraud – has a long history of tax delinquency and legal issues. Records show Bolger started missing payroll tax payments barely one year after incorporating Summit Credit Services, Inc. in June 1996. These dodged taxes total over $100,000 in taxes and fees owed, resulting in liens being filed by the Michigan Department of Treasury in 1998 and again in 2001; by the Internal Revenue Service in 1998; and by the state unemployment agency in 2000. Bolger and Summit Credit Services were also sued by Wachovia Bank in July 2001 in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court for fraud and embezzlement.

“The more we learn about Jase Bolger, the worse it gets,” said Zack Pohl, Executive Director of Progress Michigan. “It’s no wonder Bolger felt so comfortable conspiring to defraud voters in a comically mishandled election fraud scheme. These new documents show Bolger has been up to the same tricks for the last fifteen years. Michigan deserves better from our elected leaders. It’s time for Bolger to do the right thing and step down as Speaker.”

These public records show:

  • A lien against Summit Credit Services filed by the state Department of Treasury in August 1998 for more than $8,000.
  • Another lien by the Department of Treasury filed in 2001 for more than $56,000.
  • A lien filed by the state Unemployment Agency in July 2000 for more than $700
  • Two separate liens filed in October 1998 and October 1999 by the Internal Revenue Service, totaling more than $54,000.
  • NOTE: These assessments were eventually paid.

According to a lawsuit filed by Wachovia Bank in July 2001 for more than $25,000, Bolger “willfully and fraudulently misappropriated sums of money which belong to the Plaintiff.” The suit was eventually settled out of court.

These new revelations come on the heels of a scandal in which Bolger arranged for state Rep. Roy Schmidt to switch to the Republican Party just minutes before the filing deadline for the November election. Rep. Schmidt also tried to pay off a fake Democratic candidate so he could run for reelection effectively unopposed. Speaker Bolger denied any involvement in the scandal until text message and phone records from a Michigan State Police investigation forced him to come clean and apologize. 

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BACKGROUND:

 

Jase Bolger’s History of Fraud

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