Saturday, July 3, 2021

Republican Crime Blotter: Payoffs, Perjury And Kickbacks

 


 

Not all crooks are Republicans, but...

Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser has agreed to pay $200,000 from his personal fortune to resolve a complaint alleging the party paid a candidate to drop out of the race for secretary of state in 2018, officials said Friday.

The Michigan Secretary of State's Office has been investigating a February complaint filed by former Michigan Republican Party Chairwoman Laura Cox about alleged improper payments from the state party to Stan Grot.

Cox, who was the outgoing party chair at the time, sent a letter to the Michigan Bureau of Elections in February reporting $200,000 in payments the party made to Grot,  the Shelby Township clerk, as a possible violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.

Cox disclosed what she described as a "sleazy payoff," under which the party, at Weiser's direction, paid the money to Grot over seven months so he would drop out of the race for secretary of state shortly before the 2018 convention, clearing the field for Mary Treder Lang, who was defeated by Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson in the general election.

Not to be outdone, we have Rick Quinn, Sr., South Carolina Republican consultant:

On Friday, The State reported that Rick Quinn, Sr., a Republican consultant in South Carolina, faces new charges as a special prosecutor brings indictments for perjury and obstruction of justice.

"The new 38-page indictment, issued May 20 and supervised by new special prosecutor Barry Barnette, accuses Quinn of 12 different counts of perjury and two counts of obstruction of justice," said the report. "This indictment is modeled on a 33-page indictment from April 2019, issued by a former state grand jury and directed by former special prosecutor David Pascoe ... Both indictments detail secret payments of some $900,000 Quinn made to former state Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Richland, and the tens of thousands of dollars in a 'kickback scheme' to former state Sen. John Courson, R-Richland. The new indictments allege that Quinn committed perjury and lied about the payments to a state grand jury."

"The new indictment also charges Quinn with lying to the state grand jury about money his son, former state Rep. Rick Quinn, R-Lexington, received from the Quinn consulting firm, Richard Quinn & Associates," continued the report. "As a result of Pascoe's investigation, Rick Quinn pleaded guilty to one act of misconduct and resigned from public office."

This is what you get with a party stuffed with liars, hypocrites, petty thieves and con artists (not to mention crackpots and insurrectionists!).

(Photo:  Cox with MAGA pin and Weiser/ Michigan Republican Party)

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