Citizens Group Calls for State Police Probe of GOP

LANSING, MI—Citizens watchdog group Progress Michigan today called for an investigation by the Michigan State Police into the possibility that the Michigan Republican Party may have circumvented state campaign finance laws.

A report today from the Daily Caller, which broke the GOP bondagegate story, said wealthy Michigan Republican donors had given hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2009 to the Republican National Committee as part of an alleged scheme that may have circumvented Michigan laws limiting campaign contributions.

“We need an independent, full and complete investigation to find out if Republican officials in Michigan and nationally were part of a coordinated effort to avoid the $10,000 limit on campaign contributions under Michigan law,” said David Holtz, Executive Director of Progress Michigan. “Given that the two Michigan officials who are responsible for enforcing state campaign finance laws—Attorney General Mike Cox and Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land—are Republican candidates for office and have obvious conflicts of interest they should request that the Michigan State Police investigate these serious allegations.”

Under federal campaign finance laws, donors can give $30,400 a year to the Republican National Committee. Under Michigan law, the limit is $10,000 per year to the Michigan Republican Party.

According to the Daily Caller, 15 Michigan donors maxed out a total of $456,000 in contributions in late December to the Republican National Committee, which was reported to have then contributed $500,000 to the Michigan Republican Party in early 2010.