FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News from Progress Michigan
January 26, 2018
Secchia Donations Must Be Returned After He Blames Nassar Survivors
GOP Mega-Donor has given over hundreds of thousands to Republicans in last decade alone
LANSING — Progress Michigan is calling for Republicans like Bill Schuette to return donations from mega-donor Peter Secchia after he made tone-deaf remarks blaming Nassar survivors and their families for not reporting the abuse sooner.
“It is unimaginable that someone could place the blame for Larry Nassar’s actions on the survivors of abuse themselves, but that is exactly what GOP Donor Peter Secchia has done,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Secchia has been a major donor to the GOP over course of the last decade, and each and every person who has taken a cent from him should immediately denounce his absurd remarks and return his contributions. Failure to do so should be taken as a sign that campaign contributions are more important than standing with survivors. If Bill Schuette and other Republicans claiming to care so much about the tragedy that has taken place at Michigan State University over the last 20 years want to show they truly stand with survivors, this is the least they can do.”
According to Progress Michigan research of publicly available campaign finance data, Secchia has donated at least $945,000 in the past 10 years, including $7,800 to Bill Schuette, $5,400 to Brian Calley, $10,200 to Rick Snyder and $569,290 to Republican Party committees at the state and local level.
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