By BRIAN MCGILLIVARY
bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com
TRAVERSE CITY — State police continue to investigate Meijer Inc.'s alleged criminal violation of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act, despite a recent court ruling that limits law enforcement's ability to investigate political crimes in Michigan.
Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider initiated the investigation in response to a complaint from Acme Township officials. He plans to appeal a ruling that said the secretary of state's office has sole authority to probe campaign funding violations and decide whether to refer them to the Attorney General for criminal action.
Schneider is lobbying state officials to pursue a criminal investigation and have it returned to his office.
Meijer attorney James Brady said Attorney General Mike Cox has to determine if the law was violated and can't just return the case to Schneider, based on state law.
Brady acknowledged that Cox could appoint Schneider as a special prosecutor if there is a conflict of interest in Cox's office.
Cox received more than $16,000 from Meijer executives and its political action committee since 2002. In addition, the Grand Rapids public relations firm Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson, a key player in Meijer's attempt to recall the township board, lists Cox's office as a client on its Web site.
Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Mark Henschell said he sees no reason to delay a criminal investigation while courts and politicians determine jurisdiction.
"I'm not going to hold anything. I'm continuing with it," Henschell said.
Schneider recently broadened Henschell's campaign finance violations investigation to include allegations of perjury in videotaped depositions.
The depositions stem from a civil lawsuit filed by Acme Township Treasurer William Boltres against Meijer for malicious prosecution.
Perjury, or deliberately lying under oath in a judicial proceeding, is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Witnesses denied knowledge of Meijer's involvement in the recall effort, in some depositions taken during fall 2007.
Meijer eventually was forced to turn over billing records that detailed how the retail giant — through the law firm Dickinson Wright PLLC — paid Seyferth Spaulding more than $30,000 to run a secret recall campaign against the Acme Township Board.
Meijer then settled Boltres' lawsuit before several of its key employees could be deposed.
Schneider and Henschell agreed that perjury allegations are not the main focus of their investigation, but an angle they're pursuing.
"We're reviewing the depositions, we're looking closely at those," Henschell said.
Neither would identify possible suspects.
Among those deposed in the Boltres suit were: Meijer attorney Timothy Stoepker, of Dickinson Wright; Meijer Director of Real Estate Scott Nowakowski; Michael Kinstle, a Meijer real estate division executive; William Noakes, executive vice president and corporate counsel for Meijer; Acme resident Ron Reinhold, officer in the pro-Meijer group Acme Taxpayers for Responsible Government; Lewis Griffith, treasurer of the Acme Recall Committee; and Dan Hanna, a recall petition circulator.
Acme Township attorney Chris Bzdok said Schneider's pursuit of possible perjury charges is no substitute for possible felony violations of state campaign finance laws.
"I think for justice to be served, the people who committed felony violations of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act need to be held accountable for those felony violations, and if people committed perjury, they need to be held accountable for that, too," Bzdok said. "We're not out to get anybody. We're out to see that the law is enforced and the people who broke the law are punished."
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