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INVESTIGATION: Schuette Caught Packing AG Staff with GOP Operatives
Today, a Detroit Free Press investigation revealed that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is packing his taxpayer funded office with campaign activists and political allies in preparation for his gubernatorial run.
Michigan’s constitution prohibits public officials from hiring or firing employees based on their political affiliations. But as he gets ready for the 2018 campaign, Schuette hired four seasoned campaign operatives to serve as “executive office representatives.” Schuette was also caught giving $130,000 in no-bid contracts to two GOP activist, who’s support would be useful in the upcoming GOP primary.
When first asked about his hiring of so many Republican activists and Schuette supporters, he said, “They’d better be, or they’re not going to be working for me.”
Read excerpts from the report below or the whole story HERE.
Detroit Free Press: Bill Schuette stocks AG staff with GOP operatives as he launches campaign for governor
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has loaded his taxpayer-funded office payroll with Republican campaign activists in the run-up to his 2018 campaign for governor, a Free Press investigation has found.
Schuette also has used no-bid state contracts to pay more than $130,000 to two influential Republicans — one of whom has been active in the tea party movement that is important in winning a Republican primary, records show.
The state constitution and civil service rules prohibit hiring or firing employees based on partisan considerations, enshrining the idea that a professional state workforce based solely on merit should remain in place, regardless of what party or leader is in power.
But this year, in advance of his September announcement that he is running for governor, Schuette hired as civil servants four “constituent relations representatives,” also known as “executive office representatives,” who are all Republican activists or experienced GOP campaign operatives, records obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act show.