Two former top state House Republican staffers will go to trial on allegations they embezzled from political funds for their personal use.

Together and separately, Robert and Anne Minard face more than a dozen felony charges, several with maximum sentences of 20 years in prison. They pleaded not guilty to the charges at a preliminary hearing last month.

East Lansing District Court Judge Molly Hennessey Greenwalt denied a defense motion to exclude evidence seized from the couples’ home under a search warrant. The judge held the warrant sufficiently explained what law enforcement was looking for in seized documents. She then determined the state has enough evidence to send the case to trial in the Ingham County Circuit Court.

The charges allege they embezzled from two political funds and a political action committee that was under their control to cover expenses after they had been separately reimbursed for them.

“The Minards engaged in a vast, complex scheme of fraud, and through this deception, stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from nonprofits and political action committees,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement released by her office. “My department is pleased to see this case progress and remains committed to pursuing political operatives who violate the law for their own personal gain.” 

The Minards were top aides to then-House Speaker Lee Chatfield, the Republican leader during the 2019-2020 session. Chatfield also faces corruption-related charges in a separate case.    

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a last-ditch federal lawsuit Thursday in an effort to get his name off Michigan’s presidential ballot. That’s as local clerks are already finalizing ballots for printing.

Kennedy exhausted his appeals in Michigan courts before turning now to federal courts — even though the state’s legal deadline to get ballots to printers is passed. Angela Benander, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, told the Michigan Public Radio Network the filing will not change current plans.

“Clerks are currently in the process of printing ballots to ensure absentee ballots will be delivered to voters by the federal deadlines,” said Benander. She said those deadlines ensure absentee ballots are in the mail to overseas and military voters in time for them to be returned and counted.

The Michigan Supreme Court on Monday held Kennedy’s name would remain on the ballot, which settled the matter in state courts.

Kennedy has had mixed results in having his name stricken from ballots in states where he has already qualified. He suspended his campaign last month and endorsed former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

Michigan Secretary of State said Kennedy waited until it was too late to withdraw as the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. Kennedy sought and accepted the minor party nomination as a way to get on the Michigan ballot. Withdrawing now would leave the party without a presidential candidate.

But in the lawsuit filed Monday with the U.S. District Court for Michigan’s eastern district, Kennedy argued the state is violating his constitutional freedom of speech and freedom of association rights.

“Keeping Mr. Kennedy off the ballot will also cause no harm to the public,” said Kennedy’s filing. “Conversely, leaving Mr. Kennedy’s name will serve only to mislead voters, upend election and ballot integrity…”

In the filing, Kennedy also complained that he is being held to a different standard than President Joe Biden, who exited the presidential race on July 21 and cleared the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to be nominated.

But there is a critical distinction. Biden was in the race and the presumptive nominee prior to stepping aside. But he was never formally nominated and, thus, never accepted the nomination.

Harris was waiting in the wings when Biden withdrew his name from consideration following a disastrous debate performance against Trump. She was formally nominated by the Democratic National Convention on August 6th, which placed her on Michigan’s ballot.

The state will now have an opportunity to respond to Kennedy’s lawsuit and motion to remove his name. But the court does not have to accept the case or take any other action.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will tell a congressional panel that “lies,” threats to election workers and foreign interference are big concerns heading into the final weeks of this year’s political campaigns.

According to a copy of her testimony shared with the Michigan Public Radio Network, Benson will say that, although she is an elected Democrat, the role of the secretary of state or other election officials is not partisan or political.

“But it is a role that increasingly forces us — whether we consider ourselves Republicans, Democrats, or independents — to endure threats, harassment, false and malicious attacks on our character and integrity,” she said. “Why? Because of lies — about our work, about the security of our elections and our own integrity.”

Benson will appear alongside a bipartisan group of six secretaries of state, many from states considered competitive in the presidential race. Benson’s statement includes warnings about foreign interference in U.S. elections, and threats and harassment faced by election workers. Her statement also includes concerns about underfunding of elections and the need to maintain and update voting technology.

It is likely Benson can expect to face some tough questions from the Republican-controlled House Committee on Administration.

Read more:

• Benson, election officials hail recent reforms at press conference
• County clerks on security, early voting in the 2024 general election
• What Jocelyn Benson has been doing to protect Michigan’s elections

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name will be on the state’s presidential ballot.

This appears to settle the legal battle and allows local clerks to start printing absentee ballots to mail to overseas and military voters. Kennedy is the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. But he tried to remove his name from the ballot after suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

The case pitted Kennedy against election officials in the Secretary of State’s office who determined Kennedy flouted Michigan’s deadlines and election standards.

The order in the case was unsigned but in written statements, there was clearly a division between justices nominated by the Democratic and Republican parties.

Justice Elizabeth Welch, who was nominated by Democrats, wrote in a concurring statement that Kennedy had plenty of time to withdraw and his late exit left the Natural Law Party of Michigan without a nominee after Kennedy sought and accepted the convention nomination.

“Plaintiff waited more than four months before asking defendant to remove his name from the ballot. When plaintiff made his request, defendant faced a deadline for ballot printing that was two weeks away,” she wrote. “Additionally, the Natural Law Party, which opposed plaintiff’s efforts to remove himself from the ballot, had no opportunity to field a candidate and faced considerable prejudice.”

In a dissenting opinion, two Republican-nominated justices said the decision will only add to election turmoil.

“The ballots printed as a result of the Court’s decision will have the potential to confuse the voters, distort their choices, and pervert the true popular will and affect the outcome of the election,” said Justices Brian Zahra and David Viviano. “In short, the Court’s ruling will do nothing to rebuild the public’s trust in the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”

There was some urgency to the case since the deadline to finalize ballots was last week so absentee ballots can be sent to military and overseas voters.

A court majority also ruled in a separate, unsigned opinion, that a paperwork error on petitions will not bar academic and activist Cornel West from the Michigan presidential ballot as an independent.

A Michigan Court of Claims judge acted quickly Tuesday to deny Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to be removed from the state’s presidential ballot. That’s after Kennedy suspended his campaign last week to back Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Kennedy wants a court to reverse the determination of election officials in the Secretary of State’s office that he missed the deadline for removing his name as the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. Kennedy is trying to end his candidacy in Michigan and other swing states where he could siphon support from former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

“Plaintiff, a public figure, does not want to represent to the citizens of Michigan that he is vying for their votes for the position of President of the United States,” said Kennedy’s legal filing. “Keeping his name on the ballot against his wishes compels this speech and subjects him to derision, anger, reputational harm, and loss of good will by those who would vote for him based on this speech and later find out their vote was wasted and in vain.”

Kennedy argued the deadline cited by the state elections bureau applies only to down-ballot races and not to candidates for president.

Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates dispatched the case very quickly, noting the urgency of resolving election-related questions this late in the cycle. Yates wrote the law is “clear and conclusive” that election officials in the Secretary of State’s office are not empowered to go along with Kennedy’s “self-serving act”

“Elections are not just games,” he wrote, “and the Secretary of State is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel praised the ruling.

“Michigan election law in this instance is unambiguous and the Department of State made the correct decision,” she said in a written statement. “…The law does not apply less because a candidate changes their plans. I appreciate the Court making a quick and wise ruling on this matter.”

Kennedy’s Michigan attorneys did not reply to a request for comment or plans to appeal.

If history is any guide, it is highly unlikely that Kennedy would win Michigan’s 15 electoral votes. The last third-party candidate to win Michigan was former President Teddy Roosevelt, who left the Republican Party to run as the candidate of the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party in 1912. That helped Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson unseat Republican incumbent President William Howard Taft.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the Michigan presidential ballot, despite his announcement Friday that he is suspending his campaign and backing former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign reached out to the Michigan Bureau of Elections late this afternoon in an attempt to withdraw his name,” said bureau spokesperson Cheri Hardmon, adding that the campaign was informed the deadline to remove his name from the ballot had passed.

Kennedy is on the state ballot as the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. That party’s state nominating convention was held back in April.

Hardmon said the party could have held a new nominating convention any time until the state’s August presidential primary.

“The Natural Law Party held their convention to select electors for Robert Kennedy Jr.,” she said. “They cannot meet at this point to select new electors since it’s past the primary.”

Kennedy’s quixotic campaign sought the Natural Law Party of Michigan nomination because it was easier and less expensive than gathering thousands of signatures required to get on the state ballot as an unaffiliated independent candidate.

Now, Kennedy said, he wants to be removed from the ballot in states where his candidacy could hurt Trump’s chances. Michigan is considered a swing state, and recent polls show Trump in a close race with Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Natural Law Party seeks to apply the principles of transcendental meditation to government. Kennedy has no prior affiliation with the party or the transcendental meditation movement. The advantage of a big name for a minor party is the likelihood of winning enough votes to automatically qualify for ballot access in future elections.

The Natural Law Party of Michigan and the Kennedy campaign did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Former President and current Republican nominee Donald Trump made a campaign stop Tuesday in Livingston County to deliver an address on public safety, but also veered into jobs and the economy and predicted the demise of the domestic auto industry if he loses the November election.

The Republican nominee is making a tour of battleground states as a counterpoint to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week.

Trump was flanked by Republican county sheriffs as he attacked Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, as soft on crime and illegal immigration and not supportive of police.

“Over the past four years, the Marxist left has waged a vicious war on law enforcement in our country,” he said. “They’ve taken away the dignity and the spirit and the life of some of these police officers and you can see why you see the crime is so out of control in our country.”

Data from the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that violent crime is trending down after spiking earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump also took aim at United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who delivered a blistering censure of the former president at the Democratic National Convention, and Trump blasted the auto industry’s move toward electric vehicles and Harris’ support for the shift.

“Every auto worker here will be out of a job within three years if I’m not elected — every auto worker in this state,” he said. “They’re all going to be made in China.”

Trump also accused prosecutors of targeting him. He was convicted earlier this year in New York of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

“They don’t arrest people anymore and they shouldn’t arrest people for saying the election was rigged, but they like that,” he said. “They go after guys like me, but they don’t go after people that kill people. It’s a shame what’s happened in our country.”

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes said Trump’s misrepresenting his record on crime and public safety.

“His visit here to talk about safety is laughable — violent crime spiked under his watch, and he’s running on an extreme Project 2025 agenda that would defund law enforcement, abolish common-sense gun safety measures, and give Trump unchecked power,” she said in a statement released by the Michigan Democratic Party.

Harris has said investing in EV production will keep vehicle supply chains based in the U.S.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections notified the independent presidential campaign of progressive political activist and academic Cornel West that a faulty legal document will keep him off the state’s November ballot. In a letter dated Friday, Michigan’s elections chief said West’s affidavit of identity was not properly notarized. “For the reasons described below, the Department is required by law to disqualify you, and the Department will not certify you as candidate on ballots for the November 5, 2024 general election,” said the letter signed by Michigan Elections Director Jonathan Brater. The affidavit was filled out and mailed to Michigan from Colorado. The Michigan Bureau of Elections’ letter outlined four technical violations under Colorado law that, because of reciprocity between states, meant the affidavit had not been property notarized. Brater said Michigan law is strict on this point. The letter said West did not reply to an earlier request to respond to the state’s determination, but still gave the campaign another five days following the notification to do so. The bureau did not make determinations on other challenges filed by a Michigan Democratic Party activist. The West campaign said the Michigan Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee are behind the action, which it said is based on “trivial technicalities being weaponized to distract from substantive policy debates.” West spokesperson Edwin DeJesus said the campaign is preparing a court challenge. “We are confident that these accusations will be seen for what they are—frivolous and unfounded attempts to stifle opposition and debate,” he said in an email to the Michigan Public Radio Network. One of the organizations involved in the challenge said it is not a trivial matter. “Candidates who play by the rules should be on the ballot, but Cornel West is blatantly not playing by the rules, in Michigan or anywhere else,” said Pete Kavanaugh of Clear Choice Action in an e-mail. He said the point of notarization is to ensure signers of legal documents understand them and are abiding by the law. “Michigan made the appropriate decision based on the facts,” he said. The race between Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump is expected to be very close in the swing state of Michigan. Independent and third party candidates could play a role in determining the outcome.

Minimum wage workers in Michigan are in line for a big pay raise in February under a ruling Thursday from the state Supreme Court.

A 4-3 Supreme Court majority held that legislative Republicans in 2018, using “an unprecedented and unconstitutional act,” undermined Michigan voters’ rights to initiate and adopt laws. The decision will likely boost the current $10.33 hourly wage above $12 next year.

“What the court confirmed is the people’s right to petition is more than political, it is sacred,” said Chris White, director of the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, which represents food service workers. “It’s a victory and it puts us on par with other states that are increasing their minimum wage and we’re very, very, very thankful with what the Supreme Court has decided.”

In 2018, two petition campaigns gathered enough signatures to put questions on the ballot. One would have boosted the state minimum wage and phased out a lower minimum wage for workers who get tips, and the other would have required most employers to allow workers to accrue earned sick leave. Both questions were considered very likely winners that would also draw Democrats and progressive voters to the polls.

Republican legislators, who controlled the House and the Senate at the time, held their own votes on the initiatives and adopted the measures to prevent them from going to the ballot. The Supreme Court agreed that was constitutional.

But the court held the violation occurred when the Legislature returned after the election and, in the 2018 lame duck session, altered the provisions to delay and scale back minimum wage and paid sick leave requirements to address complaints from business groups. The new versions were adopted with simple majorities. Waiting until future sessions would have required three-quarter supermajorities.

“In stopping the Republican Legislature from denying Michigan’s voters the ability to vote for these popular ballot measures, our Supreme Court has returned the power to petition the government to the people of Michigan,” said Mark Brewer, one of the attorneys who argued the case.

The dissent argued that there is no specific prohibition in the Michigan Constitution to the Legislature’s “adopt-and-amend” scheme.

Business groups bemoaned the majority decision.

“These changes will impact nearly every business across Michigan,” said Wendy Block with the Michigan Chamber of Commerce. “We are preparing for the harsh realities of this decision that jobs will be lost and some businesses will be forced to close because of this unprecedented decision.”

It’s less than 100 days until the final day of the November general election and the beginning of vote-counting. At the top of the tickets, Vice President Kamala Harris is the presumptive Democratic nominee while former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) said Monday that she sees voters who are excited over a history-making choice.

“The world has dramatically changed and there is no doubt in my mind that the people of the country are ready to support a woman for president,” she said.

One of the races will decide who will replace Stabenow, who is retiring at the end of her current term. She said the election will decide whether Democrats keep the U.S. Senate and can take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Early voting has already begun for the August primaries where voters will choose their party nominees for those offices.

“So here we are and the future of our country, the future of Michigan is really at stake and who controls Congress makes a big difference, a really big difference,” she said.

Democrats say they will be reminding voters about the Jan. 6 uprising and their message is that Trump and the Republican ticket pose a threat to democracy.

Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra said up and down the ballot, Republicans plan to focus on the economy and border security.

“As a state party, we are working seamlessly with the Trump campaign,” he said. “We are working seamlessly with the congressional campaigns, with the senatorial campaign out of Washington. So, I think we are poised to be successful this fall.”

Hoekstra said he is on the lookout for what happens at the Democratic National Convention next month, when Harris is supposed to officially accept her party’s nomination. Also, he said there could be an “October surprise” in the final months of what’s been a roller-coaster campaign season already.

“You know there’s something that may happen,” he said. “But you really can’t predict what it will be.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill this week that bans the use of what is sometimes called the “gay panic” defense in cases of crimes, particularly violent offenses, against LGBTQ people.

The new law instructs courts that the discovery of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression cannot be used by a defendant to justify a crime.

“This makes Michigan the 20th state to outlaw the panic defense in court,” said Whitmer Press Secretary Stacey LaRouche. “And really what this does, in effect, is it closes a loophole to prevent violence against LGBTQ Michiganders, helping to keep more people safe.”

LaRouche noted the governor has already signed laws to expand Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include LGBTQ protections and to outlaw conversion therapy for minors.

Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the LGBTQ+ Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, says there is no specific data on the use of the “gay panic” defense in Michigan. But he said the law is needed.

“This makes it clear to judges and to courts that this type of defense where you look at the victim, [that] somehow some characteristic of the victim might provide justification for committing a crime, is no longer acceptable,” he said. “We do know that we have a sorry history within our legal system in the past.”

The controversy over the “gay panic” defense dates back to 1995 and the murder of Scott Amedure by a friend in Lake Orion. Amedure had confessed to a crush on the friend in an appearance on a tabloid TV show. The crush, Jonathan Schmitz, said on the show that he was flattered but as a straight man, not interested. Amedure later left a suggestive note on Schmitz’s apartment door.

Schmitz then purchased a shotgun, went to Amedure’s home and shot the man twice in the chest. His defense in court was that he was profoundly embarrassed by the public disclosure of the crush.

Schmitz was charged in Oakland County with first-degree murder but convicted by a jury of the lesser offense of second-degree murder. He was released from prison in 2017.

Michigan Democrats are seeking a messaging reset with party leaders holding events around the state as Vice President Kamala Harris is poised to be their party’s presidential candidate.

Earlier statewide polls showed President Joe Biden struggling following a poor debate performance last month against former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee. That was before the assassination attempt on Trump and before Biden bowed out of the race for president. Michigan Democrats are anxious now to turn the page.

“I think, as President Biden said, it was time to pass the torch to the next generation. I, for one, as a Gen X-er, would be thrilled to see myself and my generation represented in the White House,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. “Kamala Harris is the perfect transition candidate.”

At an event in Lansing, Nessel said Harris will bring a fresh perspective to the job of being a candidate and, if elected, to being president.

“She’ll have a lot of policies in common with President Biden, but, you know, I guess, she will have her own agenda, as well,” she said.

State Representative Kara Hope (D-Holt) said she is already seeing a shift.

“There’s work to do, for sure,” she said. “But we’re moving in the right direction, especially with certain constituencies – young people, people of color, we’re making gains there already and I think that bodes well for November.”

The stakes are not only Michigan’s 15 electoral votes, but the top of the ticket will also affect close congressional races, a competitive race for an open U.S. Senate seat, and Democrats’ control of the Michigan House of Representatives.

“Keeping the majority in the state House is going to be very pivotal,” said state Senator Sam Singh (D-East Lansing). “And I think the decisions that were made over the weekend and the fact that the party and the delegates have all come around Vice President Harris is going to really bode well here in Michigan for those that are running for Congress as well as keeping the House in Democratic control.”

Republicans say the change at the top of the ticket will not change their strategy in Michigan – a critical swing state that went for Trump in his 2016 race against former U.S. Senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton then flipped to Biden in 2020.

“Dangerously liberal Kamala Harris is responsible for every struggle Michiganders have faced over the last three and a half years,” said Michigan Trump campaign spokesperson Victoria LaCivita. “Her policies led to skyrocketing inflation, inability to afford gas and groceries, violent crime at the hands of illegal immigrants, and a California-elitist obsession with electric vehicles.”

Trump is the official GOP nominee following the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee earlier this month. Harris must still be formally nominated at the Democratic National Convention next month in Chicago.