Text messages between Bolger, the House speaker, and Schmidt, a second-term Grand Rapids legislator, show the two conspired to recruit a plant Democrat to the Aug. 7 primary while switching Schmidt to the Republican Party at the May 15 candidate filing deadline.
The exchanges - contained in a 1,000-page police report obtained by The Press and MLive.com – were largely previously disclosed by Forsyth when he released a July 17 opinion that he would not prosecute Schmidt and Bolger.
Related: Read text messages between House Speaker Bolger, Rep. Schmidt plotting party switch, fake candidate
But the records also reveal that the pair was acting, at least in part, on the legal opinion of House Republican Counsel Joseph Baumann, Forsyth said.
Related: Jase Bolger, his staffers deny working on state time during Roy Schmidt party switch
“Clearly, Speaker Bolger has been consulting with a lawyer on what is going on and how am I going to prove that Bolger and Schmidt intentionally tried to commit a crime when they are acting on the advice of a lawyer,” Forsyth said. “It would be a non-starter in my opinion.
“It’s a fairly technical and complicated law and it made trying to prosecute somebody almost an impossibility.”
In order to charge a conspiracy crime, a law has to be broken and that did not happen in the scheme, Forsyth said.
Forsyth said he called off the investigation because voters needed to know about the shenanigans before heading to the primary polls. He also believed any relevant information had been discovered in the days leading up to the switch.
The decision was criticized by Democrats, who believe by cancelling search warrants seeking Bolger’s cell phone records and other information, Forsyth limited the scope of the probe.
“He shut the investigation down before there were answers, short-circuiting the entire process of following the facts and finding justice,” said Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids. “The more we see, the less savory the whole situation looks.”
Dillon suggested Forsyth could have issued an interim report that informed voters and allowed the evidence in the warrants to come back to show what else may have happened in electronic communications.
Dillon and House Minority Floor Leader Kate Segal, D-Battle Creek, renewed their call for a complete investigation of the election scandal that nearly prevented Schmidt from advancing to the Nov. 6 general election.
Related: Bing Goei: Jase Bolger passed me over for Roy Schmidt in Grand Rapids state House race
Forsyth said he has had no direct request to take a deeper look at the actions of Schmidt and Bolger.
Matt Mojzak, the fake Democratic candidate, was given limited immunity that his statements could not be used against him, and Mojzak said in a police interview that he didn’t understand what he was getting involved in.
Mojzak said Schmidt presented him with an affidavit containing an address where he planned to move and that Schmidt told him it was all right to not be living there presently, documents show. He also told investigators he didn’t realize there was incorrect information about him being a 22-year resident of Kent County on the document.
Kent County elections officials also said their review of the documents submitted pointed only to a possible perjury crime by Mojzak.
Democrats are also calling a foul for Attorney General Bill Schuette’s text to Schmidt at 7:19 a.m. on May 16, asking the representative to call him. They contend it’s a sign why his office is unwilling to look at the case, an argument that’s been dismissed by his staff.
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