Investigations take time, but dedicated diggers will almost always turn up the truth. Governmental Consultant Services, Inc.'s logo in the window of the multi-client lobbying firm's downtown Lansing office. In exploring the links between Chatfield and GCSI, The News also learned Chatfield won a $1 million appropriation for a Petoskey-area performing arts center whose board members at the time included the wife of GCSI CEO and co-owner Mike Hawks. Jack Chatfield ( Republican Party) is a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives, representing District 67. , , . Over the past four years, Wentworth's campaign committee and two PACs paid the Minards' Victor Strategies more than $11,000, primarily for consulting and bookkeeping. The schedule for office hours is as follows: Monday, September 16, 10:00-11:00 a.m. McKinley Township Hall 1820 N. U.S. Highway 31 Pellston, MI 49769 Friday, October 11, 11: . There are few independent directors as passionate and successful as Neil Chatfield. Allegations of sexual assault and financial impropriety, Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, attempted to overturn the results of the presidential election, AP Interview: Chatfield says taxes at pump should fund roads, Meet the Republican Who Lost His Election Fighting for LGBT Rights, Outgoing House Speaker had big wins on auto insurance and criminal justice, but pandemic was a stumbling block, "Chatfield detained at airport after loaded gun found in carry-on", "State rep pays one fine, another to be determined", "Michigan House speaker pays $1,960 fine for gun incident at airport", "Rep. Chatfield introduces bill to eliminate pistol registration mandate", "Trump Targets Michigan in His Ploy to Subvert the Election", "Top GOP state lawmakers set to visit White House amid election fight", "GOP leader Chatfield says state's Electoral College must vote for Biden or 'we would lose our country forever", "State police investigating sexual abuse allegations against ex-Speaker Chatfield", "Former House Speaker Lee Chatfield admits affair, denies sexual assault allegations from sister-in-law", "Former Michigan lawmaker accused of molesting 14-year-old", "Lee Chatfield's Dad Preaches About Truth as Son Faces Sex Abuse Allegation from His Sister-in-Law", "Michigan State Police raid home of ex-Speaker Chatfield's top staffers", "Stateside Podcast: Lee Chatfield under investigation", "House speaker orders lawmakers, staff to retain records in light of Chatfield allegations", "Southwest Michigan First Announces Lee Chatfield as New CEO", "Former Michigan House speaker's new job spurs backlash", "Chatfield will support expanding civil rights protections in new post", "Lee Chatfield resigns from new job after pushback on LGBTQ policy positions", Speakers of the Michigan House of Representatives, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lee_Chatfield&oldid=1131863430, Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 6 January 2023, at 03:20. She still serves as the director of LARA, which oversees professional licensing and regulates the liquor and marijuana industries. As senior representatives of our school . 2 Beds. As of the 2020 Census, Michigan state representatives represented an average of 91,612 residents. In 2018, Chatfield attempted to bring a loaded, unregistered handgun onto a commercial flight at Pellston Regional Airport. He denies wrongdoing. Sales Representative. "The fundamental evil we're fighting is the lack of . It's unclear if Nessel's office is investigating GCSI, though the jobs Chatfield's brothers landed with one of the firm's clients while he was speaker have caught the attention of investigators, The Detroit News reported in October. He intends to vigorously fight these false claims.. Stephen Mayne sat down with him for this week's Chairman interview - the first of 2018 . The Little River Band didn't begin meeting with Chatfield until 2020 to make the case for the proposed casino near Muskegon, Shields said. Aaron quit school earlier to support his brothers political career. Lee Chatfield. Since Aaron learned about his brothers years of assault on his wife in December, he has been supportive of his wife and is confident she is telling the truth, he alleged. Chatfield's attorney, Mary Chartier, defended the three-term lawmaker in a statement. He destroyed me, and has controlled my life since I was 15-16, the past 10-11 years, she said. I couldnt see what would happen past then. Southwest Michigan First, a Kalamazoo-based economic development organization, has named former House Speaker Lee Chatfield as CEO. In January 2020, Daly was one of Chatfield's guests at Whitmer's 2020 State of the State address and sat on the House floor next to Rob Minard, the speaker's chief of staff, The News reported in October. Let's hope they do, without fear or favor. Elrick is a Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy Award-winning investigative reporter and host of theML's Soul of Detroit podcast. Among the other proposals Chatfield quietly championed in Lansing was one that would have directly benefited the Detroit Salt Company, which owns the Detroit Salt Mine and has been represented by GCSI since 2009. Terry Burns, executive vice president of the auto dealers association, acknowledged to The News that the group never reported the arrangement because of a broad exemption in state regulations for transactions made in "the ordinary course of the lobbyist's business." He was first elected from the 107th House district in 2015. However, proposed road infrastructure improvements became mired in deadlock, with Chatfield rejecting a proposal by Whitmer to fund road repairs by raising the gas tax by 45 cents. When Wentworth first ran for state representative in 2016, the Farwell Republican's wife, Heather, was treasurer of his campaign. Getting to the bottom of Chatfield's relationship with GCSI has the potential to get messy. Rebekah, now 26, filed the criminal complaint with the Lansing Police Department against Lee, 33, she said in several interviews with Bridge Michigan. Plea deals typically only reveal a portion of what law enforcement has learned during an investigation. Anne Minard reportedly said she was not aware of any "unethical or illegal" use of funds, but conceded Lee Chatfield's spending was "excessive.". The News' wide-ranging investigation revealed GCSI lobbyists wined and dined Chatfield like no other House speaker in the past decade, picking up the tab for thousands of dollars in free food, drink and travel that was nearly six times what the firm disclosed spending on Chatfield's three immediate predecessors combined. [20] During his tenure in the Michigan House, Chatfield had opposed such an expansion, which he viewed as an infringement on religious freedom. 03 9328 . Lee Chatfield was first elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2014. In 2019 before GCSI began lobbying for the casino Chatfield told Ananich he opposed the project, Ananich told The News. In a statement, Orlene Hawks didn't answer directly about whether she had spoken to Chatfield about the $1 million appropriation. After he finished he said, Dont worry. In the 2019-20 session, as speaker, Chatfield again pushed to advance the legislation without success because of opposition from members of his own caucus and his staff. The psychological abuse wore her down, she said, and she stopped resisting. Aaron Parsley has been a part of PEOPLE's digital team for more than 15 years. Since no one has accused Wentworth of wrongdoing, it would seem there's no good reason for him to clam up when one of his employees has given us reason to wonder whether state government is corrupt. At some point in 2020, GCSI, which had been working for the Gun Lake tribal casino located between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, and Noel LaPorte, another Lansing lobbyist who has worked with GCSI on other matters, began talking to lawmakers on behalf of the Little River Band. Rebekah Chatfield, who is married to the former Michigan state representative's younger brother Aaron, gives details of alleged abuse that began years ago when she was a teenager Rebekah and Aaron were pushed to marry when at 19, after their families discovered they were having sex, according to the report. Hawks and his wife, Orlene Hawks, the director of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, hosted Chatfield on at least two occasions at their summer home in the upscale resort community of Bay Harbor, according to a source familiar with the Chatfield-Hawks relationship who was not authorized to speak because of an ongoing criminal investigation. Rep. Kara Hope, D-Holt, said she was trying to create a safe work environment, but the House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, said the sign took away people's Second Amendment rights and . There is no subtlety on GCSI's website about what they offer clients: "We are grateful for the strength of our strategic relationships and the access we possess to key elected and influential government officials who make daily decisions affecting many of our clients.". [1], Chatfield was first elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2014, after defeating a Republican incumbent, Frank Foster, in the primary election. The salary range is from $54,001 to $81,085. [11][12], The sexual abuse is alleged to have begun when the girl was attending Chatfield's church, Northern Michigan Baptist Bible Church, and continued while she was a student at the school associated with the church, where Chatfield taught physical education. [17], Due to term limits, Chatfield was ineligible to run for another term in the Michigan House of Representatives. The Minards' lawyer, Gerry Gleeson, also declined to provide those answers. Chatfield, the youngest House speaker in more than a century, was the Republican leader for two years and was among seven Michigan GOP lawmakers whomet with then-President Donald Trump at the White Houseas Trump tried to overturn Democrat Joe Bidens win in the state. The now 26-year-old woman first filed the complaint with the Lansing [] Each time she would break up with Aaron, she said Lee would coax them back together. "Mr. Chatfield believes that an objective review of the facts rather than mere speculation designed to gain media attention and the publics interest will show that his actions and all financial actions were in accord with the law," Chartier said. The caucus formally elected Wentworth, 38, Thursday afternoon . Skilled in Cold Calling, Heavy Equipment, Metal Fabrication, Behaviour Based Safety, and Business Relationship Management. I didn't know there was an option to report," she said. Anne Minard's day job is event planner for the Michigan House Republican Caucus, a gig paid for with $40,000 of our tax dollars. Price information. Scofes and Associates did report hiring the other lobbyists in an arrangement that clouded the public's ability to know GCSI and LaPorte were working on behalf of the tribe. More:5 revelations in the Chatfield investigation search warrant affidavits. [3] Whitmer signed the bill, but with 147 line-item vetoes plus several administrative transfers.[3]. But it is Minard's role as one of the principals of Victor Strategies that transformed her from political insider and fundraiser extraordinaire to the key that could unlock former Speaker Lee Chatfield's treasure chest of secrets. 6636 10th Ave Southwest, Rochester, Minnesota 55902. Nearby homes similar to 1370 Chatfield Pl have recently sold between $252K to $362K at an average of $235 per square foot. A Republican state representative in Michigan was rebuked by members of his own party on Monday hours after he made comments suggesting that he and others planned to . Owen's ties to Lee Chatfield surfaced in an affidavit obtained by The News that said Aaron Chatfield, Lee Chatfield's brother, previously told state investigators that he purchased Adderall for Owen, the son of a former House speaker, who was a close friend of Lee Chatfield. Rebekah said she finally told her husband, Aaron Chatfield, her mother and other family members in December, when she also notified police in Lansing, Michigan, who referred the complaint to Michigan State Police. Speaker Chatfield's heavy-handed approach to Representative C.A. But it wasn't until he testified to providing then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his family with about 20 round-trip flights to the Bahamas, Florida, New York and Texas on Soave's private jet that we learned how he greased the gears of government. Thanks for contacting us. Chatfield, a prolific fundraiser, was part of a culture in Lansing that emphasized raising money and chasing campaign checks, a system that effectively empowered the lobbyists because they controlled the money, Paquette said. Her lawyer, Jamie White, confirmed the nature of the allegations first reported by Lansing City Pulse, including that Chatfield began molesting her more than a decade ago and the sexual contact continued until last year. "The question should be asked and looked into.. On one occasion two years ago, Rebekah said she and Aaron were visiting Lees officewhen he asked Aaron to go pick up a pizza. 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