It's been more than two months since the indictment of State Representative Larry Inman.
He was booted from the House Republicans Caucus following the news in May. A campaign by Democrats was launched to force his resignation near the end of July. Now, some voters in his district plan to force him out of office using a recall petition.
On Thursday, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers decided to allow the language in that petition to move forward.
Inman is accused of federal bribery, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI. The last house session Inman attended was on May 15th when the charges were announced.
The organizers of the recall petition argue he's missed important votes and don't believe he deserves to still collect tax payer dollars. That's why their attorney, Michael Naughton called the board's decision a win.
"When the people of a district send you to Lansing. It is a privilege to serve them. I disagree with this idea that it's a right and that we should wait it out while he misses votes. votes.
That's doing a big disservice to the people he represents and that's unfortunate," said Naughton.
Inman received treatment for opioid addiction in July. The petition says that Inman may use a “diminished capacity” defense at trial. His attorney Chris Cook told the board that's not true and he's concerned about how the recall will affect Inman’s jury trial.
"If you're going to put that on the ballot, put down the language we used. Include in that language that this is a situation that is a result of opioid prescription pain medications. You cannot take an indictment or a ticket or a complaint unproven and use this as a basis as a factual basis on this recall petition and if you do we believe it jeopardizes my clients constitutional rights," said Cook.
Inman won his third term last November. Members of both the Republican and Democratic parties have asked him to resign. He’s declined. The recall petition needs at least 12,000 signatures in 60 days for a recall election to happen.
If an appeal is filed following Inman’s trial, collection of recall petition signatures would have to pause.
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