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Bolger admits mistake, but says investigation shows he followed rules

The Associated Press

State House Speaker Jase Bolger says an Ingham County Judge's investigation shows he told the truth. 

In an interview with WMUK, the Battle Creek Enquirer and MLive Kalamazoo, Bolger says even though he didn't lie or break the rules, he did make a mistake. The Marshall Republican says the mistake was focusing on politics as a game, rather than focusing on voters.

On Friday Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilinia ruled that there was no evidence to bring criminal charges against Bolger or former state Representative Roy Schmidt. Bolger says it wasn't a mistake to help Schmidt switch parties, but it was a mistake to try and recruit a "straw candidate" to run as a Democrat against Schmidt in his district in Grand Rapids.

Bolger says he, and other lawmakers need to focus on issues and doing what's best for the voters of Michigan. 

Bolger was interviewed by WMUK's Gordon Evans, MLive Kalamazooreporter Alex Mitchell and Battle Creek Enquirer reporter Jennifer Bowman. The full interview conducted at Western Michigan University's Kendall Center in Battle Creek, can be heard Wednesday morning at 9:20 on WMUK. 

Revision: an earlier version of this story said Ingham County Judge Rosemarie Aquilinia did not enough evidence to bring criminal charges. Aquilinia's ruling said

"there was no presentment of any articulable crime or unlawful wrongdoing as to any person or persons involved in such inquiry, either in common law or statutory law."

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.