The Snyder administration is well known for rewarding its friends and business partners with lucrative, sometimes unchallenged government contracts. Something that has gone largely unnoticed are the contracts that Bill Schuette’s Attorney General’s office awarded to his former employer Warner Norcross & Judd LLP which amount to nearly $2 million since he took office.
Schuette joined Warner Norcross & Judd in 2009 after concluding his term on the Michigan Court of Appeals. Two years later, he was elected Attorney General.
In 2009, Warner Norcross & Judd had no contracts with the Attorney General’s office. In 2010, they had $24,000 in business with the office of the AG and, in 2011, the year Schuette took office, their contracts doubled to $48,999. However, it was in 2012 when Warner Norcross & Judd truly began to hit paydirt and to benefit from their connection to Bill Schuette. That year, their contracts with the AG’s office ballooned to $599,997. Last year, in FY 2013, their contracts with the AG’s office were worth $574,998. Finally, for the most current fiscal year, 2014, Warner Norcross & Judd has $677,998 worth of contract’s with the AG’s office.
So, since Bill Schuette took office in 2011, Warner Norcross & Judd has scored $1,901,992 worth of business with the office of the Attorney General. Not only that, in 2013 Warner Norcross & Judd got another advocate in the AG’s office when Schuette appointed one of his former colleagues at the law firm to be the state Solicitor General.
It’s good to be know the king.
All of this business came at a cost, of course. In 2012, the law firm gave $34,000.00 to Schuette’s upcoming reelection campaign and Schuette rents premier Washington Square office space in downtown Lansing from them for a mere $419 a month.
Time and again we see that individuals in Rick Snyder’s administration use their positions to reward their friends, families, and business associates. That practice clearly extends to Bill Schuette’s office of Attorney General and his former employer Warner Norcross and Judd to the tune of nearly $2 million.
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[Image credit: Aaron J. Baylis | Wikimedia Commons]
