The curious case of alleged wrongdoing by several members of the Grand Traverse County Commission continues.
Now, the Leelanau County prosecutor is going to review results of a lengthy state police investigation before deciding to investigate or not despite the fact that the state police investigation found NO evidence of wrongdoing. Let me repeat, the state police investigation found NO evidence of wrongdoing.
Grand Traverse County Commissioner Sonny Wheelock complained to the state police months ago that five of his fellow commissioners met for dinner at a local restaurant on more than one occasion to discuss county business- specifically the ouster of county administrator Dave Benda.
It should be mentioned, the social gathering of board members is not illegal, it is frowned upon, however. Grand Traverse County prosecutor Bob Cooney has even advised against such gatherings to avoid the appearance of impropriety. That being said, all commissioners involved in the investigation have always maintained that NO county business was ever discussed at these “meetings” and no plans to get rid of Mr. Benda were ever made. All of that is completely backed up in the 27 page report from the state police.
Print and radio reports on this story, over the months, have given the impression that something terrible has been going on in the county and have gone a long way to make something out of nothing. One report in The Ticker mentioned “a bartender” had seen the group of said commissioners meet “at least ten times” but never heard them discuss any county business nor appear to be in any serious discussions. Pretty serious reporting. The state police report says the bartender in question didn’t “have any idea that the group was, in part, made up of county commissioners” until a bar patron told her. Powerful testimony.
Even Traverse City resident John Scrudato, who fanaticizes about being an elected official, posted a comment on a Ticker story about the results of the investigation showing NO evidence that he believes there was wrongdoing. Perhaps Mr. Scrudato has very little faith in the ability of the state police to investigate alleged crimes, or more likely, he’s upset that political adversaries weren’t nailed to the cross.
Now we wait to see what Leelanau County has to say about the state police investigation involving Grand Traverse County. Perhaps Antrim County will step up to the plate next and investigation NO evidence.
