GOP legislator requests AG investigation of Democratic Rep. Kristian Grant

State Rep. Kristian Grant (D-Grand Rapids) speaks during a Lansing press conference on bills to strengthen hate crime laws, April 26, 2023 | Laina G. Stebbins

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has been asked to investigate a state House member amid a “discrepancy” involving COVID-19 recovery funds.

State Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay) sent a letter to Nessel Wednesday requesting her office investigate fellow state Rep. Kristian Grant (D-Grand Rapids) after he claimed she “misled Kent County officials regarding a previous tax filing.”

DeBoyer was referring to a Detroit News report last month that Kent County officials in 2022 found conflicting sales data listed in applications filed by Grant in 2020 for COVID-19 recovery funds for two businesses she owned. 

Grant’s business, Game Plan Lifestyle Planner, which sold day-planner books online, was reported to have had $4,250 in sales in December 2019, three months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Michigan. However, county officials said a separate  application for another of Grant’s businesses, Mini Mogul Group, indicated only $205 in sales for Game Plan Lifestyle Planner for all of 2019.

At the time of the April 13 report by the Detroit News, a Kent County administrator said Grant claimed last year that she had filed amended 2019 tax returns to account for the discrepancy. But by May 1, it was reported that no such filing had been made, which Grant indicated was due to an issue involving an accountant. Grant then returned $5,000 in assistance money.

“Some people think that’s good enough, but it isn’t,” said DeBoyer. “Public officials should be held to a higher standard, and instances where they are able to abuse public assistance for personal gain need to be thoroughly investigated and fixed. No one should get a ‘get out of jail free’ card simply for being an elected official.”

Requests for comment were sent by Michigan Advance to Grant and Nessel, but have yet to be returned.

DeBoyer said several questions about the loans remain unanswered, including whether “fraudulent documents” had been sent to either the IRS or to Kent County. 

“This pursuit of justice cannot come with caveats for political affiliation, and the public needs to know that Rep. Grant is not avoiding consequences just because she is a high-ranking Democrat politician,” DeBoyer wrote in the letter to Nessel. “The circumstances surrounding Rep. Grant’s applications, her tax filings, and the funding she was awarded still don’t add up. They must be looked into immediately.”

DeBoyer also noted that Grant was a member of the House Tax Policy Committee, “where she helps oversee both tax policy and the $80 billion state budget. That means a lot of sway over her fellow politicians and the public. But it should also mean that she is held to a higher standard and faces a higher level of scrutiny.” 

In his letter to Nessel, DeBoyer pointed out the AG’s previous statements “to aggressively pursue” those who took advantage of government aid programs, and referenced her office’s extradition in December of a woman from Texas on suspicions of PPP loan fraud.

In that case, the defendant, a former investigator for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, is accused of fraudulently obtaining nearly $35,000 in COVID assistance loans by falsely claiming she had employees and payroll expenses. 

While that is not the same issue involving Grant, who is accused of misstating the monthly sales of one of her businesses, DeBoyer said only an investigation can make a final determination. 

“The circumstances surrounding Rep. Grant’s applications, her tax filings, and the funding she was awarded still don’t add up. They must be looked into immediately,” he said.

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