On Tuesday, reports came out of Michigan that the home of Republican Lee Chatfield’s former chief of staff was searched by state police. Rob Minard served under Chatfield while the latter was speaker of the Michigan House. Minard’s wife, Anne Minard, was an adviser and the director of external affairs during that time. She was also the treasurer for four of Chatfield’s political action committees. State police told reporters that this search was a part of an "ongoing investigation.”
The Detroit News reports that Chatfield’s position at the top of the Michigan GOP developed out of his prolificacy as a fundraiser in the Wolverine State legislature. The large amounts of money Chatfield moved around seem to be the subject of the investigation that led to Tuesday’s raid. “Political accounts tied to Chatfield directed at least $900,000 in campaign and nonprofit funds to family members, legislative staffers, and organizations they led for wages and consulting fees.”
But it probably gets worse; anyone following Chatfield’s recent media coverage will know that this speculation about his participation in financial hokey pokey is the least of his problems.
In January, Bridge Michigan released an explosive story with accusations from Chatfield’s sister-in-law that he had been sexually assaulting her since she was 15 years old and Chatfield was 21. Rebekah Chatfield filed a complaint against Lee, a pastor’s son and big-time anti-LGBTQ Christian conservative. Rebekah alleges that Lee Chatfield groomed her as a student at Northern Michigan Christian Academy, a school where Chatfield taught that was affiliated with his father’s church.
“He destroyed me, and has controlled my life since I was 15-16, the past 10-11 years,” she said. “And I know the only way to get justice for this is to come forward and to file a criminal (complaint) against him.”
Deadline Detroit added that Rebekah Chatfield’s lawyers have mentioned Lee as having multiple affairs on top of the sexual assaults he perpetrated.
Lee Chatfield’s lawyers have admitted that the former Republican Speaker had an affair with his sister-in-law, but they deny any allegations that the affair began when Rebekah was underage and claim the relationship was entirely consensual. "He did not assault this woman in any manner during their years-long adult relationship. He intends to vigorously fight these false claims."
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Aaron Chatfield, Lee’s brother and Rebekah’s husband, told the Bridge that he supports his wife and had “suspicions years ago about his brother’s close behavior with Rebekah.” He told Bridge Michigan that when he worked as an unofficial driver for Lee he would frequently take him to strip clubs and other very not-so-Christian private liaisons. “Lee portrays himself as a family tradition, conservative guy who believes in the Bible and the Bible is so important. No, it couldn’t be further from who my man was as a person.”
Michigan Republicans like Chatfield were connected to fancy Dom Perignon hangouts at the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., post-election loss. Hoi Polloi wrote about how long-standing a dirtbag Chatfield has always been, repeatedly bringing into question his moral bona fides.
Annie Minard has continued consulting for Michigan’s Republican legislature as an event and affairs coordinator, while her husband Rob is a lobbyist.
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