Dozens of voters and local politicians rallied in Traverse City today, calling for the resignation of State Representative Larry Inman.
Last week, Inman was indicted for attempted bribery, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI. The indictment accuses Inman of trying to trade his vote on a prevailing wage bill for money from a union.
Today, the government announced they have a recording of a phone call between Inman and the union as part of its case against the lawmaker. Inman has declared it all a misunderstanding.
“We’re here today on a non partisan basis to say Larry Inman must resign,” says Traverse City mayor Jim Carruthers.
“That is unacceptable in our democracy whether you are a democrat, a republican or an independent,” says Margaret Monsour of Traverse City.
Inman has been removed from his committees and kicked out of the Republican Caucus. He says he will not resign and plans to fight the charges.
“Larry should have the respect in himself and the respect in this community to say, ‘I’ve done my wrong, I should resign and I should move on,'” says Carruthers.
Even the Grand Traverse Republican Party wants Inman out but his lawyer says that’s going too far.
“Everybody who wants to sentence him and throw him out of his job, really needs to stop,” says his lawyer Chris Cooke.
Inman is not due in court until next week. His defense says these calls for resignation will hurt his right to a fair trial.
“Larry is presumed innocent until proven guilty,” says Cooke, “He’s entitled to have a fair hearing according to the due process of law.”
“The fact that (Speaker of the House) Lee Chatfield has stripped him of his caucus is a signal to me that it’s more than just conjecture and there may be something wrong,” says Monsour.
Guilty or not, the protesters say the damage has been done and they deserve effective representation in Lansing.
“How effective will he be for Northern Michigan?” asks Carruthers, “How effective will he be over the next year as a leader?”
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