(Photo courtesy of michigan.gov)

State House Democrats are calling for a legislative investigation into the actions surrounding State Representative Roy Schmidt’s party switch this past spring.

The Kent County Prosecutor found that Schmidt and House Speaker Jase Bolger of Marshall had attempted to perpetrate a fraud on the electorate when they recruited a fake candidate to run as a Democrat in the race. The idea was to stop a legitimate Democrat from running a write-in campaign as Schmidt switched from the Democratic to Republican Party just before the filing deadline for the August primary. But William Forsyth says there was no law broken and therefore no charges would be filed. The candidate recruited to run withdrew in time to have his name taken off the ballot.

The Detroit Free Press reports that several Democrats are calling for an investigation to determine if House ethics rules were broken.

Meanwhile, Mlive/Kalamazoo Gazette reports that Bolger’s Democratic opponent in this November’s election is calling on the House Speaker to apologize for his role in the affair.