The federal investigation into the licensing of medical marijuana businesses in Michigan has ensnared a high-profile Republican political operative who once took credit for “shaping” the law that created the ground rules for the industry.
Steve Linder, a longtime Lansing campaign consultant, has become a focus of a grand jury probe because of his role in a marijuana lobbying business with links to former House Speaker Rick Johnson, according to three sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The sources were not authorized to discuss the matter.
Johnson, the former chairman of the state’s medical marijuana licensing board, is a target of a widening bribery investigation looking at secret financial deals made as a fight for a foothold in the legalized weed market unfolded in Lansing.
Linder was also a top political adviser and fundraiser for then-Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof in 2016, the year the medical marijuana law was passed. Linder has said he played a pivotal role in “convincing” Republican senators to vote for the legislation, while also raising millions of dollars for their reelection campaigns.
After the law went on the books, Meekhof pushed then-Gov. Rick Snyder to appoint Johnson chairman of the state’s marijuana licensing board — and Linder started consulting marijuana growers and retailers on how to get licenses from the board Johnson chaired.
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