Oblinger says Snyder campaign wrote her apology letter

Vanessa Oblinger, the Central Michigan University student and College Republican member who drew attention to allegations of underage drinking at various political events at Mackinac Island in Sept. says she did not pen the apology letter sent the campaign of Ann Arbor venture capitalist Rick Snyder.

In an interview with Central Michigan University’s newspaper CM-Life, Oblinger had this to say about the letter:

“It was prepared by someone else,” she said. “I didn’t really read over it… it was while I was distracted.”

She tells CM-Life that folks over at the Rick Snyder campaign wrote the letter, but Snyder spokesman Jake Suski tells Michigan Messenger in an e-mail that is not true.

No one on our campaign contacted her, asked her to issue an apology or even knows her. If someone did draft the letter for her, they certainly don’t work on our campaign.

We believe she traveled and stayed with a group of our supporters to the island. But it is clear that our campaign had no involvement in the underage drinking that occurred and quite frankly, we wouldn’t speculate or concern ourselves with whether any other campaigns were involved. That’s for the ongoing investigation to determine.

And while the letter claims the underage drinking occurred at parties hosted by Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and Attorney General Mike Cox, Oblinger says she only attended a party hosted by Cox. Both Bouchard and Cox, as well as Snyder, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, Huron County Commissioner Tim Rujan and State Sen. Tom George are battling for the GOP’s nomination for governor in 2010.

Oblinger’s blog post, published on Sept. 28 — several days after the Mackinac Island Republican Policy Conference — has lead the Michigan Democratic Party to call for an investigation into the allegations of underage drinking. The Michigan Liquor Control Commission has acknowledged it has an open investigation into the allegations of underage drinking on the island during various events.