Retail giant Meijer may have been hit with the largest fine in state history and had to spend millions on a civil suit after surreptitiously funding a campaign against Acme Township officials in 2007, but the company apparently won’t face criminal charges over it.

AP reports:

Earlier this month, Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider said perjury may have taken place during a 2007 deposition in Grand Rapids for a civil lawsuit, but that was out of his jurisdiction. He didn’t bring charges and information was passed to Kent County prosecutors.

Kent County Prosecutor William Forsyth told the Grand Rapids Press for a story Wednesday that imprecise and ambiguous questioning was at issue.

The company paid $190,000 to the state for the violations and settled a lawsuit with five former Acme Township officials for $1.5 million in 2009.

According to campaign finance reports filed with the Secretary of State’s office Sept. 15, shortly after the GOP convention, where the Oakland County Clerk bested four other Republican hopefuls, Johnson accepted a $10,000 donation from Meijer PAC.

Those documents also reveal Johnson has given her own campaign over $354,000 while the Michigan Republican Party has given the candidate just slightly over $61,000. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee gave Johnson’s campaign $33,000.

Benson says taking the donation from Meijer, which was fined $190,000 in 2008 by current Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land for violating Michigan’s campaign finance laws, raises questions about the job Johnson will do enforcing those very laws.

“Whose side will she be on?” Benson asked in a one on one interview with Michigan Messenger Wednesday.

Meijer has been under intense scrutiny since 2005 when it provided $46,000 to a ballot issue in Acme, Michigan. The small northwest Michigan community was in a debate about whether or not to allow Meijer, a chain store offering groceries and other items, to build and open a new store.

In 2007, Meijer surreptitiously spent $55,000 on recall campaigns for those Acme Township officials who had voted against Meijer’s proposed project, according to Land’s findings in the case. Those local officials then filed a civil suit against Meijer and the case went all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court, which ruled that the lawsuit could go forward. The two sides eventually settled, with Meijer paying $1.5 million to the township officials

Benson said that her travels to the region have invariably resulted in at least one conversation about the Acme-Meijer case.

“I think Meijer violated the law,” Benson said. “There should be a criminal investigation. The Secretary of State must lead the way.”

But issuing such charges following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United, which determined that corporations can make donations as those are protected First Amendment rights, may never come. The issue is currently being litigated in the Michigan courts by Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider, who has long wanted to bring criminal charges against Meijer in the case.

“[The Court] clearly recognized that corruption is still and must be a compelling state interest,” Benson said.

Calls to the Johnson campaign were not returned.

Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Washington D.C. based Campaign Legal Center, says the questions being raised by Benson reflect the “inherent conflict” of current campaign financing.

“It clearly creates a perception issue,” McGehee said. “The reality is that it’s built into the system. Ultimately, it’s up to the candidate to decide.”

And the voters, of course.

In 2008 Meijer acknowledged that it had illegally funded front groups in an attempt to influence elections in Acme, a village outside Traverse City where the grocery giant planned to build a new store.

Meijer paid a $190,000 fine for its violation of campaign finance law, but Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider wants to investigate possible criminal actions by those that arranged the illegal campaign activities.

Last November the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling and found that Meijer can be criminally prosecuted for violations of campaign finance law.

Meijer has asked the state Supreme Court to hear an appeal of this decision and Schneider’s criminal investigation is on hold until the court decides whether to pursue the matter.

Rich Robinson, executive director of the nonprofit Michigan Campaign Finance Network, told the Record Eagle that it doesn’t surprise him that labor and business would back Meijer in the campaign finance case because these groups are well served by the current system of treating campaign finance violations as a civil matter.

“This idea they could be found criminally liable anytime they violate the act makes it a lot more serious when they push the envelope,” he said.

A January U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down limits on corporate spending in elections is likely to hurt the criminal case against Meijer.

The court on Thursday threw out a 63-year-old law designed to restrain the influence of big business and unions on elections, and ruled 5-4 that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates.

The justices did uphold bans against direct contributions to candidates and requirements that anyone spending money on political ads must disclose contributors.

The decision eliminates a possible felony complaint against Meijer officials for using corporate funds to influence an Acme Township recall election, but leaves in place potential misdemeanor violations against Meijer officials for failing to report expenditures.

“We’re going to see this through to the end, and whatever we produce as a result of our investigation will be available for public inspection,” said Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider.

The case stems from a Meijer-funded recall effort against Acme Township officials who denied a request for a new Meijer facility to be built there. The Michigan-based retail giant has already paid nearly $200,000 in fines for the violations and spent $1.5 million to settle a civil suit with those officials, but Schneider is still seeking criminal charges as well.

A local prosecutor won’t be able to proceed with a criminal probe of state campaign violations committed by Meijer Inc. in Acme Township until the Michigan Supreme Court weighs in on Meijer’s appeal of a lower court ruling.

Grand Traverse County Prosecutor Alan Schneider today said he “misinterpreted” court rules when he discussed his pending investigation for a story in today’s Record-Eagle. Schneider on Monday said he’d be able to go ahead with a criminal investigation of Meijer, despite the retailer’s Monday decision to challenge a lower court ruling.

In November, a state court of appeals ruled that Meijer executives could be prosecuted criminally for violating state election law. They were found guilty of violating election laws by surreptitiously financing a recall campaign for members of an Acme Township board that rejected the company’s application to build a new store there.

The company has already paid the largest fine in state history for such violations and has already settled a civil suit for $1.5 million, but now they face criminal charges from Schneider as well — unless the Michigan Supreme Court overturns the lower court ruling.

Meijer Inc. will pay $3 million after the retail chain discovered it had employed four pharmacists who were barred from federal health programs.

The U.S. attorney’s office in western Michigan says Meijer brought the issue to the government’s attention. The pharmacists worked at Meijer from 1997 to 2006 and had been barred from Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare, a military health plan.

Federal law prohibits stores from using pharmacists on the debarment list. Meijer gets federal reimbursement for many prescriptions it sells.

Merry Christmas, Meijer.

A Michigan Court of Appeals panel overturned a local court ruling in an opinion released late Friday and said [Grand County prosecutor Alan] Schneider has jurisdiction to investigate alleged felonies in two Acme Township elections…

“Regardless of whether or not there is a stay, at least at this point we know we can go forward with an investigation,” Schneider said. “I’m going to look at individuals involved in orchestrating the opposition to the recall, but it’s too early to name names.”

Meijer attorney John Pirich called the appeals court’s unanimous opinion “erroneous,” and said Meijer will consider appealing to the Michigan Supreme Court or asking the appeals court to reconsider.

The order has been stayed to give Meijer the opportunity to appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court, where they lost an appeal last year over whether they could be sued for damages stemming from the same situation. After that loss, Meijer settled with former Acme Township officials for $300,000 each, or $1.5 million, in a civil suit.

The company has also already received the largest fine in state history for campaign violations, more than $190,000, from Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land. Now it appears that prosecutors may also bring felony charges against specific Meijer executives.

On Thursday, Crain’s Detroit Business reported that Grand Rapids-based retail chain Meijer has tentative plans to build a 190,000-square foot store at Eight Mile Road and Woodward near the Michigan State Fair Grounds.

Although the planned location is at the perimeter of the city, it’s still a shorter drive or bus ride for those who seek fresh produce and affordable retail in the city.

Meijer fought long and hard to keep this suit out of the courts, but last fall the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the case could go forward. Given that the state had already determined that they had violated the law, it was a foregone conclusion that they would be found liable for damages.

Traverse City Circuit Judge Philip Rodgers may continue to preside over lawsuits stemming from a proposed Meijer Inc. store outside Traverse City, even though the judge publicly branded one of the defendants as a liar.

Five present and former Acme Township officials contend the Walker-based retailer and its former law firm, Detroit-based Dickinson Wright, caused them intentional harm over a three-year period through 2007 in trying to force the township to approve plans for a supercenter east of Traverse City.

Dickinson Wright had asked Rodgers be dismissed from the case. But Benzie County Circuit Judge James Batzer ruled Friday that Rodgers could handle the case in a fair and impartial manner, despite disparaging comments made about a Dickinson Wright lawyer.

The Messenger previously reported on this case. Meijer has been trying very hard to get the case dismissed before the trial begins, filing emergency appeals all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court. Those appeals were also rejected.