Mich. Gov. Gives $9.1 million in tax breaks to scam artist

[Alpha Mare]

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100318/NEWS06/3180445/1319/State-duped-for-9.1M-tax-break&template=fullarticle

Convicted embezzler and scam artist Richard Short was back in a Flint jail Wednesday -- a day after taking a stage with an unwitting Gov. Jennifer Granholm to celebrate a $9.1-million state tax break for his new company.

State officials who oversee the breaks -- but don't do background checks -- were mortified. Republicans called for investigations into how a felon duped a state agency.
And Short didn't tell the state that he'd served nearly six years in jail and prison for embezzling money from a Muskegon-area battery-maker, or that he'd been convicted for bank loan fraud.

Short's past was uncovered by Patrick Clawson, a former CNN TV investigative reporter and now a process server in Flint.
"I unraveled this guy's past in 15 minutes with an Internet connection. Why in the hell couldn't anyone in the state do this in months of negotiating a tax credit with this fellow?

[thundley4]

Granholm is an idiot. She signed a proclamation that today would be a "meatless day" in the state. Meatheaded idea