Controversial State Rep. Tom Kunse Was "Hand Picked" By Speaker Jason Wentworth To Replace Him In The State House

Wentworth, left, Kunse, right

By Brandon Hall

(Email him at WestMIPolitics@Gmail.com)

State Rep. Tom Kunse was hand-picked by controversial former House Speaker Jason Wentworth to replace him in the State House in 2022.

Wentworth endorsed Kunse, and then gave $15,00 to his campaign.

Wentworth even gave $2,500 to Kunse's leadership PAC after the election.

Wentworth and Kunse's friendship goes back many years.

Wentworth endorsed Kunse for Grant Township Trustee in 2020, also backing another friend involved in Kunse's shady $3.5 million real estate deal scandal---David Coker---for Clare County Road Commission:

David Coker was a Wentworth staffer who resigned in 2021 in an attempt to win a $25 million state grant Wentworth helped secure in the 2022 state budget for a health and fitness facility in Clare.

Coker won the grant, then bought $3.5 million in land from Wentworth's friend, the man the former Speaker hand-picked to replace him in the State House, State Rep. Tom Kunse. 

Coker also enlisted Chicago conman Anthony Demasi, who was just sentenced to his 2nd stint in federal prison for an unrelated scam a couple weeks ago, to help run the project.

The state has stopped payments on the sketchy operation, and the whole situation is now under investigation by Attorney General Dana Nessel and the Michigan State Police.

As for Kunse, whose district includes Osceola and Mecosta Counties, as well as parts of Clare County and Lake County, he is up for re-election in August. 

The filing deadline is April 23rd...

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Brandon Hall is a lifelong political nerd from Grand Haven, and is the Managing Editor of West Michigan Politics.

>>>Email him at WestMIPolitics@Gmail.com