Embezzler Gets Tax Credit, Congrats from Governor

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm personally congratulated Richard A. Short, CEO of RASCO (Renewable and Sustainable Companies LLC), at a news conference Tuesday for his $9.1-million state tax credit.

Richard Short had served nearly five years in prison for embezzling $20,985 in 2001 from the battery making company, Harding Energy Inc, where he had been president. He had also been convicted of financial fraud in Genesee and Oakland counties in 1998 and 2002.

At Short’s sentencing for the Muskegon trial in 2002, Circuit Judge James Graves Jr. admonished Short. “Falsehoods come out of your mouth as easily and readily as breathing. You cause financial hardship wherever you go," the judge said.

When Michigan State officials granted the $9.1-million state tax credit to RASCO to build and ship renewable energy and sanitation equipment to Africa, they were apparently unaware of Short’s criminal background. Short was arrested this afternoon at his Flint, Michigan home on a charge of a possible parole violation coming from the grant announcement by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). Russ Marlan, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, said Short owed $96,000 in restitution for his previous convictions, but had told his parole officer that he was unemployed and could not make the restitution payments. “And then we find out he says he’s the CEO of a company,” Marlan said. At the press conference Tuesday where he was congratulated by the governor, Short spoke of how RASCO "would improve the lives of poor people overseas by using renewable energy to provide electricity, clean drinking water, sanitation and Internet service to developing countries."

State Rep. Tom McMillin learned of Short’s past when private investigator Patrick Clawson brought it up during a hearing today while testifying against a bill that would ban employers from checking job applicants’ credit ratings. Clawson said it was unlikely a man whose business address is a Flint trailer park would be starting a multimillion-dollar company.

No money has been given to Short's company yet, but McMillin said, “We want to find out what we can do to get back the taxpayers’ $9.1 million. We need more oversight from the state of these MEGA-MEDC” awards.