Steve Marino

— A candidate for the Michigan state legislature apologized for saying a Jewish lawmaker asked a lobbying firm to pay for the bar tab at his daughter’s wedding.

Steve Marino, a Republican and former lobbyist running for the Michigan House of Representatives, was recorded by a Democrat as saying that the Jewish chairman of the state Senate’s appropriations committee once called him and asked him to pay the bar tab for his daughter’s wedding, saying he had forgotten his wallet.

“I need you to come up here and pick up the bar bill at my daughter’s wedding,” Marino said, quoting the unnamed senator, according to the Detroit Free Press, which obtained the recording and posted a story on Monday

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

It wasn’t just any wedding, but “a Jewish wedding.” Marino explained to the person making the recording, who he thought was a constituent, “They go all out.”

Marino said he checked with his lobbying shop, which agreed to pay the bill, saying the senator would reimburse them.

The Free Press contacted Roger Kahn, who is Jewish and once chaired the appropriations committee – but who is no longer in the senate. Kahn said there was no such incident – neither of his two daughters was married during the time period in question and neither had a Jewish wedding.

Marino, contacted by the Free Press, retracted the story and apologized, saying he was cobbling together stories he had heard from others and inserting himself into the stories to make a point about lobbying.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount