Michigan Politics: Why You Should Care

A lawsuit over alleged inaccurate ticket counts has come back to haunt the head of a ticketing company who’s currently running for a congressional seat in Michigan.

Star Tickets CEO Andrew Rocky Raczkowski was taken to court earlier this year by the promoter of a concert series during the 2008 Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota.

Rozone Productions’ suit claimed Star Tickets grossly misreported ticket counts at Rock’n The Rally, claiming breach of contract, fraud, theft and other causes of action.

While the ticket suit continues in South Dakota, Republican Raczkowski recently filed a suit of his own against his Democratic opponent in the Michigan congressional race claiming defamation.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Gary Peters recently began running an ad titled “Trust” that slams Raczkowski for bilking his former business partners out of millions.

Raczkowski claims the South Dakota lawsuit is frivolous and full of lies and told the Detroit Free Press his opponent is distorting the facts to take the focus away from himself.

“People in Oakland County expect you to be honest and run on the issues,” Raczkowski said. “He’s afraid of running on his own record.”

Representatives for Peters disagreed.

“Republicans and Democrats and independent legal experts agree that the allegations are serious and raise great questions about his judgment,” Peters spokesman Dan Farough said. “We stand by the ad. Rocky is facing allegations of fraud, theft and conspiracy in a federal court.”