Lansing — The Democratic-led Michigan Senate has forced two longtime GOP staffers out of their jobs over their ties to a petition-gathering firm they founded two years earlier, a move that Republican Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt is calling a "witch hunt."

The departures in recent days of Jeff Wiggins, who was the press secretary for Senate Minority Leader Nesbitt of Porter Township, and Meghan Reckling, who was chief of staff for Sen. Lana Theis of Brighton, represented a shakeup in the state Legislature's upper chamber. Likewise, the handling of their exits by the Senate Business Office, overseen by Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids , could set a precedent for how future Senate leaders view the outside political work of the opposing party's employees.

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