LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Michigan House is not conducting business as usual.
The House Oversight Committee authorized Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) to subpoena Attorney General Dana Nessel, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Director Elizabeth Hertel, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
“Making state government more transparent and accountable.”
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DeBoyer said the subpoena authorizations center around misconduct. He added that it “clears the path” for what he calls “the most extensive use of the Legislature’s subpoena power in Michigan history.”
“House leadership agreed to seek these subpoenas because we take our commitment to making our state government more transparent and accountable seriously,” DeBoyer said. “We are tired of seeing government actors with no regard for the public face zero accountability. If it wasn’t clear before that we are not messing around, it should be now.”
The subpoenas for Nessel relate to possible criminal activity by a top Democrat official and an organization with ties to a member of Nessel’s family. DeBoyer said both cases appear to have been buried and never properly investigated.
In spite of this, DeBoyer pointed out that Nessel is currently seeking criminal penalties against a Republican Party-associated political fundraiser for nearly identical charges.
“If the Attorney General has nothing to hide, she should welcome transparency into her house,” DeBoyer said.
“Abused and exploited.”
In addition, State Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell) voted to authorize a subpoena for the MDHHS and Hertel. She helped greenlight a subpoena on Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) Director Elizabeth Hertel, voting to authorize a subpoena on Hertel and several other government actors. The subpoena requires her to testify before the Oversight Committee in September.
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“We have learned a ton of information this term about how the MDHHS’s public assistance programs have been abused and exploited, costing taxpayers millions of dollars,” Rep. Woolford said. “The only way we can right the ship and ensure things like that stop happening is if we bring accountability to their office.”
The DNR: “running completely unchecked and overfunded.”
Last month, Michigan native, rocker, and conservationist Ted Nugent testified before the House Weaponization of State Government Oversight Subcommittee. The committee, chaired by Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia) focused on alleged unfair practices and abuses by the DNR,
“The DNR has been running completely unchecked and overfunded,” Rigas said after Nugent’s testimony. “Both the Attorney General’s Office and the DNR have a clear history of weaponization and political targeting. We need to put and end to this right now before this joint monstrosity targets and ruins the lives of any additional Michigan citizens.”
More subpoena power.
This news comes after several blows to the Secretary of State’s office. After nearly a year of pressing and issuing its own subpoena to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson over her election training instructions, Michigan Elections Bureau Chief Jonathan Brater admitted he instructed the deletion of files in 2020.
