LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The crux of the case of unethical behavior being made by Michigan House Republicans against Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is based on documents that allege she went around rules to prevent a conflict of interest.
The “conflict wall.”
Testimony and documents in a House Oversight Committee hearing this week allege that Nessel violated a self-imposed “conflict wall” that was put up because her office was investigating cases involving people that Nessel had relationships with.
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A conflict wall would allow the AG office to investigate the case on the grounds that it keeps Nessel out of the loop.
The accusations.
Nessel was accused during that legislative hearing of an ethical breach when she personally contacted Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and asked her to review a criminal recommendation Benson’s office made in a case that involved Nessel’s spouse, Alanna Maguire.
In another case, Nessel sent an email to her staff involving political ally Traci Kornak. The email stated Kornak had contacted her regarding her case, and the AG’s investigation of Kornak was holding up a potential judicial appointment for Kornak in Kent County. The staff in Nessel’s office would have also violated the isolation wall by forwarding Nessel their files on the ongoing investigation to the AG.
Nessel’s office responded to claims in a 2023 Detroit News article about the Kornak case that claimed the AG violated the “isolation wall.”
“The isolation wall was established to prevent the Attorney General from influencing the decision-making during the investigation in observance of the potential for the appearance of impropriety stemming from the Attorney General and the subject’s former professional interactions,” the AG’s 2023 letter stated. “The isolation wall’s purpose is not to prevent any and all communications between the Attorney General and her staff related to the investigation. This is why the isolation wall explicitly states that such communications are permitted where they do not violate a rule of professional conduct. None of the communications between Attorney General Nessel and her staff violated any rule of professional conduct.”
Republicans disputed that interpretation of the isolation wall. Testimony read from the actual isolation wall agreement stated that Nessel should be refrained from receiving “any information” about the case.
