LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – An elderly person who submitted a hand-written note to a probate court described as “a cry for help” over her concern that an ally of Attorney General Dana Nessel was mishandling her finances took more than three years to be investigated. That’s according to testimony in the case which was reviewed by the state’s House Oversight Committee in December because it involved a conflict-of-interest involving Nessel.

The case.

The case involves Rose Burd, who is described as an elderly—and legally incapacitated—woman. Burd’s court-appointed conservator was Traci Kornak, who was the former treasurer of the state Democratic Party and had served on Nessel’s transition team. Burd died in April 2025.

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Nessel has been accused of having a conflict of interest into her office’s investigation of Kornak’s handling of Burd’s finances. Emails displayed during the December hearing showed Nessel contacted her own staffers and said Kornak had contacted her regarding her case. Nessel told her staff the AG’s investigation of Kornak was holding up a potential judicial appointment for Kornak in Kent County.

Burd’s note, written in September 2019, said she wanted to contact the state’s Adult Protective Services over “wrongful care” of her finances. The letter mentioned Kornak by name, although Burd misspelled it.

The delayed interview.

Adult Protective Services, which is a department within the Department of Health and Human Services, did not interview the elderly person until January 2023.

“The probate court did not help her. The Adult Protective Services did not help her. And the Attorney General’s office did not help her,” GOP attorney Catherine Edwards said during the December hearing.

Edwards said they didn’t know if Adult Protective Services had been alerted to Burd’s letter in 2019.

“I surely hope it doesn’t take three years for the Adult Protective Services to respond to this kind of cry from help from a senior,” Edwards said.

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The Adult Protective Services website states, “Adult Protective Services investigators protect vulnerable adults from abuse, neglect and exploitation by coordinating with mental health, public health, law enforcement, the probate courts, the aging network, community groups and the general public.”

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.