LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s handpicked bureaucratic offshoot of the state’s Department of Education should get a closer look, according to a Republican lawmaker looking to take her job in November.

Michigan Senate Republican Leader and gubernatorial candidate Aric Nesbitt is calling for an independent investigation into the Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential (MiLEAP) and its Child Development and Care (CDC) Program.

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The Porter Township lawmaker cited growing fraud allegations tied to similar child care assistance programs nationwide.

Nesbitt sent a letter to Michigan Auditor General Doug Ringler and requested a formal audit of the program administered by Whitmer’s MiLEAP. The CDC Program provides child care subsidies to low-income families and is receiving more than $540 million in taxpayer funding this year.

“Finding affordable child care is one of the biggest challenges facing families in Michigan,” said Nesbitt. “We must ensure they aren’t being fleeced by criminals like the taxpayers have been in Minnesota.”

On Monday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) announced he is not seeking reelection. His announcement comes amid massive fraud uncovered in his state where taxpayer money went to Somali illegal aliens under the guise of running daycares.

“Given the Whitmer administration’s disastrous record of oversight failures, I’ve asked the state auditor to discover if Michigan’s child care program is plagued by rampant fraud and abuse like we are seeing in other parts of the country,” Nesbitt said.