The Michigan House on Tuesday authorized a flurry of subpoenas against top state officials, including the attorney general, the health department director, and the Department of Natural Resources.
Two of the subpoenas will compel Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office to release communications about alleged instances of conflicts of interest in a criminal investigation and a criminal referral undertaken by her office.
Another subpoena will compel Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel to testify before the House Oversight Committee about child welfare and residential care issues along with eligibility verification for state assistance programs.
The final two subpoenas will compel the DNR to release materials and communications about its paused Canada goose euthanasia pilot and activities related to the department’s 2010 order making feral pigs illegal to own in the state.
The subpoenas were authorized Tuesday, July 22, by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. No Democrat voted against any of the subpoenas. It was always a mix of yes and abstains or unanimous yes votes.
A spokesperson for Oversight Committee Chair state Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, said the actions clear the path “for what will be 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. That is not how representative government ought to work, and it ought to stop. If it wasn’t clear before that we are not messing around, it should be now.”
DNR officials said the subpoena was unnecessary and that leadership and staff have been willing to testify about these issues but haven’t been invited. MDHHS officials, too, said a subpoena was not necessary and provided a letter from Hertel to DeBoyer that showed the health director was trying to find an agreeable date to testify before the committee.
Officials with the AG’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Republican representatives said these departments had either blocked document requests or provided insufficient information, leading to the subpoenas. DeBoyer said they proceeded directly to subpoenas in the cases involving Nessel.
These subpoena authorizations come after House Republicans earlier this year issued a subpoena compelling Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to provide certain election training materials.
House Republicans want to evaluate potential conflicts of interest in how Nessel’s office handled a campaign finance complaint and criminal referral against nonprofit Bipartisan Solutions as well as a criminal investigation against former Michigan Democratic Party Treasurer Traci Kornak.
DeBoyer’s spokesperson Caleb Lambrecht said both of these cases “appear to have been buried and never properly investigated.” Nessel is a Democrat.
Kornak was accused in 2022 of using the account of one of her clients to fraudulently bill an insurance company for nearly $50,000, according to an opinion column by Charlie LeDuff in the Detroit News. Kornak is a personal injury lawyer.
Nessel’s office opened an investigation but put an ethical firewall in place to distance Nessel from it, because Kornak worked on Nessel’s transition team in 2018 after she was elected as AG, LeDuff reported. However, emails obtained by LeDuff showed Nessel was communicating with staff about the case, which was closed without charges soon after these communications.
In the other case, DeBoyer’s office claimed Nessel’s office refused to investigate an alleged fraudulent dark money scheme by Bipartisan Solutions to fund a ballot initiative co-chaired by a “close member” of Nessel’s family. DeBoyer’s office didn’t specify the exact relation to Nessel.
This refusal to investigate, DeBoyer’s office said, came after Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office sent Nessel’s office a criminal referral in the matter.
“There’s a lot we have yet to learn about Dana Nessel’s decisions, but that is exactly why we are seeking a subpoena on her office,” DeBoyer said. “This investigation will allow us to uncover the truth and learn about any potential misconduct. Regardless of what occurred, we need to be absolutely certain that our state’s highest-ranking law enforcement official is not helping her friends and family evade the law. If the attorney general has nothing to hide, she should welcome transparency into her house.”
As for the DNR, the House wants all materials, records and communications pertaining to the department’s pilot program to round up flocks of Canada geese and gas them to death.
That controversial program was halted in May from moving forward after pushback from Democratic lawmakers.
The pilot was intended to replace an initiative to relocate thousands of Canada geese each year. It wasn’t planned as a mass culling effort but as a “last resort” and targeted option for landowners who have exhausted all other methods of nuisance control, DNR officials previously told MLive.
The House also wants a trove of information regarding the DNR’s 2010 ban on feral boar in the state and how the department has carried out investigating those who allegedly violate the order.
The House last month heard from Michigan rocker Ted Nugent and others on claims the DNR used undercover tactics and allegedly nonscientific methods to enforce this prohibition.
DNR spokesperson Ed Golder said a subpoena wasn’t necessary to compel the department to provide information.
“The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is always willing to meet with legislators to discuss our work to protect and manage natural and cultural resources for the people of Michigan,” Golder said. “The DNR director and relevant staff would be happy to appear before the committee to answer questions regarding the department’s work but have not been invited.”
Hertel is the only official in the flurry of subpoenas to be compelled to testify.
State Rep. Jason Woolford, R-Howell, accused Hertel’s department of stonewalling or providing unsatisfactory information to House subcommittees in lawmakers’ investigations into child welfare and residential care issues, along with those involving how the department verifies eligibility for state assistance programs.
Previous invitations for Hertel to testify were prevented by scheduling conflicts. DeBoyer said his committee emailed MDHHS last week for further dates Hertel could testify but didn’t hear back, leading to the subpoena.
Staff from MDHHS have appeared before the House 21 times and responded to more than 100 requests for information this year, said department spokesperson Lynn Sutfin.
“MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel responded to the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, July 8, and shared that she was happy to testify before the committee on an alternative date and requested more information on what the committee wanted to discuss to ensure she was prepared for a productive conversation that focused on the matters the legislature wanted to discuss,” Sutfin said. “A subpoena was not necessary to compel the director to appear before the committee.”
Should the subpoena be issued, Hertel’s compelled appearance is scheduled for Sept. 9.
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