The Republican-led Michigan House Oversight Committee approved a slew of legislative subpoenas Tuesday directed at state departments, including the Attorney General’s office.

The oversight committee has aggressively used its subpoena power in this session to squeeze agencies in an executive branch controlled by Democrats.

The committee authorized two subpoenas demanding records related to the end of a criminal investigation by the Attorney General’s office into a Democratic Party fundraiser. 

Attorney Traci Kornak is a former Michigan Democratic Party treasurer was investigated for insurance fraud in 2022. The department set up internal firewalls due to Kornak’s relationship with Nessel, but GOP committee members say there appears to be evidence that Nessel was kept informed of progress on the inquiry and may have influenced the decision to drop it.

Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Twp.), chair of the oversight committee, said the subpoenas were necessary to help come up with improvements to Michigan’s campaign finance laws, but also hinted impeachment could be on the table.

“The House has the power to ability to impeach civil officers of the State of Michigan where corrupt conduct in office occurs,” he said. “In order to faithfully exercise its responsibilities in this regard, the House is entitled to investigate the Department of Attorney General’s decision to decline issuing criminal charges in this matter.”

Another subpoena asks for records and communications with the Department of State related to a campaign committee to include LGBTQ protections in Michigan’s civil rights law.

Tuesday’s round of subpoenas also includes records from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources on its regulation of game ranches and its program for euthanizing Canadian geese as a wildlife control measure.

The committee demanded an in-person appearance by Michigan Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel, who is a member of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s cabinet.

“House Republicans have raised serious questions for months about troubling reports involving MDHHS — including children sleeping on floors, young people being placed in unvetted out-of-state facilities, instances of welfare and Medicaid fraud, and taxpayer-funded services being extended to individuals without legal status,” said Rep. John Roth (R-Interlochen) in a written statement. “Our goal has always been to work collaboratively behind the scenes to investigate these concerns, but unfortunately, we have not been able to secure the cooperation we had hoped for from the department.”

GOP members of the committee accused Hertel and the MDHHS of stonewalling their inquiries and said she has declined multiple invitations to appear. A health department spokesperson said there was a scheduling conflict, but she was not dodging the committee.

“A subpoena was not necessary to compel the director to appear before the committee,” said MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin, sharing a letter where Hertel requested an alternate date and a list of topics to be covered in her appearance. 

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• How did the $20 million grant for Beydoun’s nonprofit get approved?
• What role did MEDC play in getting the funding approved?
• How much did the governor’s office know?

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office opened an investigation into the $20 million grant awarded to Beydoun’s nonprofit business accelerator last April, after reporting by The Detroit News highlighted how the funding was being misused.

The $20 million grant — which has since been canceled — had been earmarked in the state Legislature’s 2022 budget for the nonprofit Global Link International, which was incorporated just 10 days before the spending bill’s passage.

But the latest reporting from Mauger and LeBlanc have led to new questions about the circumstances behind the grant’s approval, and what exactly the MEDC and governor’s office knew at the time it was approved.

“There’s a lot more going on here than the governor’s office has informed voters of ever before,” Mauger said. “Essentially the governor’s team has tried to put this all on former House Speaker Jason Wentworth and saying basically that [state] House Republicans put this $20 million grant into the budget at the last second and the governor just signed off on the budget.”

An email obtained by The Detroit News last week sent by MEDC CEO Quentin Messer Jr. to state officials showed that Beydoun had advocated for a similar $15 million grant that had been included in Whitmer’s initial budget recommendation in February 2022.

“We know that eventually in the budget there was a direct earmark for [Beydoun] with language that is very very similar to that international business accelerator,” LaBlanc said. “…the common thread through all of that is Beydoun’s involvement, and the fact that she would qualify for this [grant] at the end of the day.”

Whitmer has not responded to Mauger and LeBlanc’s latest reporting on the matter.

More from WDET:

• Nessel charges politically connected former legislative staffer with corruption
• Detroit Evening Report: A MichMash lookahead; Detroit eases business licensing + more
• MichMash: State Sen. Jeremy Moss seeking more transparency in Michigan government

A ballot campaign plans to launch in July to ask voters to ban political donations from committees affiliated with utility monopolies and from businesses with substantial state contracts.  

A coalition of progressive organizations are behind the campaign for a voter-initiated law to reign in the influence of utilities and insurance companies with market dominance as well as contractors that do more than $250,000 in business annually with the state, which would appear to include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan — a prolific political donor.

“This isn’t just another policy tweak,” said Sean McBrearty, Michigan director for Clean Water Action, one of the groups backing the proposal. “It’s a line in the sand. We want to stop corporations from buying off our democracy.”

The Michiganders for Money Out of Politics campaign said Consumers Energy and DTE Energy, in particular, have used their clout to fend off efforts to award bigger paybacks to customers for power losses.

“One of the biggest reasons we don’t see progress in Lansing is because too many politicians are bought and paid for,” said Ken Whittaker with Michigan United. “The political will to fix this mess just isn’t there, but that’s by design. We’re not new to this.”

The campaign needs to collect almost 357,000 signatures of registered voters to qualify for the 2026 ballot. They said the signature-gathering effort will be all-volunteer without using circulators who are paid by the signature. They say the specific language will be revealed closer to having it approved by the Michigan Board of State Canvassers.

But they say it will be very similar to legislation that has stalled in the Legislature already.  

The campaign said utility influence has held back reforms that would improve service and make rates more affordable. Spokespersons for two large Michigan utilities said their companies behave ethically. They said donation decisions are made independently by political action committees run by employees and shareholders.

Statements from Consumers Energy and DTE Energy said they and their corporate political action committees strictly abide by existing campaign finance laws. DTE spokesperson Ryan Lowry noted the utility agreed to publicly disclose all political donations of $5,000 or more as part of a 2023 rate settlement agreement with the Michigan Public Service Commission.

Lowry also said political action committee decisions are made by employees and shareholders.

“These disclosures showcase DTE’s commitment to our customers and communities we serve, helping us meet our aspiration of being best in the world and best for the world,” he said in an emailed statement. “The political contributions the company makes are supported by the DTE voluntary employee PAC or DTE shareholders — not from customer revenue.”