By Ben Solis, Michigan Advance
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel will have to testify before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee in September after lawmakers issued several sweeping subpoenas to various departments on Tuesday.
The push continues the committee’s flexing of its subpoena power since the GOP took control of the House this year. The subpoenas issued Tuesday also included document requests to the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Attorney General.
In a statement to Michigan Advance, Ed Golder, spokesperson for the DNR, said the department is always willing to meet with legislators to discuss its work to protect and manage natural and cultural resources.
“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,” Golder said. “A subpoena was not necessary to compel the department to provide information.”
Lynn Sutfin, spokesperson for the state health department, said Hertel told the committee she would be happy to testify and requested more information on what the committee wanted to discuss so she could be more prepared.
“A subpoena was not necessary to compel the director to appear before the committee,” Sutfin said.
A message seeking comment from the attorney general’s office was not returned at the time of publication.
Regarding Hertel, state Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell) put forward a subpoena request for testimony requiring the director to testify before the committee on Sept. 9. Woolford said the committee would seek from Hertel information on programs implemented by the state health department, adding that three subcommittees of the Oversight arm have spent the last several months investigating the department.
Woolford specifically noted the House Oversight Subcommittee on Child Welfare’s work to probe Children’s Protective Services related to residential care issues, and the Subcommittee on State and Local Assistance Programs’ work on eligibility verification for programs.
“Despite many committee hearings on these issues, DHHS representatives have provided unsatisfactory answers to the House members’ questions, and have repeatedly stated that Director Hertel would be the better person to answer these questions,” Woolford said. “Representatives of DHHS have repeatedly stated that their current protocols for administering these benefits and applications are required by federal guidelines, but they have failed to identify which federal guidelines contain these requirements.”
Woolford went on to say that MDHHS representatives have also refused requests to testify before the subcommittees, and said it appears as though the department was stonewalling the Oversight Committee’s investigative work.
Prior to the committee approving the subpoena, state Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing), noted that Hertel was interested in making herself available, but has not been available on the dates suggested by the committee. Woolford, prior to Tsernoglou’s comment, noted that Hertel was asked to testify on dates in July but couldn’t make it work.
“I have sat through several presentations through DHHS, so perhaps they’re not making everyone available, but they certainly have made some members available for the committee that I’ve sat on,” Tsernoglou said. “I’m not opposed to having the director testify, I think that would be a good idea.”
State Rep. Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay), the committee’s chair, noted that as recently as last week, the committee sent Hertel additional possible dates for testimony but the committee had not heard back.
The request for testimony from Hertel was authorized unanimously with all 17 members of the committee, Republicans and Democrats alike,voting yes.
The department’s spokesperson, Sutfin, told the Advance that DHHS officials have appeared before policy, budget and oversight committees 21 times and responded to more than 100 requests for information since the start of the latest legislative term in January.
Document requests to AG over campaign finance violations, criminal investigation issues
DeBoyer also called for the authorization of subpoenas against the attorney general’s office, including one related to an unnamed criminal referral sent by the Michigan Department of State regarding a Campaign Finance Act violation.
DeBoyer did not mention the name of the person at the heart of the alleged violation, but said the subpoena would seek information on any potential criminal activity regarding that referral, and if any resulting investigation presented a conflict of interest between the Department of Attorney General and the subject of the suspect of the investigation.
A representative from DeBoyer’s office later told Michigan Advance that the subpoena would seek additional information on a campaign finance complaint against Bipartisan Solutions, a dark money group that was alleged to have raised and contributed nearly $700,000 to the Fair and Equal Michigan ballot question committee in 2020.
The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust issued the complaint to the Department of State. A database of resolved complaints on the department’s website shows that the department had reason to believe that a violation had occurred, but DeBoyer’s office said that an investigation into the matter hasn’t been touched.
DeBoyer’s office said that there was a potential issue of a conflict of interest there between Nessel and a member of that group that the committee wanted to sort out, as it was in the public interest.
During the committee meeting, DeBoyer noted that the House has a duty to examine, debate and enact legislation around how conflicts of interest should be regulated by statute.
“Furthermore, the House has the ability to impeach civil officers of the state of Michigan, where corrupt conduct in office occurs,” DeBoyer said. “In order to faithfully exercise its responsibilities. In this regard, the House is entitled to investigate the Department of Attorney General’s decisions regarding whether to issue criminal charges in this matter, or whether to create a conflict wall, given the close relationship between Attorney General Dana Nessel and the subject of the criminal referral.”
Separately, DeBoyer said he was also seeking documents related to any potential criminal complaints or activity allegedly involving Traci Kornak, an attorney and a member of the Democratic Party. A former columnist with The Detroit News had written pieces accusing Kornack of insurance fraud, and had sought to investigate the matter through the Freedom of Information Act. Document requests in that matter were partly denied.
DeBoyer on Tuesday said the document request sent to Nessel’s office would also parse conflict of interest concerns regarding Kornack.
Additional request would evaluate invasive swine, Canadian geese orders
For the Department of Natural Resources, the committee issued subpoenas on the department’s 2010 invasive species order regarding feral swine and a separate program on the euthanasia of Canadian geese. The swine issue was one brought up recently by guitarist and outdoorsman Ted Nugent when he visited the Michigan Capitol in June to rail against hunting and other conservation regulations.
Nugent also ran afoul of the DNR regarding alleged feral pigs when the department sued him and others in Ingham Circuit Court, to which he countersued in the Court of Claims and lost there. Nugent’s main argument was that the order on feral pigs – specifically related to so-called Russian boar – was invalid and unlawful. The case in Ingham Circuit Court was closed in May.
This story was updated to include comment from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Health and Human Services.
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