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The GOP-led Michigan House Oversight Committee has been aggressively watchdogging the executive branch with hearings (and the occasional subpoena) into election management, the Michigan Unemployment Agency, the Michigan State Police, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and the state’s liquor-tracking system. But it’s stepping very cautiously around an inquiry into a nascent scandal brewing at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
It’s not like Republicans are cozy with the agency that doles out incentives to lure business projects to the state. They’ve been highly critical of the program and are essentially looking to dismantle much of the operation. For the past year, The Detroit News’ dogged team of Beth LeBlanc and Craig Mauger have published a blockbuster series of stories outlining how a nonprofit “business accelerator” created by former Michigan Democratic Party Vice-Chair/ex-MEDC board member/Governor Gretchen Whitmer fundraiser Fay Bedoun became the recipient of a $20 million state grant.
As The Detroit News first reported, Beydoun collected a $550,000 salary from the grant and purchases using tax-payer dollars included a $4,500 coffeemaker for the nonprofit’s office and a $11,000 first-class airline ticket to a conference in Budapest.
The MEDC is now demanding a big portion of the money back. Beydoun has said she will return much of the money, which has yet to happen. And the Whitmer administration is trying to put as much distance as possible between itself and the scandal while trying to salvage its business incentives program.
But the House Oversight Committee, for now at least, is hanging back.
“The problem is there is a current, active criminal investigation going on, and we don’t want to do anything to screw that up,” Oversight Chair Jay DeBoyer (R-Clay Township) told Rick this week. “We don’t want to do something that could compromise [it].”
The criminal investigation was launched by Michigan Attorney Dana Nessel, a Democrat. Her office is in a legal fight with the MEDC over a search warrant that was used to seize records from its downtown Lansing headquarters. (For more on the eyebrow-raising raid on the MEDC, take a listen to Zoe’s conversation with The News’ LeBlanc).
The MEDC wants the records back. The Attorney General wants a court to allow a “taint team” to sort out what’s going to remain in the hands of law enforcement and what will be returned to the MEDC.
But an awful lot of people have got to be awfully uncomfortable as this plays out. That has to include Team Whitmer as communications show the governor’s office was more than aware of the grant to Beydoun.
DeBoyer says there may still be oversight hearings on how the state handles MEDC grants (and he makes clear he’s not a fan).
“It’s not about crime. It’s about making better policy for Michigan, and if we can look at how they’ve managed this grant and where the deficiencies are at, and how it was, perhaps, done inappropriately, moving forward we can establish better policy for the distribution of grants. In the big picture that’s what this is really about from the oversight perspective.”
DeBoyer said, when the time comes, he’d love to call in Beydoun and someone from the MEDC.
“But, to be honest,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to hear from either of those people.”
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Have questions about Michigan politics? Or, just want to let us know what you want more of (less of?) in the newsletter? We always want to hear from you! Shoot us an email at politics@michiganpublic.org!
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It wasn’t just a state budget that the legislature didn’t get done before leaving the Capitol last week, there still isn’t a deal on road funding. What happens next? Plus, a month to go before Detroit’s mayoral primary.
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What we’re talking about at the dinner table
First act: Someone’s making hay off the partisan budget standoff in Lansing and that someone is Detroit Mayor and independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan. The state Legislature has blown past the July 1 deadline set in state law to finish the budget and, while K-12 schools, public universities and many local governments have skin in the game, state legislators don’t pay a personal price. Duggan said this week that his first act if elected governor would be to call on the Legislature to enact a law that paychecks for the governor, lieutenant governor and all state lawmakers would be “suspended” if there isn’t a state budget enacted by July 1. It’s a little populist red meat that shows Duggan won’t let a crisis go to waste. And it might put a little pressure on the only sitting member of the Legislature (so far) who’s running for governor. Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt could drop a bill now and make that part of the budget debate going into the summer.
Voting measure: A proposed ballot measure that would try to ensure that only American citizens vote in Michigan elections moved a step closer to gathering signatures this week after a meeting of the Board of State Canvassers. “Michigan law already bans non-citizens from voting. And cases of that happening have been extremely rare,” the Michigan Public Radio Network’s Colin Jackson reports. “But some incidents from the last general election have led three separate constitutional amendment proposals to go before the board this year. The measure would require residents to show documentation proving citizenship—rather than checking a box verifying eligibility.” Americans for Citizen Voting, the group behind the measure, says signature gathering could begin as soon as the next few weeks.
Rescission: Now that Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” has been signed into law, the U.S. Senate is set to focus next week on the President’s $9.4 billion dollar rescission package. Included in the federal funding clawback is more than $1 billion dollars for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which helps to fund NPR, PBS and public media stations across the country including Michigan Public. The Republican-controlled U.S. House approved the legislation last month along largely party lines, 214-212. The Senate has until next Friday, July 18, to vote on the measure. In a social media post last night the President threatened GOP members of Congress by withholding support, saying “any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or endorsement.” You can find out more about the effort to defend against the cuts at protectmypublicmedia.org.
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Yours in political nerdiness,
Rick Pluta & Zoe Clark
Co-hosts, It’s Just Politics
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IJP ON THE ROAD
Zoe was a guest on this week’s NPR Friday News Roundup. Listen for updates on the devastating flooding in Texas, President Trump’s latest tariffs, and a Supreme Court decision clearing the way for mass firings within the federal government.
Rick was a panelist on this week’s Off the Record from WKAR. Topics include the latest on road funding, Detroit Mayor and independent gubernatorial candidate Mike Duggan’s idea to hold Lansing accountable when budgets aren’t done on time and Attorney General Dana Nessel’s political aspirations.
