House Oversight Committee Chair Jay DeBoyer today said Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lack of participation as the committee has examined two conflicts of interest shows a blatant lack of transparency and brings into question whether the Attorney General can do her job without bias.

“Through our committee hearings and meticulous reporting, it is clear that the Attorney General did not act appropriately within her role with these two issues,” said DeBoyer, of Clay Township. “Our committee has worked in bipartisan fashion to meet with the Attorney General and look over communications to deliver answers for people we all represent. Attorney General Nessel is the top law enforcement official in the state. When someone can tip the scales of justice in this fashion, it’s a real problem – and we have a duty as legislators to ensure abuses of power do not go unchecked.”

The House Oversight Committee voted unanimously this summer to issue subpoenas to Nessel for information on two issues. One was her decision to not file charges in a case referred to her by the Secretary of State’s office involving an alleged campaign finance violation by Bipartisan Solutions and an organization that included a member of Nessel’s family.

A 2022 complaint alleged that Bipartisan Solutions collected donations for the sole purpose of making expenditures to Fair and Equal Michigan, a ballot initiative committee. The Secretary of State’s Office investigated and referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Office for the enforcement of penalties in April of 2023, but Nessel’s office did not take action.

The other request sought documents from the Attorney General about her department’s investigation into Traci Kornak, a lawyer and former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party. Kornak is a friend of Nessel’s who served on the AG’s transition team when she was elected in 2018. In 2022, Kornak was accused of using the account of an elderly client to fraudulently bill an insurance company, and emails obtained through the state’s Freedom of Information Act raised questions about what role the Attorney General played during the investigation.

A presentation to the committee today covered instances where Nessel’s communication broke an “isolation wall” that was put in place to separate her from the case and its progress. DeBoyer noted the information provided to the committee indicates that neither the victim of the fraud, the insurance company that was fraudulently billed, nor the whistleblower for the case were ever interviewed by Nesssel’s office, and he blasted the Attorney General and her office for handing over redacted documents to the committee after unredacted documents were requested.

“I find this response of the Attorney General’s office especially interesting considering a recent interview Attorney General Nessel did complaining about redactions of documents for Detroit Edison – a private company that, generally speaking, has more ground to stand on for redacting documents pursuant to a government request than an executive branch agency would have when a request is made by legislative subpoena,” DeBoyer said. “This is about the public’s trust. There were three separate entities that came to a different conclusion or have taken much more substantial action than the Attorney General’s office as it pertains to the case with Ms. Kornak, who was politically connected to Dana Nessel. What we saw from emails that were provided is that a conflict of interest was immediately established and should have been identified. It’s not an interpretation. These emails should have said right up top “I have a personal relationship with Ms. Kornak and I need to be separated from this investigation.”

“That step was not taken, so we either saw complete incompetence from the Attorney General’s office or cronyism through a desire for it to go nowhere.”

DeBoyer disclosed during the hearing that documents provided by Nessel’s office indicated both case files are now in a closed status and there was no evidence that enforcement of criminal penalties occurred with either file.