Nessel updates release date of Flint water report; Democrats dominate key money race
A report on the investigation and prosecution of the Flint water crisis is expected to be released before the end of the year, the attorney general said. Dana Nettle said on Wednesday.
The Flint prosecution team led by then Attorney General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthysaid they would release a report on the investigation and prosecution of the Flint water crisis in October 2023.
The prosecutions – which began under the former Republican Attorney General Bill Schuttewere dismissed under Nessel in 2019 and retried in 2021—were closed in October without criminal convictions after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in 2022 that using a judge-appointed grand jury to indict individuals was illegal.
At the time, Worthy and Hammoud – who has since left her post to move into the private sector – said they would publish a “full and detailed report” in 2024.
On Wednesday, Nessel said the goal was to schedule the release before the end of the calendar year, but the process would be “time-consuming.”
“One of the things we’re working on — and actually we’re trying to do the same thing with the MSU documents — is to make these documents available so that you don’t have to FOIA them, you don’t have to pay whatever… the significant costs that would normally be associated with it,” Nessel said. “We’re trying to make it so that we can put it online so literally anyone can look at them.
“That’s our goal,” she said. “It’s just very time-consuming to do it.”
Democrats dominate Supreme Court funding
The Democratic campaigns for the Michigan Supreme Court have gained an astonishing fundraising lead over their potential Republican opponents this fall.
Two seats on the state Supreme Court are up for election in November. The incumbent judge, nominated by the Democrats Kyra Harris BoldenThe campaign reported that it had raised $1.1 million this year through August 8, and the campaign of the Democratic candidate for the other seat, University of Michigan Law School professor Kimberly Ann Thomasreported raising $826,603.
Thomas’s figure was 10 times the amount collected by all five Republican candidates in their disclosures due last week.
Among those who want to challenge Bolden is the Branch County judge Patrick William O’GradyThe campaign raised $21,790, Romulus Attorney Alexandria TaylorThe campaign raised $8,119, and the former candidate for Attorney General Matt DepernoThe campaign raised $136.
Among the Republicans hoping to run against Thomas for the seat vacated by the outgoing Republican-nominated judge, David VivianoState representative. Andrew FinkThe campaign raised $81,507, and the Michigan Court of Appeals judge Mark BoonstraThe campaign raised $35,230.
Among the biggest donors to Bolden’s campaign were Secretary of State Jocelyn BensonThe Michigan Legacy Political Action Committee donated $82,500 and Governor Gretchen Whitmer‘s Building Bridges PAC, which donated $83,250, according to disclosures.
Slotkin focuses on the economy
The pro-Mike Rogers Super PAC Great Lakes Conservatives Fund aired its first commercial of the general election last week, attacking the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin from Holly to business.
It is about a small business owner from Macomb County, Debbie Starkwho said her trucking company was feeling the effects of inflation. “Politicians like Elissa Slotkin are making things worse,” Stark said in the ad. “She was a rubber stamp for the Biden-Harris agenda. Bidenomics were not good for Michigan, but Michael Rogers understands it.”
GLCF announced after the primary that it would spend $1 million on its next ad, which began airing Thursday for two weeks on television in Detroit and on digital platforms nationwide. The super PAC had spent $5 million to get Rogers through the Aug. 6 primary.
Slotkin was endorsed by the Democratic governor last week. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan AFL-CIO, the state’s labor federation.
“Elissa has consistently shown that she is committed to the rights of working families and union members,” said Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber it said in a statement.
“She understands the challenges workers face and has consistently fought to ensure every worker has access to a good job with fair wages, good benefits and the opportunity to retire with dignity. Elissa’s proven track record of battling corporate special interests and fighting to protect our workplace rights makes her the right choice to represent Michigan.”
Hertel goes on air
Former Senator from the State of Michigan. Curtis Hertelwho is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan’s 7th District, released his first television ad of the campaign on Friday.
“In Washington, I will work with Democrats and Republicans to cut taxes for the middle class,” Hertel says in the ad. “And I will fight corporate politicians to finally get drug prices under control. Because I am accountable to you, not to donors or party leaders.”
He is running against the former Republican Senator. Tom BarrettR-Charlotte, for the vacant Lansing-area seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
If you look closely, some current Michigan state legislators make cameo appearances in Hertel’s ad: the state’s senators. Sarah AnthonyD-Lansing and Jeff IrwinDemocrats, Ann Arbor,
Tweet of the week
The Insider Report’s “Tweet of the Week,” which recognizes a social media post from the past week that deserves attention or maybe just a laugh, goes to Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
While Detroit vs Chicago exchanged pizza jokes with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker On Thursday, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in the Windy City, Whitmer made an enthusiastic – if somewhat exaggerated – claim about Michigan’s sports teams.
As of Friday, the Detroit Tigers were in fourth place in the American League Central, ahead of the Chicago White Sox, who were in fifth place.
