Michigan Republicans Take Over the House of Representatives in Lansing and Have Some Big Plans

Here we are, not even two weeks into the New Year and the State of Michigan is showing some life politically of leaning into the normal side of things. 

For this state, that is what we would call a miracle. 

This comes on the heels of some momentum at the end of 2024, which hopefully will continue.

I talked about that here: Michigan House Democrats Fail to Make FOIA Reform Happen in the State in Lame Duck Session 

We are just about done with 2024, yet here in Michigan, we have a lame-duck session of the state legislature that has gone longer than usual but has not accomplished much of anything. Yet it could have, and It would have been pretty damn cool and useful to the citizens of the Great Lake State.

One key issue was Freedom of Information Act reform — which, when I say “reform,” what I mean is we can’t check up on the governor and the legislature because they are currently EXEMPT from such laws. They could have changed that but decided not to.

Democrats currently control the governorship with Gretchen Whitmer, the state house with Democrat House Speaker Joe Tate, and the State Senate Majority Leader, who is also a Democrat, Winnie Brinks. 

All of them choked on this common sense idea to make themselves transparent to the taxpayers of this state. 

So now that the Republicans control the house in Lansing, they are looking to change it up a bit and the committees that oversee other branches of the government are ready to investigate alleged wrongdoing quickly.

Longtime Michigan political guru Bill Ballenger thinks this is a pretty big deal and says so right HERE:

In past sessions, the House had to vote to grant committees subpoena power on a topic-by-topic basis. However, a draft of the new rules would provide the Oversight Committee with the ongoing ability to “administer oaths, issue subpoenas and examine books and records of any persons, partnerships, corporations, governmental entity and political subdivision.”

One longtime Michigan political analyst, former Republican lawmaker Bill Ballenger, said Hall’s oversight plans were bold and appeared to be “unprecedented.”

“It’s about time for the Legislature to assert itself aggressively, in many different ways, and stop the go-along, get-along business they’ve been doing with various governors and the executive branch for too long,” Ballenger said.

The new Speaker of the House is ready to roll ASAP.

Republican House Speaker-elect Matt Hall plans to grant wide-ranging new subpoena power to the GOP-led House Oversight Committee and appoint six separate subcommittees to scrutinize the actions of Michigan government agencies.

The broadening of the House panel’s subpoena powers — contained in draft House rules obtained Tuesday by The Detroit News — would represent an expansion of the lower chamber’s investigative abilities as Republicans take control of the House and usher in a period of divided government in Michigan. The move follows two years in which Democrats controlled state government from the governor’s office and the state Legislature to the offices of Attorney General and Secretary of State.

I’m going to join with Bill in saying that this is a good move and truly a pretty big deal.

Michigan has been a state where lines are drawn and constantly blurred before and during elections. Very few Republicans in my 20-plus years of watching what goes on in Lansing have taken on Democrats or even Republicans who are doing the wrong thing. 

The two main examples of where Republicans should have been able to issue subpoenas and investigate situations needing a good looking into were Whitmer’s handling of COVID and the 2020 election, when Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the state.

The 2020 election results and how it was handled were such a disaster that all of the parties involved let the period expire when those who WANTED to get to the truth were fighting those looking to make a splash on social media. Lots of time was wasted, and evidence that might have been able to prove or disprove facts was most likely destroyed.

Michigan has a LONG way to go to become a truly purple state ( Trump won the 2024 election by 80,000  votes out of five million cast and in 2016 he won by even less), and a big test will be how the GOP does in the 2026 Gubernatorial race.  

The GOP looking to investigate corruption with new tools is a good way to start and keep everyone honest to help stomp out corruption across the board.

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