Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Thursday she does not expect to file any more charges after alleging a former top House staffer siphoned off money for his own use from funds earmarked for a $25 million health facility project in Clare.

The charges allege David Coker, who was an aide to then-House Speaker Jason Wentworth, spent $820,000 that was supposed to be used for the project to, instead, buy coins, gold bars and firearm accessories, among other things. At a press conference to announce the charges, Nessel said a dearth of relevant experience by a grant seeker should be a warning signal.  

“They have no track record,” she said. “They can’t show that they’ve done anything in terms of major projects that have been successful of this kind or really even any kind at all. So, that’s a major red flag.”

The earmark was slipped into the 2023 state budget anonymously, which was allowed at the time. Since then, the Legislature adopted rules that require every earmark to have a sponsor, and the House requires those sponsors’ names to be made public before budget votes.

Nessel said ending anonymous earmarks is a step in the right direction.

“I’m very encouraged by these actions to bring more sunshine into the appropriations process and support any further guardrails the Legislature sees fit to prevent fraudsters from stealing our hard-working tax dollars,” she said.

Coker was charged Wednesday with seven felonies alleging he misused public funds. Nessel alleges the fraud was committed using faked invoices from his for-profit consulting firm.

Coker’s not-for-profit organization, Complete Health Park, was paid $9.9 million from the grant before the funding was halted. Nessel said her office is looking into how it might recoup the expended funds.

The not-for-profit paid $3.5 million for the property, which was purchased from state Representative Tom Kunse (R-Clare). Nessel said Kunse is not suspected of wrongdoing.

Coker’s attorney said his client was cooperating with the inquiry, and the charges came out of the blue. Joshua Blanchard told Michigan Public Radio his client was trying to bring a major project to build a health services campus to Clare.

 “He disclosed everything to the state, been aboveboard about every bit of it all along and, for whatever reason, Dana’s office decided they wanted a press conference and so they issued charges,” said Blanchard.

The next step will be for the state to outline the charges and the evidence to a judge  at a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 23.

Nessel’s office is also looking into two other cases of possible earmark fraud, including spending by a not-for-profit formed by businesswoman and major Democratic Party donor Fay Beydoun on a $4,500 coffeemaker and first-class plane tickets and a $2 million grant to fund a study on bringing low-orbit rocket launch sites to Michigan.

A fetus would count as a dependent for Michigan taxes under a bill getting hearing Tuesday before the state House Finance Committee.

The bill would apply to people who are at least 10 weeks pregnant by the end of the tax year. A doctor would have to verify that pregnancy status.

State Rep. Gina Johnsen (R-Lake Orion) sponsors the bill. In an interview, Johnsen said she hopes it encourages more people to start families.

“Everything costs more to just survive, raise a family, take care of yourself. But, even starting at pregnancy, the costs go up. And this bill is to recognize that that’s when the costs start, not just when a child is born,” Johnsen said.

The personal exemption allowed under Michigan tax law is adjusted each year. For the 2024 tax year, it added up to $5,600 for each person and dependent.

Critics of the bill question whether it would truly provide enough support for new families.

Danielle Atkinson is the founder of the group Mothering Justice. Atkinson said she’s skeptical the bill would provide meaningful help for mothers.

“If this was in good faith, we would definitely be looking at the true cost of care, money that’s lost when you are out of work. And just overall what it takes to raise a child in this society,” Atkinson said.

She estimated it costs upwards of $14,000 each year to raise an infant, when accounting for childcare, food, clothes and other costs. Meanwhile, she raised concerns that the legislation could also have implications for talks around access to abortion.

In 2022, Georgia became the first state that offers such a tax exemption for fetuses after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That legislation was tied to Georgia’s fetal heartbeat law.

Johnsen said her bill, however, was based on the federal WIC program. That program offers food assistance to low income pregnant people, nursing mothers, and families of young children.

“I just want the moms to have an opportunity to have some assistance here and recognize that this is financially more difficult than not having a baby,” Johnsen said.

But Atkinson said expanding other programs, like Rx Kids, which gives checks to mothers of newborns are better uses of time and money.

“We have to think in the totality of when we’re talking about moms and families and babies, what does the most good and we need to put our attention and our resources behind those initiatives,” Atkinson said.

The bill is inching along in the state legislature at a time when House Republicans are also calling for across-the-board income tax cuts, setting aside more funding for roads, and cutting back budget spending.

Democrats have pushed back, arguing that those policies could put public services and social safety net spending at risk. Senate Democrats, however, have still called for the creation of what they describe as a “working parents tax credit.”

Johnsen defended her push for another cut, saying there are places to cut waste in the budget.

“We say we’re looking out for the most vulnerable. Well, the most vulnerability are the babies and the pregnant moms and the elderly and the veterans. They have to come first. Or we don’t have a thriving and strong society,” Johnsen said.

She said she expects the bill to come to a vote in the Michigan House of Representatives within the coming weeks.

Making or selling a drug derived from opium, like heroin or fentanyl, would carry a tougher penalty in Michigan under bills that passed in the state House of Representatives Wednesday.

Current laws treat opiates and their synthetic counterparts, opioids, similar to cocaine and other narcotics considered highly dangerous and addictive.

That means, depending on the amount, possession with the intent to deliver could carry maximum prison sentences from 20 years to life. Some optional fines could also come into play.

The bills passed Wednesday would raise some of those maximum sentences, require fines in some cases, and set new mandatory minimum sentences.

Rep. Sarah Lightner (R-Springport) co-sponsors the bills. She said this is one of the issues where she believes mandatory minimums are necessary to interrupt the work of producers and dealers.

“They need to be off the street for a certain amount of time. So anywhere from, you know, five to 15 years is a lot of time that will disrupt the chain, and hopefully we see that impact in our communities,” Lightner told reporters after the vote.

The bills got some bipartisan support, passing by margins of 66-40 and 65-41 in a chamber where Republicans only have a six-vote majority.

Still, many Democratic opponents to the bills said the legislation would amount to another step in a failed war on drugs.

Representative John Fitzgerald (D-Wyoming) said stronger sentences wouldn’t address root causes of drug abuse and its impact on communities.

“The emotion that comes into an issue like this does not mean that we just drop the hammer and leave everyone else in the dust in the wake of what is going on,” Fitzgerald said to reporters.

Fitzgerald and his colleagues agreed the state needs to instead continue investing in programs aimed at reducing addiction and crime while providing more community resources.

Representative Amos O’Neal (D-Saginaw) said those programs are working, comparing their progress to trying to turn a big ship that moves slowly.

“The evidence that we’ve seen here in Michigan, the rudder and the turn is happening. Right here in Michigan, such as education and skill-building opportunities, substance abuse treatment programs, and objective decision-making, and effective support for reentry. It’s working. Evidence-based programs have safely reduced, here in Michigan, the prison population,” O’Neal said during a floor speech.

He said stronger penalties would just worsen high incarceration rates that already disproportionately affect Black and Brown residents.

Supporters of the legislation, however, argued back that overdose deaths happen regardless of a person’s background.

Representative Ann Bollin (R-Brighton), another package co-sponsor, said the stronger sentences need to happen in addition to the other work the state is doing. She argued the bills go after drug traffickers, not users.

“We must do something to stop the penetration of the fatal drugs throughout our society. The real perpetrators, the dealers, the manufacturers, walk away with money in their pockets and no awareness at all the depth of grief realized by these families and neighbors, the victims’ families,” Bollin said from the House floor.

Package opponents say there are not enough guardrails to ensure that non-dealers don’t get caught up in the punishment system.

The legislation next goes to the state Senate for more consideration.