Michigan Dem, an ex-Whitmer lobbyist, misused public funds to secure cushy job: watchdog complaint
DEXTER, Mich. — Political watchdog Americans for Public Trust asked the Michigan inspector general Thursday to examine allegations Democratic congressional candidate Curtis Hertel Jr. misused public funds and political connections to land a well-paying job in health care, in a letter exclusive to The Post.
A former state legislator and member of a prominent Michigan political family, Hertel is running to represent the Wolverine State’s 7th Congressional District, one of the most competitive races this cycle.
The letter says Hertel misused taxpayer funds as a lobbyist for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer by helping deliver millions to a health company that employed him just days later.
Hertel was Whitmer’s director of legislative affairs when her administration passed an $82 billion budget last year, and he was intimately involved in the negotiations.
So it raised alarm bells when the budget allocated $1.5 million to the Greater Flint Health Coalition, run by a former colleague of Hertel.
Mere days after the budget passed, Hertel resigned from Whitmer’s administration to take a job at the health-care org whose coffers he’d just helped pad.
Financial disclosures from Hertel’s campaign reveal that new gig paid him $108,000 a year.
Greater Flint Health Coalition President Jim Ananich served with Hertel in the state Senate from 2015 to 2022.
Ananich acknowledged he first discussed the possibility of Hertel working with the company while the latter was still working in the governor’s office but dismissed suspicions the hiring was political.
“He’s a talented guy, and these are big projects,” he told The Detroit News.
But Hertel’s personal connections to the Michigan’s health industry do not end there. The candidate’s wife, Elizabeth Hertel, is Michigan Department of Health and Human Services director.
The agency has been involved in procuring contracts for the Greater Flint Health Coalition.
The letter presents the same claims to the inspector general that were outlined in a 2023 Detroit News article that read in part: “the situation puts a spotlight on the close, behind-the-scenes relationships between groups seeking assistance from state government and officials in positions to provide it.”
In response to the Detroit News story, Hertel denied personal involvement in doling out the $1.5 million to his future employer.
But his general involvement in negotiating the budget is undeniable. Upon his resignation, the Whitmer administration praised him for “successfully leading negotiations on behalf of the Governor, securing the historic ‘Make it in Michigan’ budget.”
APT is calling on the Michigan inspector general to investigate the ties between Hertel’s political and private affairs — and hope the letter commands some answers from Hertel and his campaign.
“While we would encourage him to respond to a reporter’s inquiry, you really cannot ignore a governing body of the situation,” APT director Caitlin Sutherland told The Post, noting Hertel ignored questions from the Detroit Free Press on the scandal.
APT is a nonpartisan nonprofit “dedicated to restoring public trust in government by holding politicians and political groups accountable for corrupt and unethical behavior.”
“We have filed complaints on both sides of the aisle against Republicans and Democrats, calling for investigations to take a look at corrupt and unethical behavior,” Sutherland said;
Hertel’s congressional campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment days before publication.
After publication, campaign spokesman Sam Kwait-Spitzer told The Post, “Curtis Hertel left government and started working for a nonprofit dedicated to fixing our broken health care system. Tom Barrett did Big Pharma’s dirty work in the legislature by protecting drug companies from legal accountability.”
