State Rep. Sara Cambensy (D-Marquette), is responding to the announcement that Attorney General Dana Nessel has denied her request for a formal investigation into possible conflicts of interest in the plan to redevelop the old Marquette General Hospital campus.
Cambensy says she was “left with optimism” after the decision, and she says this is NOT over. In fact, Cambensy says she’s encouraged by the AG’s office being willing to take testimony from people with information about the proposed project. Cambensy added that those details could still lead to a criminal investigation, and she’s encouraging people to come forward.
Her full press release is posted below:
State Rep. Sara Cambensy (D-Marquette), was left with optimism after the AG’s response to her letter today. Unlike the NMU Foundations response, she doesn’t see the letter as an ending point to the questions she asked, but rather a starting point to where the taxpayers want to go with getting answers and transparency.
“After speaking with the AG’s office today, I believe the public has several options to consider going forward. First, the AG’s office is still willing to take testimony from individuals who have detailed information regarding this project that may lead to a criminal investigation. My office cannot speak for those individuals, but I would encourage those who have information and who have shared that information with me to still contact the AG directly.
“Second, even though public universities are given great autonomy in how they operate in our state constitution, our judicial system remains one of the ways the public can challenge university decision making and transparency surrounding projects such as the hospital sale and redevelopment property when they can’t get answers directly from elected or appointed officials, or see many of the documents used. The public would start that process using FOIA and request meeting minutes and documents from the NMU Foundation and/or city.”
“Lastly, the public can contact the IRS regarding tax compliance or ‘any other information they feel would be important’ to the agency regarding the NMU Foundation, Lifepoint Hospital, and Veridea surrounding the gift of property for this project while remaining anonymous (https://www.irs.gov/compliance/reporting-otherinformation-to-the-irs).”
“Finally, the public can direct local and state officials to strengthen brownfield laws to make sure there are increased checks and balances that protect the public taxpayers. State brownfield laws rely on local officials to understand extremely complex state laws that put them in vulnerable positions. Developers and consultants have lobbied for the laws to be fluid and as recent as 2017, extend the number of qualifying uses that brownfields can be used for on purpose. Taxpayers could also look into requiring that any developer with a brownfield request over a certain threshold for a project be subject to adequate public review time or even a vote by the public.”
Cambensy said she hopes that the significant amount of public support from the taxpayers that her letter received is an alarm to those orchestrating this project.
“Even a month later, there continues to be a growing concern for why the project is being done this way and the lack of transparency surrounding it. Yet those involved obviously feel that they don’t need to gain the publics trust and support with the almost $58M of public tax dollars or credits they were able to secure in a matter of five months without even showing a detailed plan of what the project was. The average taxpayer can’t go to a bank and get a $1000 loan without signing their life to it, yet appointed or elected officials gave $58M of your tax dollars away this spring without hardly knowing what the project entails, who was involved or how the money is going to be used. It’s really quite unbelievable.”
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