Dana's Dispatch: Promoting Gun Safety, Preserving Reproductive Freedom, Maintaining Consumer Protections & More!

--------------------------------------------------------------- AG Dana Nessel Speaks in Support of Gun Safety Laws at Lansing #MarchForOurLives Rally Take it from Stephanie: Something’s gotta change. Do something! If your elected representatives don’t support reasonable gun violence prevention laws — VOTE THEM OUT! [READ MORE]( Dana Nessel, Dana Nessel on Facebook (June 11, 2022) AG Dana Nessel Speaks in Support of Gun Safety Laws at Lansing #MarchForOurLives Rally Retrieved from: [AG Dana Nessel Speaks in Support of Gun Safety Laws at Lansing #MarchForOurLives Rally]( --------------------------------------------------------------- AG Nessel joins Girl and the Gov podcast to explain the role of her office What does the attorney general do? How does the attorney general defend your freedoms? I spoke with Girl and the Gov podcast about all that and more, available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. [READ MORE]( Dana Nessel, Dana Nessel on Facebook (June 9, 2022) AG Nessel joins Girl and the Gov podcast to explain the role of her office Retrieved from: [AG Nessel joins Girl and the Gov podcast to explain the role of her office]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Nessel discusses voting suppressing efforts in Michigan Americans fought for centuries to guarantee equal access to the ballot box. Now, it's our job to ensure that we preserve that right by staying informed and voting in every election. #UseItOrLoseIt [READ MORE]( WNEM, WNEM (June 10, 2022) Nessel discusses voting suppressing efforts in Michigan Retrieved from: [Nessel discusses voting suppressing efforts in Michigan]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Michigan's GOP push to fight fake "voter fraud" gets upended by actual fraud Remember that Michigan law allows petition signature gatherers to lie to voters. Anyone approached by people collecting petition signatures should carefully read and make every effort to understand what they're agreeing to sign. Michigan Republicans are backing the citizen initiative petition known as Secure MI Vote​​​​, which would impose strict voter ID requirements, restrict absentee voting and ban private donations that help keep polling places open. Though the petition is ostensibly a citizen initiative, voters are not expected to see the measure appear on the ballot. Republicans have openly plotted all along to exploit a bizarre provision in the state constitution that allows the legislature to adopt a citizen initiative and pass it with a simple majority that the governor cannot veto. Organizers had planned to submit the petition to the state by Wednesday's deadline but abruptly backed down after discovering that around 20,000 signatures were fraudulent. Organizer Jamie Roe insisted that the effort had gathered 435,000 signatures, more than the 340,047 required, but said the group did not submit the petition out of an "abundance of caution." The announcement came just days after the state's Bureau of Elections and Board of Canvassers disqualified five of the 10 Republicans running for governor, including frontrunners James Craig and Perry Johnson, after discovering that thousands of the signatures on the petitions they circulated to qualify for the ballot were fraudulent. Long before Wednesday's announcement, the Secure MI Vote drive was plagued by allegations that petition circulators were misleading voters. Numerous reports on social media and in local news outlets alleged that petition circulators made blatantly false statements to Black voters while trying to convince them to sign a petition that could "risk their own disenfranchisement." State Attorney General Dana Nessel urged "anyone who is approached by a petitioner to carefully read and make every best effort to understand what you are agreeing to sign." [READ MORE]( Igor Derysh, Salon (June 6, 2022) Michigan's GOP push to fight fake "voter fraud" gets upended by actual fraud Retrieved from: [Michigan's GOP push to fight fake "voter fraud" gets upended by actual fraud]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Nessel: Same-sex marriage will likely fall and create ‘havoc’ after Roe does Roe and the right to privacy are the lynchpins of legal reasoning that prop up half a century's worth of our nation's constitutional protections. When it goes, so does much else. And those kinds of drastic rollbacks will have dire consequences, both social and economic. Before she became Michigan’s chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Dana Nessel was a private attorney who argued a marriage equality case that ultimately became part of the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges U.S. Supreme Court decision. That protection for same-sex marriage nationwide is now in “dire jeapardy,” along with Lawrence v. Texas and possibly other landmark cases along those lines, Nessel told the Michigan Advance Wednesday. She made the same prediction three years earlier when the Advance asked her about the future of same-sex marriage, also noting that the right to birth control in Griswold v. Connecticut could be overturned by a right-wing Supreme Court. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, as a leaked court opinion suggested, Michigan would revert back to a 1931 state law that criminalizes abortions in all instances unless it is to protect the life of the pregnant woman. This law has stayed on the books for over 90 years, but has been moot since Roe was decided. Nessel has pledged since campaigning in 2018 that she would not enforce the law if Roe were to fall, but Planned Parenthood — which endorsed Nessel in 2018 — filed a lawsuit last month against her to block enforcement of the state’s 1931 felony abortion ban. “My opinion is, as soon as you get a challenge … that, ‘Well, now that Roe is gone, then you have eliminated this doctrine,’” Nessel said. “This whole theory wasn’t just about Roe, but also Obergefell, also Lawrence [v. Texas], also other cases. If you’re going to challenge it, I think that a court could likely say, ‘Well, the Supreme Court instructs us that there is no right to privacy anymore and as such that would also impact something like Obergefell.’” [READ MORE]( Laina G. Stebbins, Michigan Advance (June 6, 2022) Nessel: Same-sex marriage will likely fall and create ‘havoc’ after Roe does Retrieved from: [Nessel: Same-sex marriage will likely fall and create ‘havoc’ after Roe does]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Man pleads guilty to murder and robbery charges against two LGBTQ men I appreciate the collaboration between my department, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, and the Fair Michigan Justice Project that secured this plea. It is my hope that this case marks the beginning of a long partnership focused on providing justice to some of our most vulnerable communities. An Indiana man pleaded guilty in felony cases related to targeting members of the LGBTQ community, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday. Diabolique Paris Johnson, 35, of Indiana, entered the pleas before Judge Kevin Cox in the Wayne County Circuit Court on Monday afternoon. It is alleged the two LGBTQ victims were targeted on online dating apps, the attorney general's office said. Johnson committed an armed robbery of a 26-year-old Detroit man at a hotel in Dearborn on September 1, 2020. It is alleged the man had his personal property stolen during the robbery, the attorney general's office said. Johnson murdered a 39-year-old Detroit man just four days later during another armed robbery on September 5, 2020, the attorney general's office said. Johnson pleaded guilty to a sentence agreement of 25 to 45 years for second-degree murder and two years to be served consecutively for felony firearm. The charge of felony murder will be dismissed at sentencing. He also pleaded guilty as charged to armed robbery with a sentence agreement of 15 to 30 years, which will run concurrent to the murder case. Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 12 at 8:45 a.m. [READ MORE]( Brandon Chew, Up North Live (June 7, 2022). Man pleads guilty to murder and robbery charges against two LGBTQ men Retrieved from: [Man pleads guilty to murder and robbery charges against two LGBTQ men]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Michigan’s abortion providers brace for a ban — or a surge This ban threatens Michigan jobs & Michigan lives. It meddles with the reproductive freedom of our state's residents, and I refuse to devote my department's resources to enforcing or defending it. Photo courtesy of Matthew Dae Smith, Lansing State Journal Tens of thousands of providers, lawmakers and volunteers are fighting to keep Michigan's abortion ban from once again taking effect should federal protections fall. The uncertainty over Michigan’s 1931 law, which has no exceptions for rape or incest, has providers preparing for two scenarios: a near-total ban that could make them close their practices, or, if one of their strategies to block the 90-year-old law succeeds, and abortion is protected, a surge of patients from Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and other nearby states that could overwhelm their resources. At the same time, conservative officials, candidates and advocates who are fighting to preserve the state’s abortion ban in court, in the capitol in Lansing, and on the campaign trail are grappling with a different set of questions: should they enforce the 1931 ban if the Supreme Court gives a green light or pass an updated and possibly more moderate version? And how harshly should the state punish violators? In Michigan, providers could face up to 15 years in prison for violating the state’s ban if the Supreme Court allows it to be enforced. And as Texas — which last September banned most abortions — demonstrated, few, if any, providers are willing to violate the bans given the threat of prosecution and lengthy prison sentences. “What type of doctor is going perform an abortion, even under emergency circumstances, if he or she thinks they are going to be criminally charged, and are going to have to defend themselves?” Nessel said. “I worry they’re just going to let the person die on the table. You’re looking at doctors losing their license, you’re looking at insurance carriers dropping that physician. Nobody would risk that.” [READ MORE]( Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico (June 11, 2022) Michigan’s abortion providers brace for a ban — or a surge Retrieved from: [Michigan’s abortion providers brace for a ban — or a surge]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Attorney General Issues Second Notice of Intended Action to Tree Trimming in Gaylord After Tornado I will not tolerate attempts to exploit the hardship the Gaylord area is currently facing for financial gain. I appreciate the diligent work our Consumer Protection Team continues to do to ensure businesses cannot exploit those who are already suffering from this tragic event. A second Notice of Intended Action has been issued by Attorney General Dana Nessel following suspected price gouging in Gaylord after a tornado moved through the area last month. The NIA is related to but separate from an action taken against Canary Date Sculpting, who was doing business in Gaylord as Canary Tree Service. according to the Department of the Attorney General. The department had received a consumer complaint about two trees being removed after the May 20 tornado. The company was identified as E & B Contracting, a limited liability company from Kentucky. Before meeting with E & B Contracting, the resident had received a quote from a Gaylord-area tree service to remove the trees for $4,200 if paid by insurance. After an investigation, it was determined the billing for E & B Contracting was turned into insurance by Canary Tree Service, the same company that faces their own NIA. The invoice submitted for the removal of the trees was for $33,962.50, prompting the new NIA. “I will not tolerate attempts to exploit the hardship the Gaylord area is currently facing for financial gain,” Nessel said. “I appreciate the diligent work our Consumer Protection Team continues to do to ensure businesses that traveled to Northern Michigan were not creating the impression they sought to help and assist, when in reality they intended to exploit those who are already suffering from this tragic event.” E & B Contracting has until June 20 to respond to the NIA, according to the Department of the Attorney General. [READ MORE]( 9 and 10 News Site Staff, 9 and 10 News (June 9, 2022) Attorney General Issues Second Notice of Intended Action to Tree Trimming in Gaylord After Tornado Retrieved from: [Attorney General Issues Second Notice of Intended Action to Tree Trimming in Gaylord After Tornado]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Nessel: ICE officer charged with sexual assault, more We appreciate that our federal partners took immediate action when the alleged abuse was first reported. I've made clear my office won't hesitate to prosecute those who commit sexual abuse, especially if the perpetrator is in a position of power. We will fight to secure justice. An officer with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been charged with six counts of criminal sexual conduct. According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Kevin Taylor, 49, of Riley was arrested and arraigned Friday morning in Wayne County’s 27th District Court. The assault charges come from the alleged sexual abuse of two victims in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility received the report of Taylor’s conduct in July 2021 and immediately began an investigation. After ICE’s investigation, the findings were forwarded to the Department of the Attorney General. “We appreciate that our federal partners took immediate action when the alleged abuse was first reported,” Nessel said. “I have made clear my office will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who commits sexual abuse, especially if the perpetrator is in a position of power. We will fight to secure justice in this case.” Taylor was given a $50,000 personal bond and GPS tether as part of a potential release. Taylor’s probable cause conference is set for June 16 at 10:15 a.m. [READ MORE]( Izzy Martin, WLNS (June 10, 2022) Nessel: ICE officer charged with sexual assault, more Retrieved from: [Nessel: ICE officer charged with sexual assault, more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Saginaw County revives summer picnic for senior citizens Thanks again to the Saginaw County Commission on Aging for putting together this event to provide your community's seniors with resources & recreation. My Elder Abuse Task Force has shown that our state's seniors are often vulnerable to scams & abuse, so it's wonderful to see them being supported. Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Attorney General, Michigan Department of Attorney General on Twitter For the first time in three years, a summer picnic returned to Saginaw County. The Saginaw Commission on Aging held its traditional summer picnic at Haithco Recreation Area in Saginaw Township for the first time since 2019. The event wasn't held the past two years because of the pandemic. A number of vendors were on hand to inform senior citizens about helpful programs. Free transportation was offered in hopes of getting as many people as possible to the event. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel attended the picnic to highlight the work her office has been doing to protect the elderly from scams. She is hoping new legislation will help in other areas. [READ MORE]( Ryan Jeltema, WJRT (June 10, 2022) Saginaw County revives summer picnic for senior citizens Retrieved from: [Saginaw County revives summer picnic for senior citizens]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for being a part of Dana's re-election campaign! Sending emails is a crucial way to keep supporters like you updated on Dana's fight for justice and progress. Plus, this campaign is fueled by grassroots supporters like you! 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