Are Vassar and Denno History? There have been only Two Times a Michigan Governor has Booted Elected Officials from Office …
Question 1): The Michigan State University Board of Trustees last week sent to Gov. Gretchen WHITMER an independent report on the ways in which members Rema VASSAR and Dennis DENNO violated various board bylaws and policies. The board asked Whitmer to consider removing one or both of them from the panel. The governor, traveling on an economic mission in the Far East, said she will consider the request when she returned home.
Vassar said during a special Sunday, March 3, meeting that she had hoped that her decision to resign voluntarily as board chair would “calm” the temperature of the Board, but the rest of the Board, without comment, moved forward on a vote of 6-2 against her and Denno.
While Vassar’s words in defending herself were conciliatory, Denno was more defiant, making no apologies for questioning administrators directly about a more than $500,000 “honorifics” position being given to outgoing interim president Teresa WOODRUFF.
He said the Miller & Chavalier report wasn’t an attempt to flag all board misconduct, but to use taxpayer money and tuition dollars to specifically target Vassar and himself for allegedly speaking out of turn with students and outside groups about potential partnerships.
So, is this even possible? Does the governor have the authority to remove publicly elected officials at any level of government? And, if so, should she in this case? How likely is Whitmer to fire both Vassar and Denno and replace them with board members of her own choosing?
Answer 1): If past precedent is any guide, it’s highly unlikely.
The only two times that it’s happened involved a case of election fraud in 1894 and, in 1926, of ‘double-dipping’ by the state’s school chief, who worked out a separate salary for himself with state funds outside his office.
Most recently, then-Gov. Jennifer GRANHOLM in 2008 started removal proceedings against then-Detroit Mayor Kwame KILPATRICK, but he resigned partway through the hearing, having seen the handwriting on the wall (See “Kilpatrick Enters Guilty Plea, Agrees To Resign,” 9/4/08).
Kilpatrick pleaded guilty in criminal court to two obstruction of justice felony pleas as part of his resignation, which stemmed from $8.4 million in whistleblower settlements Kilpatrick tried to hide from the Detroit City Council so that his misuse of money and his extramarital affairs weren’t exposed.
By comparison, Vassar’s bullying behavior and Denno’s tendency to work around the president are thin gruel, at least compared with the two previous times the Governor used the power of the office to give an elected official the boot.
The first instance came in 1894, when the Board of State Canvassers was made up of the Secretary of State, the state Treasurer and the state Land Commissioner. The three signed off on a doctored canvassing document in May 1893 that showed a statewide ballot question, which would have raised all three of their salaries, passed by 1,821 votes.
After the Supreme Court ordered a recount, it was found the question failed by 11,453 votes. Criminal charges were made as an investigation found more votes in some Detroit precincts than registered voters. The entire county of Gratiot didn’t have their votes counted. Results in Gogebic County were completely changed.
The Detroit Free Press wrote at the time that it was a “well-concocted and deep-laid conspiracy on the part of the high Republican officials to thwart the will of the people by the most unscrupulous and disgraceful methods ever attempted in the United States.”
Then-Gov. John RICH, also a Republican. proceeded to remove all three canvassers for “gross neglect of duty” in failing to properly canvass the election.
In 1926, then-Gov. Alex GROESBECK removed state Superintendent Thomas E. JOHNSON, who was the elected school chief at that time, because he took an extra $2,700 in salary ($47,046 in today’s dollars) for serving as director of state rehabilitation and vocational education.
Before taking the salary, Johnson apparently didn’t make any official inquiry about whether taking two state paychecks while being an elected official was OK.
Johnson also was a stockholder, director, and officer for a surety company which wrote bonds for employees and officers of “normal schools,” an old-school definition of teaching schools like Eastern Michigan University.
Johnson and Groesbeck were political adversaries, Johnson having endorsed Fred GREEN earlier in the year for the next term. The two also had a vocal public disagreement earlier in the year about Johnson wanting a fifth normal school in Michigan. Groesbeck said it wasn’t necessary.
Groesbeck held a hearing and booted Johnson, who later contested the action in the courts. Instead, the Attorney General intervened and demanded Johnson pay the state back close to $20,000 for the “illegally accepted” money in a case that dragged on for several years. (Maybe Johnson got his revenge on Groesbeck, who sought an unprecedented fourth term as governor in 1926 but was defeated by Green in the Republican primary. Green went on to serve two two-year terms as governor.)
In both the 1894 and 1926 cases, those broomed from office were found to have violated the public trust, as opposed to working around official channels, speaking out of turn and trying to embarrass political adversaries, as Vassar and Denno are accused of doing.
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Question 2): What political role is there left for Right to Life of Michigan to play at this point?
Answer 2): Right to Life will always have a role in the abortion debate, because it’s an issue that will never go away. In the future, much depends on whom the successor to the relentless Barbara Listing turns out to be. Also, there are unresolved aspects of abortion that may be addressed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, including parental consent, regulating abortion facility inspections, requiring 24-hour waiting periods before an abortion, and prohibiting so-called partial birth abortions. Most controversial of all may be Whitmer’s push to eliminate the state’s ban on Medicaid-funded abortions. Nobody seems to remember that this issue was on the statewide ballot in 1988 — some 15 years after SCOTUS’s Roe v. Wade decision. In that election, Michigan voters decided by a whopping 57%-43% margin to prohibit Medicaid funding of abortion. That’s been state law ever since. If Whitmer persists in her demands to ALLOW such funding, you can expect Right too Life to spring back into action again.
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Nice article, Bill. It will be interesting to see if Gov. Whitmer uses Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution or Act 116 of 1954. If she is going to do it, I would suggest using the state Constitution. And using it does not require the legislature to NOT be in session nor any impeachment. All the Constitution requires is the due process hearing. The constitutional language states: § 10 REMOVAL OR SUSPENSION OF OFFICERS; GROUNDS, REPORT.
SEC. 10. THE GOVERNOR SHALL HAVE POWER AND IT SHALL BE HIS DUTY TO INQUIRE INTO THE CONDITION AND ADMINISTRATION OF ANY PUBLIC OFFICE AND THE ACTS OF ANY PUBLIC OFFICER, ELECTIVE OR APPOINTIVE. HE MAY REMOVE OR SUSPEND FROM OFFICE FOR GROSS NEGLECT OF DUTY OR FOR CORRUPT CONDUCT IN OFFICE, OR FOR ANY OTHER MISFEASANCE OR MALFEASANCE THEREIN, ANY ELECTIVE OR APPOINTIVE STATE OFFICER, EXCEPT LEGISLATIVE OR JUDICIAL, AND SHALL REPORT THE REASONS FOR SUCH REMOVAL OR SUSPENSION TO THE LEGISLATURE.
It gives her authority to remove or suspend. It is the preferred route as it will certainly give us an inkling into her thinking.
One thing not mentioned is the rather significant lawsuit against MSU over former football coach Tucker’s personal behavior. If my 4+ decades as a state employee made me a suspicious and paranoid sort, I might think that the attempts to remove Trustees Nassar and Denno was an attempt to not pay attention to the lawsuit, at least for now. But only if I were a suspicious and paranoid sort.
QUESTION 1: I read the report. I am not sure if MSU got their $500,000+ value out of it, but I read it. Reading it, it appears the most egregious offender is Rema Vassar as the most significant stuff on Dennis Denno does not appear until page 53 of a 66-page report. Vassar’s behavior certainly qualifies – under most sane definitions – as bullying. I am not sure of Dr. Vassar’s previous personal or professional history, but it was certainly impressive enough for the Democrats to nominate her for the office, push for her election to that office and then select her as the Chair of Board of Trustees. So whether her past was a mirror into what she would do on the Board of Trustees, I do not know. But those who promoted her have a lot of explaining to do, especially if they now want to remove her from the Board. Let us know who promoted her so we will know to NEVER listen to them again. If Vassar is a bully, remove her from power. If she is a bully, do not renominate her. But if she is removed, there is a whole bunch of folks who need to be removed and Gov. Whitmer will be holding more due process hearings than she wants to hold. And that is NOT something she can defer to someone else.
The stuff on Dennis Denno does not appear until page 53 of the 66 page. Denno was nominated BECAUSE he was a Democratic operative and legislative staffer. It appears that is how he approached and did his job. He wanted to know what the MSU community wanted (hint adjunct staff want tenure, students want lower tuition and the physical plant staff want more money and respect). What, pray tell, did Democrats expect from him? Mother Theresa? I think your analysis is spot on. Questioning $500.000 honorifics to an interim President is not – in my opinion – is not a problem. Why the report did not focus on the entire Board, I don’t know. If anyone on the Board is removed, I’d remove them all – especially anyone who was on the Board during the Nassar fuster cluck. Replacement Board members should include – and it pains me to say this – Jim Blanchard and John Engler. Both of these former governors bleed Spartan Green (probably the only thing they agree on). They would clean up the Board.
QUESTION 2: Right to Life has to find the permanent successor to Barb Listing. Any Democratic attacks on parental consent, Medicaid funding, holding abortion clinics to the same standards as other outpatient surgical facilities, and other things, will result in a resurgent Right to Life.
And before any of the “pro-choice” crowd get their knickers in a knot, if parental consent is a bridge too far for you on abortion, does that extend to statutory rape? Other elective surgery? If a 13-year-old girl can decide she wants an abortion and keep her parents in the dark (who, incidentally, will be on the hook for any post-surgical complications) should be allowed to engage in sexual relations? If she can do one, why not the other? I am old enough to remember that 14 gets you 15 and 13 gets you life. Michigan should not be a state where the likes of Kermit Gosnell can practice their vision of “medicine”.
Several aspects of the report that I read appear to contain outrageous findings of misconduct by the investigating law firm:
(A) the finding that Vassar and Denno colluded with students and disclosed confidential information to them regarding critical administrators in an attempt to discredit and cause them distress;
(B) the finding that Vassar had accepted sporting event tickets and free use of a private jet for her and her daughter to transport her to and from the event in New York City – despite the fact the donor was associated with a collective attempting to obtain use of MSU trademark-protected items for a private business venture that was obtained.
Rema Vassar holds a PhD from UCLA and has an impressive professional background. Dennis Denno’s background, on the other hand, is as a ham-and-egger legislative staffer for several state senators in Lansing- one being Buzz Thomas. How Mr. Denno got to become an MSU trustee with his background is a tribute to the lack of controls on the Democratic party state nominating conventions in filtering out those with lackluster backgrounds from receiving nominations and being placed on a prestigious statewide ballot university seat.
The Michigan State University Board of Trustees has continued to operate as a joke via their ongoing embarrassing conduct.
It is hard to believe that any trustee would stoop to enlisting students to harass an administrators they did not like. That is what the report found. Disgusting does not even begin to describe the situation laid out in the report of the law firm that looked into the matter.
Oops. I missed a word in paragraph 4. I should have included the word REPORT after page and before Denno. I need to proofread before I it post comment. Mea culpa.
Question — Bill, you might remember that Engler was about to remove the late John Kelly from the Wayne State University board in 2002 board before Kelly abruptly quit.
The MSU Board situation is a disgrace. Rema Vassar needs to resign from the board entirely.
Daniel Kelly, a GOP member of the board is the new chairman. Dan is a Troy attorney and a great asset to MSU. It is good to see him assume the chair of the Board of Trustees.
One of the most disturbing allegations that the independent report found was that Ms. Vassar accepted free tickets and flights for her daughter and herself from a donor on the donor’s plane.this appeared to be in violation of the conflict of interest policy contained in the MSU Board of Ethics.
The report also found ethics violations by Trustee Denno. He was only elected by 8,000 statewide votes in 2022 against GOP nominee Mike Balow – only one-tenth of one per cent margin of victory. It was the closest race that the GOP came to winning statewide in 2022 – with the MSU community still reeling over the Larry Nasser scandal and the criminal proceedings against former President Lou Anna Simon.
The insiders of the GOP are licking their collective chops over the two MSU Board of Trustees seats up for grabs in November of 2024 and are trying to obtain big name candidates as they did for the Wayne State University Board of Governors when Terri Lynn land was nominated and easily won a seat a few years ago.
Read the report. It is shocking but not surprising.
A lot of common sense stuff. Do not accept gifts from those attempting to transact business with the university. These are supposed to be officeholders who should know better.
Big question if the retaliation found against those who opposed the Trustees in question will expose the university to any legal action from the targets.
My opinion there might only be a censure against Vassar and Denno – but they should resign on their own accord.
This is the most embarrassing episode in the history of the MSU Board of Trustees.
Answer 1) Perhaps they should be removed, or at least censured, but neither will be since they have a (D) after their names. Now if they had an (R), all they would have to do is look askance at a 400lb Green Haired Transvestite Lesbian at which moment both would be dragged to the Red Cedar River where they would be promptly drowned.
Answer 2) There is an old saying, “Be careful what you wish for….” Since the advent of Roe v Wade, RTL has worked tirelessly for its demise. Their wish was granted and it was finally overturned 50 years later. (as should any court decision based on a penumbra).
But now ripping babies out of the womb has become a States Rights issue. And as we woefully found out in Michigan, due to the passage of proposal 3 in 2022, abortion access and availability has actually been EXPANDED. Which will proceed even further if those with a (D) behind their name have their way. I’m surprised that wHitler wishes to allow Medicaid to cover the cost of an abortion; that’s where most voters that voted for DEMentia Joe and his ilk originally came from.
So RTL still has a future, just like our heroine mentioned above in Answer 1), who becomes vociferously hysterical whenever any type of restriction is placed on abortion, even though ‘it’ will never become pregnant for a list of reasons too numerous to mention here. Green hair or not.
Yeah, look at all he GOP activists being criminally charged – Matt DePerno, Kathy Berden, Marian Sheridan, Stan Grot and numerous others. This is unprecedented.
Yet Dana Nessel took a pass on the GBI Strategies vote registration fraud investigation that was developed by the Michigan State Police.
Double standard? Of course!
The continued fallout attributable to the Dr. Larry Nasser scandal continues to plague MSU.
Why Rema Vassar would want to waive attorney-client privilege in the Nassar matter and expose the university to more liability is beyond me. Who is she trying to look out for?
MSU did a horrendous job in investigating Larry Nasser for years – but spent over $500,000 in private investigative fees to probe the VICTIMS who were suing the university over the sexual assaults committed by Dr. Nasser.
Lou Anna Simon was clueless as to the public relations nightmare created by the Nasser scandal and posited her continued expansion of the university was the key focus of her success as an administrator.
Vassar likewise embarrassed the university over her conduct. MSU trustees are unpaid – so perhaps they feel morally entitled to accept gratuities from various sources. Denno likewise embarrassed MSU.
They deserve more than a slap on the wrist – they should be removed from office – but will that happen in an election year via a Democratic governor – of course not