Nessel says she consulted New York AG before declining nursing home investigation
Beth LeBlanc
The Detroit News
March 17, 2021
Attorney General Dana Nessel told lawmakers she consulted the New York attorney general — who is investigating New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s nursing home and data policies — before declining a similar review of nursing home policies in Michigan.
The Plymouth Democrat said the Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido’s request for complaints about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s nursing home policies is a “recipe for misconduct” that smacks of partisanship.
“I do take umbrage to some extent with an effort to ask people to bring evidence forward that you don’t know exists,” Nessel said.
New York’s case differed in terms of probable cause because a “whistleblower” had come forward regarding data manipulation, Nessel said during a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government.
“We had no evidence of any kind that the governor or anyone from her office had misrepresented the numbers … that were provided to the department of justice,” Nessel said.
“We had no indication that there was a crime of any sort, which was absolutely not the case in New York,” she said.
Cuomo has taken fire for allegedly withholding data on nursing home resident deaths at hospitals, keeping the actual number of nursing home deaths artificially low by counting only those deaths that occurred at nursing homes themselves.
“Nessel criticized Lucido’s action, arguing that if he had any sort of probable cause he would be able to obtain a search warrant to review nursing home documents without submissions from families.”
Res ipsa loquitur