By Zachary Gorchow
Executive Editor and Publisher
Posted: February 26, 2019 3:14 PM

Attorney General Dana Nessel is the most powerful person in state government. At least for now.

The reasons:

• The breadth and importance of the issues currently before her office is almost staggering;
• Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Republican-led Legislature will likely serve as more of a check on the other than generators of sweeping new laws until they prove otherwise; and
• Ms. Whitmer and Ms. Nessel so far are the first governor and attorney general looking to work in tandem in 30 years, and Ms. Whitmer clearly sees the opportunity to leverage that to her advantage when she lacks a Democratic majority in the Legislature to pass her agenda.

Not since Jim Blanchard was governor and Frank Kelley was attorney general from 1983-91 has the state had a governor and attorney general so clearly working as a team. From 1991-2011, the offices were held by people of the opposite political party (John Engler as governor and Mr. Kelley as attorney general from 1991-98, Mr. Engler as governor and Jennifer Granholm as attorney general from 1999-2003 and Ms. Granholm as governor and Mike Cox as attorney general from 2003-11).

From 2011 until January 1 of this year, two Republicans – Rick Snyder as governor and Bill Schuette as attorney general – held the two offices. But they had a toxic relationship, disagreeing early and often and got along so poorly that by 2018 Mr. Snyder wouldn't even say if he liked Mr. Schuette.

Ms. Whitmer would surely like to repeal some of the laws Mr. Snyder signed from the GOP Legislature. But she can't. So, she's looking to Ms. Nessel to see if there are legal flaws in those statutes enabling their unraveling in court. This would not have been as realistic an option if Republican Tom Leonard had won the attorney general race over Ms. Nessel. Ms. Whitmer could have obtained her own counsel and mounted a case on behalf of state government, but Mr. Leonard could have argued against the governor's positions on behalf of the people of the state of Michigan.

Three key early examples are Enbridge Line 5, the new law governing how petition-gathering for ballot proposals works and the controversial Environmental Rules Review and Environmental Permit Review commissions. Ms. Whitmer has asked for Ms. Nessel's opinion on whether the law creating a new authority to oversee the construction of putting Line 5 into a tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac violates the state Constitution and the law creating the commissions conflicts with federal law. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has asked Ms. Nessel's opinion on whether the petition law, which creates new hoops to putting proposals on the ballot, is unconstitutional.

The Civil Rights Commission has asked Ms. Nessel for an opinion on whether the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act's prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex applies to sexual orientation and gender identity. Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) has asked Ms. Nessel for an opinion about whether the Legislature can adopt an initiative petition and amend it in the same legislative session (as Republicans did last year on the minimum wage and paid sick time ballot proposals).

Ms. Whitmer and others have asked for Ms. Nessel's opinion so many times that the attorney general tweeted, "Never thought the day would come where I would wish that fewer people were interested in my opinion."

Then there's the large number of major lawsuits against the state where Ms. Nessel could decide to seek settlements. I detailed those in an earlier blog. Already Ms. Nessel is moving to settle the Flint water civil cases and the lawsuit filed against the law allowing adoption agencies with which the state works to refuse to adopt to LGBTQ persons.

There's the hundreds – yes, hundreds – of lawsuits Mr. Schuette signed the state onto, many of which Ms. Nessel is pulling the state's name from or switching the state's position. And finally, there are the three major criminal investigations led by the department into Flint water, Michigan State University and the Catholic Church that Ms. Nessel inherited from Mr. Schuette and she is continuing.

Ms. Nessel held a remarkable news conference last week on all three that produced probably 10 different major headlines, including that she is opening an investigation into the resignation of MSU Trustee George Perles, a move that almost certainly will involve a look into former MSU Interim President John Engler's actions leading up to Mr. Perles' resignation. Understatement alert: That could be big.

Many of Ms. Nessel's most watched actions, maybe most, will be challenged in court with final verdicts rendered there. But until then, while Ms. Whitmer gets her administration up and running and she and the Republican-led Legislature figure out whether they will mostly work together or mostly serve as a check on the other, the most significant developments in state government will be coming from Ms. Nessel at the G. Mennen Williams State Office Building.