GOP House leader flouts past practice and ignores rule of law by failing to probe or censure representative accused of misusing her office
LANSING – The Michigan Democratic Party renewed its call for GOP legislative leaders to remove a Republican state representative from her powerful committee chairmanship and investigate the matter as reports continue to surface about the flagrant abuse of her elected office to illegally obtain voter machines.
The Detroit News over the weekend laid out the disturbing facts involving Rep. Daire Rendon, R-Lake City, who is accused of misusing her elected office to encourage local elections officials to turn over voting machines under the false pretense that there was a House investigation into vote tampering. No such investigation took place.
Rendon is among several people named in a Department of Attorney General probe which accuses Rendon of playing a key role in setting up “a coordinated plan to gain access to voting tabulators.”
Despite the continued disturbing revelations and details about this criminal investigation, Republican House Speaker Jason Wentworth has allowed Rendon to continue serving as chair of the powerful Insurance Committee as well as a member of the Families, Children, and Seniors, Judiciary, and Agriculture committees. He has also refused to investigate the matter.
“We demand Speaker Wentworth investigate this troubling matter and send a clear message that no one is above the law and abusing one’s office to break laws in a brazen attempt to override the will of the voters is wrong,” said Lavora Barnes, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. “We call upon Speaker Wentworth to remove Daire Rendon as chair until this investigation is complete and all facts come to light or publicly explain why he continually fails to hold Rep. Rendon to account in the face of mounting evidence of her misdeeds. ”
Barnes also applauded efforts by House Democrats to draft a resolution aimed at censuring Rendon. House Democrats are seeking information on Rendon’s use of state-issued government email accounts or state-issued computers that could have been used in the effort to illegally obtain voter machines.
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