Departing head of major state government agency registers as lobbyist

LANSING — A former member of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s cupboard has registered as a lobbyist in Lansing, days after resigning as director of a serious state authorities company, sparking renewed revolving door issues in Michigan.

Michelle Lange, who resigned as director of the Division of Know-how, Administration and Finances on Jan. 31, registered as a lobbyist with the Dykema legislation agency on Feb. 3, state information present.

Lange, an East Lansing lawyer, has served as director of DTMB, which handles state contracts, actual property, info know-how and the state finances, since 2023 and as appearing director or deputy director since 2021, in line with her LinkedIn profile.

Whitmer introduced Lange’s resignation in a Jan. 27 press launch.

Lange didn’t instantly return a Feb. 4 cellphone message in search of remark and a spokesperson for Dykema was unavailable.

Organizations Dykema lobbies for embrace: the Michigan Affiliation of Well being Plans; the Michigan Affiliation of State Universities; the Michigan Cable Tv Affiliation; Pfizer Inc.; Windfall Hospital and Medical Middle; the American Insurance coverage Affiliation; Automobile Homeowners Insurance coverage Co.; Steelcase Inc.; Toyota Motor North America Inc.; Well being Alliance Plan; That is in line with state information from the Boji Group and the Michigan Hashish Producers Affiliation.

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Home Speaker Matt Corridor, R-Richland Township, highlighted Lange’s transfer to the lobbying power at his Feb. 4 information convention and known as for laws to bar each Michigan division heads and state lawmakers from transferring immediately into lobbying. Proponents of such legal guidelines cite potential conflicts of curiosity between public pursuits and personal pursuits, particularly when lawmakers or officers think about a transfer from one sphere to the opposite.

“We need to ban the revolving door,” Corridor mentioned.

In line with the Nationwide Convention of State Legislatures, most states have restrictions, often called cooling-off durations, that stop former lawmakers from changing into lobbyists for sure durations of time, and at the very least seventeen states have comparable restrictions on high unelected officers. The one restriction in Michigan legislation is that lawmakers who go away the Legislature earlier than their phrases expire should wait till these phrases expire earlier than changing into lobbyists.

In 2016, Gov. Rick Snyder’s outgoing chief of workers, Dennis Muchmore, mentioned he would signal on as a lobbyist in his new job as chairman of the federal government relations and regulatory observe group for the Detroit-based legislation agency Honigman.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com.