Capitol News

The Republican Governor’s Association submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the office of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on April 27, focusing on the contract awarded to [and then canceled] “Great Lakes Community Engagement, which is headed by a Michigan-based Democratic consultant.”

The request alleges that the contract would have been managed by a partisan group. “And it would be managed in coordination with EveryAction, a firm that is closely linked to NGP VAN, a technology provider that boasts that it powers ‘nearly every major Democratic campaign in America,” it said.

The requestor, whose name was not on the copy of the letter obtained by Capitol News, seeks information pertaining to the following:

• A copy of any and all e-mails to, from, or between employees of The Office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer from March 1, 2020, to the present that include any of the following names, words, or phrases:
• Great Lakes Community Engagement
• Every Action VAN
• EveryAction
• NGP VAN
• Stu Trevelyan
• Trevelyan
• Mike Kolehouse
• Kolehouse
• K2K Consulting
• Kolehouse Strategies
• A copy of any and all communications to and/or from employees of The Office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and employees, representatives and/or associates of Great Lakes Community Engagement, including but not limited to e-mails, letters, memos and text messages.
• A copy of any and all communications to and/or from employees of The Office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and employees, representatives and/or associates of Every Action VAN, including but not limited to e-mails, letters, memos and text messages.
• A copy of any and all communications to and/or from employees of The Office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and employees, representatives and/or associates of NGP VAN, including but not limited to e-mails, letters, memos and text messages.

“Legitimate questions have been raised about the Whitmer administration steering hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to partisan political operatives for work involving sensitive public health data,” said RGA communications director Amelia Chassé Alcivar. “As Gov. Whitmer continues to court the national Democratic Party spotlight, Michiganders have a right to know what led to this troubling decision and what steps the state is taking to ensure responsible stewardship of critical public health data.”