Whitmer takes a second crack at naming Michigan natural resources members

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced three new appointments to the state Natural Resources Commission, in hopes of filling out the body’s roster after the Republican-led Senate rejected two of her appointments in February.

The commission regulates sportfishing and hunting in Michigan.

Over two weeks in February, the Senate rejected appointees Anna Mitterling and George Heartwell from the commission, prompting the governor’s spokeswoman to accuse Senate leadership of playing “sexist, partisan games.” 

Michigan law gives the Senate power to review Whitmer’s appointments to the Natural Resources Commission and other bodies in a process known as advice and consent. Following Whitmer’s announcement of the three appointments Tuesday, senators will have 60 days to review them. 

If they don’t reject an appointment by majority vote within that time, the appointee is confirmed.

The appointees announced Tuesday are: 

• Democratic nominee Michael Lashbrook, East Lansing-based executive director of the Center for Alcohol Policy. Lashbrook, a member of Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy, succeeds Heartwell after the Senate rejected Heartwell’s appointment. 
• Republican nominee James R. “JR” Richardson, an Ontonagon-based vice president of environment and safety at PM Power Group. Richardson chaired the Natural Resources Commission from 2007 to December 2018, when he was tapped to serve on the Mackinac Straits Corridor Authority overseeing plans for a Line 5 tunnel. In a release announcing his appointment to the Natural Resources Commission, Whitmer said Richardson has resigned from the corridor authority. Richardson succeeds former committee member John Walters.
• Independent nominee Carol Rose, a Hillman-based co-owner of the real estate appraisal firm Jeffress-Dyer Inc. Rose is a member of the Montmorency County Conservation Club and a former member of the Michigan Wildlife Council. She is Whitmer’s pick to fill the seat she had hoped to fill with Mitterling.

In a statement Tuesday evening, Whitmer spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said the governor has “full confidence” in the nominees but declined to answer questions from Bridge. 

“All three of these appointees have a strong professional and educational background to fulfill the requirements that come with serving on this commission,” Brown said in the statement. 

It’s unclear whether the Senate Advice and Consent Committee will hold hearings to review the appointments. Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, who chairs the committee, could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. But fellow committee member Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, said he expects hearings to happen.

McBroom said he knows Richardson and supports his appointment, but knows too little about Lashbrook and Rose to say whether he supports them. McBroom said he is looking for “independent thinkers” who are willing to challenge the opinions of staff within the Department of Natural Resources.

“We need folks on the Natural Resources Commision that are not just dedicated to their viewpoints of hunting and fishing, but are ready to listen to the sporting and fishing community,” he said.

McBroom was among senators who challenged Whitmer’s February appointments after the National Rifle Association criticized Heartwell, a former Grand Rapids mayor, for his support of a gun ban in the city’s public buildings.

Brown, the governor’s spokeswoman, at the time accused Senate Republicans of rejecting Mitterling’s appointment because Whitmer wouldn’t rescind Heartwell’s appointment. 

Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, told reporters at the time that Mitterling’s rejection was not about sexism or political bargaining, but Mitterling’s qualifications for the job.

Two weeks later, the Senate rejected Heartwell, too. 

The new appointments announced Tuesday fill out the roster of the seven-member body, which is next set to meet July 16.