Rep. Annette Glenn, R-Midland, today said her efforts to expose and crack down on taxpayer-funded “hush money” contracts given by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to former top officials and department heads will continue despite a new order from the governor.

Glenn’s comments come after Whitmer issued a directive related to guidance on separation agreements within state departments. The governor is under fire for “hush money” settlements given to former Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon ($155,500), former Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Steve Gray ($86,000) and others.

 “I appreciate that the governor feels the heat, saw the light and knows she must do something after her bad decisions related to confidentiality agreements for her former aides – but her efforts do not go far enough in part because they do not have the permanence of state law,” Glenn said. “I will continue to push for remedies through the state budget and legislative process. This is still the same governor who paid “hush money” to keep her former public health director and former unemployment agency director quiet in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic – and we still don’t know why. I will continue to push for answers and enact measures to ensure the accountability and transparency Michiganders expect and deserve from their state government.”

Glenn — chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy — will push for all House Appropriations subcommittee chairs to include language in their respective budget proposals aimed at exposing and preventing similar “hush money” contracts. Her plan also is expected to include separate legislation to put reforms in state law.

Glenn’s plan would prohibit agreements with departing department officials for the purposes of keeping them quiet about what prompted their departure. It would require disclosure of severance packages for department directors, deputy directors and other high-ranking administration officials within 14 days of the agreements being signed – and the name of the official and the amount of money received must be disclosed. Her plan also would require public posting of any severance agreement in excess of $5,000, regardless of position held by the department employee, and require annual reports to the Legislature on how much severance money was paid out, and to how many employees.

“The governor has hidden information affecting our lives and livelihoods for much of the past year – these confidentiality agreements are part of that pattern,” Glenn said. “We need reforms to open up state government, and we need them right now.”

Glenn also is advancing plans to require the governor and Legislature to follow freedom-of-information laws, and to establish whistleblower protections for state employees who raise concerns about how their departments operate.