MI Natural Resources Commission Appointment Rejected

Majority Michigan State Senators, in a rare move, are rejecting an appointment by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to the Michigan Natural Resources Commission. Only one Republican Senator voted in favor of the appointment of Anna Mitterling to the NRC. Another Republican was absent from the vote. There’s talk at the Capitol that the vote is a response to another of Whitter’s NRC appointments. Whiter named former Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell to be Chair of the NRC.  Opposition to his appointment is significantly noisier than the opposition to Mitterling. Many conservatives say to have someone with the open anti-firearms views of Heartwell leading the panel that among other things, sets hunting regulations in Michigan, is too much to accept. At least one Democratic lawmaker claims Republicans offered to vote in favor of Mitterling if the Governor would pull back the Heartwell appointment. Which she has not.

Either way you look at it, the Republican majority in the Senate appears to be sending a message to the Governor. The Heartwell appointment may be the next to be rejected. He presided over his first meeting of the NRC this week. But the State Senate has about 60 days to reject the appointment. He was just appointed earlier this week.