Democratic lawmaker says House Speaker retaliated against her for speaking out on Epstein resolution

A Democratic state representative from East Lansing is speaking out against the chamber’s Republican leadership, saying she was stripped of all committee duties after hosting a press conference on a resolution to investigate convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to an art school in Grand Traverse County, an assertion that was later disputed.

Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing), a member of the House Oversight Committee and the Public Health and Food Security Oversight Subcommittee, as well as the minority vice chair of the State & Local Assistance Programs Oversight Subcommittee, accused Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) of retaliation after she held a press conference calling on the chamber’s Republican leadership to vote on her House Resolution 284.

The resolution, which received broad support among House Democrats as well as Republican Reps. Jaime Greene of Richmond, William Bruck of Erie Township and Brad Paquette of Niles, sought the creation of a select committee to investigate ties between Epstein and the Interlochen Center for the Arts. 

In February, NPR released a deep dive examining how Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell used the boarding school as a base to prey on some of their earliest victims, citing records released by the U.S. Department of Justice alongside former campus administrators.

The Interlochen Center for the Arts released a statement saying it had cut ties with Epstein after learning of his 2008 conviction on charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. The center conducted an independent review, and another when Epstein was arrested in 2019, stating that “both reviews found no reports of misconduct at Interlochen involving Epstein.”

“While the internal reviews focused on whether any concerns had been reported or known to Interlochen, we are aware of information that has emerged publicly by two individuals who shared that they met Epstein through Interlochen in the 1990s,” the statement reads. “We have invited the individuals who may have been impacted by Epstein to speak with an independent investigator as part of an external investigation into reports of historical misconduct at Interlochen Arts Academy.”

Tsernoglou’s resolution, introduced on April 16, was promptly referred to the House Government Operations committee, where legislation is frequently sent to die.

“Speaker Hall’s decision to remove me from all my committees is truly shocking. The Speaker of the House has decided to retaliate against me for daring to publicly ask him to investigate Jeffrey Epstein. While he decided to engage in a cover-up, I chose to stand with the victims and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein in calling for a bipartisan committee to investigate his ties with Interlochen,” Tsernoglou’s statement reads. 

“I chose to stand on the side of truth and facts. I chose to stand on the side of transparency and accountability,” Tesernoglou continued. “I chose to use my voice to stand up for assault survivors and against pedophiles. I will never stop using my voice to stand up for Michiganders, especially those who have been victimized by individuals in a position of power.”

Later Wednesday evening, Hall told reporters that his decision to remove Tsernoglou had nothing to do with the Interlochen press conference, and instead was made based on what he considered to be “out of line” behavior during a meeting last week of the House Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Assistance Programs in which he said she repeatedly challenged state Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell), who was chairing the session.

“We’re not going to have Democrat members act unruly and out of order in the committee,” Hall said. “So I removed her from all committees and subcommittees, and intend to replace her with somebody who’s really going to bring more constructive or constructive feedback to the committee, and who’s really going to work to help us hold the different departments of government accountable.”

As reported by the Michigan Information and Research Service, Tsernoglou repeatedly pressed Woolford on whether he supported legislation to stop the state from reclaiming non-fraud unemployment overpayments made during COVID, despite opposition from Hall. After Woolford refused to discuss his legislative views during the hearing, a terse exchange followed in which he ruled Tsernoglou out of order, apologized to the witness for what he called a lack of professionalism, and prompted Tsernoglou to accuse him of being personally insulting and rude.

The Michigan Democratic Party has voiced its support for Tsernoglou, with Chair Curtis Hertel calling for the immediate reinstatement of her committee assignments.