The Move
Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall of Richland Township removed Democratic State Representative Penelope Tsernoglou of East Lansing from all three of her committee assignments on Wednesday.
The removal came one day after Tsernoglou held a press conference calling on Republican House leadership to vote on a bipartisan resolution investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's ties to the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Grand Traverse County.
Tsernoglou was stripped of her posts on the House Oversight Committee, the Public Health and Food Security Oversight Subcommittee, and her position as minority vice chair of the State and Local Assistance Programs Oversight Subcommittee.
Retaliation or Discipline?
Tsernoglou called the move retaliation.
"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."
Hall denied the connection. Speaking to reporters Wednesday night, the Richland Township Republican said the decision had nothing to do with the Epstein press conference.
"I don't care about her press conference. I wasn't even aware of her press conference. This is solely based on the decision, based on the body of work that I saw in the committee."
According to Hall, the removal was triggered by an exchange between Tsernoglou and Subcommittee Chair Rep. Jason Woolford, R-Howell, during a May 15 meeting of the State and Local Assistance Programs Oversight Subcommittee.
The subcommittee was hearing testimony from Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Jason Palmer on efforts to recover improperly paid unemployment benefits during the pandemic.
During the hearing, Tsernoglou pressed Woolford on whether he would support legislation preventing the state from reclaiming non-fraud unemployment overpayments more than three years after they were issued.
Woolford said the hearing was meant to focus on Palmer's testimony rather than legislative positions. He ruled Tsernoglou out of order when she persisted.
Tsernoglou called Woolford's response "extremely rude" and said she was "done asking questions" after what she described as personal insults.
Hall called Tsernoglou's behavior "condescending" and said "we've never seen anything like that in the whole time I've been here."
A Rare Move
Stripping a representative of committee assignments is uncommon in the Michigan House.
The last time a speaker took similar action was in 2024, when then-Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, removed Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford Township, from committee assignments after Schriver shared a graphic promoting the debunked "Great Replacement Theory" conspiracy.
"It's also very rare that people are removed from committees," Tsernoglou said.
The Epstein Resolution
Tsernoglou's House Resolution 284 would create a six-member select committee with subpoena power to investigate Epstein's ties to Interlochen.
The resolution has 44 co-sponsors in addition to Tsernoglou, including Republican Representatives Jaime Greene of Richmond, William Bruck of Erie Township, and Brad Paquette of Niles.
According to NPR reporting in February, court documents and U.S. Department of Justice records allege that Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell encountered one of their earliest known victims, a 13-year-old girl, at Interlochen summer camp in the 1990s.
Epstein attended Interlochen's summer camp as a teenager in 1967. He returned as a donor in 1990 and contributed more than $500,000 to the school over more than a decade.
Interlochen has said it conducted two internal reviews following Epstein's 2008 conviction and 2019 arrest, finding no reported complaints about Epstein on campus.
Political Fallout
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel called for Tsernoglou's immediate reinstatement to her committee assignments.
Tsernoglou also alleged that Hall has "a history of silencing women" and retaliating against members who challenge leadership.
"Someone did say to me, 'You know, you're probably going to get retaliated against for this.' And I was like, 'I might, but this is the right thing to do,'" Tsernoglou said.
House Oversight Chair Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, declined to open a legislative investigation in a May 14 letter to Tsernoglou. He cited an ongoing review by Sanghavi Law Office, a Massachusetts firm Interlochen retained in spring 2024 to investigate misconduct allegations related to Epstein's ties to the school.
Tsernoglou said she expects budget work to continue through the end of June, with limited session days anticipated until after the November election.
"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 said. "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."