Michigan state Reps. Donna Lasinski (D-Scio Township), left, and Brenda Carter (D-Pontiac), right, at a press conference in Lansing, Mich., on Aug. 30, 2022.Ben Orner | MLive.com

LANSING, MI – It must be investigated whether Rep. Daire Rendon misused her office when contacting elections officials to secure elections equipment as part of a wider effort into proving fraud in the 2020 presidential election did occur.

That’s according to a letter from House Minority Leader Donna Lasinski, D-Scio Township, sent to House Speaker Jason Wentworth, R-Farwell, on Aug. 29.

Rendon, R-Lake City, is one of nine individuals named in a request for special prosecutor from the Department of Attorney General over allegations the group allegedly stole and illegally analyzed voting machines last year.

Others include Republican attorney general candidate Matt DePerno and Barry County Sheriff Dar Leaf.

RELATED: What to know about probe into alleged election machine tampering by Michigan AG candidate, others

Lasinski said during a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 30, that the allegations against Rendon “represent at best, a serious misuse of her elected office, and at worst, facilitation of a crime.”

“Speaker Wentworth can authorize this investigation with the House Business Office at any time. We expect more than his usual silence on these matters,” she said. “We must demand that these typical lines of waiting for the legal process to play out get pushed back on. We have to reject us rehearsed claims that we would somehow impair a criminal represent a criminal investigation.”

Lasinski’s letter to Wentworth notes that the Democratic Caucus is particularly concerned over the fact Rendon allegedly attempted to use her position as a lawmaker to gain access to tabulators.

Rendon reportedly told Roscommon County Clerk Michelle Stevenson that representatives were probing the possibility of election fraud occurring in the 2020 general election. While lawmakers did launch an investigation into the 2020 election last year, it came out of a Republican-led Senate committee and found that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

“Our concern, stemming from this remark allegedly made while facilitating an illegal acquisition of election equipment, is to what extent Rep. Rendon may have gone to in her efforts to misrepresent this endeavor as being legitimately conducted by the legislature or state representatives. … This investigation must begin urgently,” Lasinski wrote. “The people of Michigan deserve to know if their government, through the actions of one or several elected officials or legislative employees, misused those taxpayer-funded resources entrusted to the representatives in service of the state.”

While she acknowledged that it was up to law enforcement to determine whether Rendon broke the law when engaging in these alleged activities, the House did have the power to investigate whether Rendon misused her office when making these reported demands of clerks.

Citing House rules in her letter, Lasinski noted that it was within the power to have the House Business Office conduct such an investigation.

It was a call echoed by Rep. Brenda Carter, D-Pontiac, who was also present at the press conference and offered her own remarks.

Carter added that it was nonsense that an investigation into Rendon would not commence until a potential investigation into the wider effort to tamper with voting machines was concluded, referencing prior remarks made by Republicans that they would not look into punishing Rendon unless the justice system found crimes had legitimately occurred.

“Rep. Rendon will continue to be the lead on the Insurance Committee, and (Republicans) are content to not lift one finger until the justice system has concluded their work,” she said. “This is a nonsense approach to seek justice. ... We need an investigation now, no matter how much the Republican majority doesn’t want to draw attention to these alleged crimes.”

RELATED: Michigan House Rep. Daire Rendon will keep committee roles amid voting machine probe

To date, no action has been taken with respect to Rendon’s alleged involvement in orchestrating what Attorney General Dana Nessel’s petition calls a “coordinated plan” in early 2021 to access vote tabulators, components and technology in Roscommon, Missaukee and Barry counties.

Republicans have previously said Rendon will keep her various House appointments as the probe is ongoing, even with House Democrats calling for the third-term lawmaker to be censured for her role in effort.

Only the House speaker can grant an investigation request, as the House Business Office reports directly to the speaker, meaning that unless Wentworth gives the OK in this situation calls for an investigation into Rendon will remain unheeded.

In response to questions from reporters, Lasinski added that there was nothing prohibiting Republicans from outright releasing the information Democrats are seeking including whether Rendon used her state-issued email accounts, computers and materials printed by the House in her pursuit of voting machine access.

“There is nothing that prohibits that,” she said, of the release of Rendon’s records, “and those are the actions we that we need to see taken because, quite frankly, when you are busy undermining democracy you’re not busy conducting democracy. And in this case, we have important work in front of us.”

Wentworth spokesperson Gideon D’Assandro, when asked for a response to the Democrats’ call for an investigation into Rendon, said in a text message that the speaker “will let the legal process play out and review any new developments as the information comes out.”

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