House Republicans want Haadsma to lose chairmanship amid claims he ‘covered up’ sexual assault

Updated, 2:18 p.m., 5/3/23 with additional comments

A group of House Republicans are calling for punitive measures against state Rep. Jim Haadsma (D-Battle Creek), who they say helped “cover up” an alleged sexual assault by a prominent former union lobbyist.

“A serious allegation has been made, and [Haadsma’s] involvement is suspicious,” state Rep. Jamie Thompson (R-Brownstown Twp.) told reporters Tuesday morning.

Thompson and state Reps. Angela Rigas (R-Caledonia), Rachelle Smit (R-Martin), Gina Johnsen (R-Odessa), Andrew Beeler (R-Port Huron) and Joseph Fox (R-Fremont) were present at the press conference. Rigas, Smit, Thompson and Johnsen called for House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) to remove Haadsma as chair of the House Labor Committee.

Jonathan Byrd — then-president of the South Central Michigan AFL-CIO — was alleged in April 2022 to have harassed and sexually assaulted an unnamed woman at a Kalamazoo fundraiser, according to March reporting in the Detroit News. The woman reported the incident to police months later, but not before both she and Byrd met with Haadsma in his law office where the legislator reportedly “mediated” a discussion between the two. Haadsma told police he mediated the meeting but was “unaware of any physical advances” and “believed it to just be verbal in nature,” according to the Detroit News.

The Detroit News reported that Byrd had denied any criminal wrongdoing at the time via his attorney, and had not provided further comments. 

“I tried to be helpful and supportive based on the information shared with me at the time,” Haadsma said on Wednesday. “When I later learned of the details, I was surprised and concerned for the woman who came forward to report her experience to law enforcement. I shared all I knew of the allegations against Jon Byrd with the police.”

During the Tuesday press conference, Rigas said, “My question is, who are you [Haadsma] to mediate an alleged sexual assault? Why were the authorities not called? That’s the proper protocol when a sexual assault has occurred.”

Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, is investigating the case. 

“Our review of the case involving Jonathan Byrd is ongoing and we have no updates at this time,” Nessel spokesperson Danny Wimmer said on Wednesday.

According to the police report, Haadsma was only aware of the inappropriate comments made toward the woman and did not know that Byrd allegedly touched her inappropriately.

Before Byrd resigned when the allegations were made public, he testified at a House Labor Committee hearing in March in support of Democratic lawmakers’ repeal of the controversial Right to Work law that was signed in 2012 by GOP former Gov. Rick Snyder.

As chair of the committee, Haadsma had presided over that hearing.

House Republicans claim that the mediation session Haadsma led between Byrd and the woman was an attempt to coerce her to resolve charges against Byrd out of court.

“It seems clear Rep. Haadsma was working to cover up the deplorable acts of a union lobbyist to keep it out of the public’s view,” Rigas said. “Allowing him to continue to lead the House’s Labor Committee after this misguided and coercive action is unacceptable. Representatives have been removed from committees for far less.”

In an email, a spokesperson for Tate said that punitive measures are not on the table.

“Speaker Tate has no plans to change Rep. Haadsma’s committee assignments, nor to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation,” said Amber McCann.

State Sen. Michele Hoitenga (R-Manton) was expected to join the press conference as well, but was not present. Rachel Doane, a spokesperson for the House GOP, said that a last-minute scheduling change was likely to blame.

“I can say for certain that she wasn’t off somewhere trying to sweep sexual assault allegations under the rug, though,” Doane added.