By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A local lawmaker says a recent report delivered needed transparency on what she called a “partisan contact tracing contract.”

Republican State Rep. Ann Bollin of Brighton Township testified Wednesday before the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic after she had requested the Auditor General conduct an inquiry into a contact tracing contract that was awarded by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration to a data firm with ties to the Democratic Party. The contract was cancelled by Whitmer after its affiliation became public. Bollin says the Auditor General’s report showed Great Lakes Community Engagement (GLCE) was the only firm considered for the COVID-19 contact tracing project. GLCE is connected to K2K Consulting and Kolehouse Strategies, political consulting companies owned by Donald M. Kolehouse II, who has ties to Gov. Whitmer and other Democratic political campaigns.

“This request was not political. It was not partisan. It is not a ‘gotcha’ moment. It’s simply about ensuring the public’s trust in our leaders, in each other and in the data,” Bollin said before the select committee. “Contact tracing quickly became the centerpiece of the public health strategy in our battle against COVID-19. Leading experts advised us this was a highly contagious virus and if we were to combat it, we’d need solid contact tracing data. But contact tracing volunteers who thought they were helping in this fight and submitted their personal information – including names, email addresses and phone numbers – instead had that information funneled to a data firm that could use it for political purposes.”

Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon testified before the select committee last week, acknowledging that the decision to pursue a contract with the firm in question was a mistake. Individuals who both Gordon and the Office of the Auditor General identified as playing key roles in the awarding of the contact tracing contract – Andrea Taverna of the Michigan Public Health Institute and DHHS HIV/STD Division Director Kathryn Macomber – have refused multiple invitations to speak before the select committee. Taverna refused to cooperate with the Auditor General when the office was compiling its report and has declined to speak with the Attorney General as it investigates the contract.

Gordon testified that a new contract was signed on May 5th with Detroit-based Rock Connections, a subsidiary of Quicken Loans, and Deloitte. He says that collaboration has resulted in 90,000 calls to 19,000 different patients with confirmed COVID-19 cases.