Complaint: Oakland County Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig created 'climate of fear'
An Oakland County district court judge is facing a public misconduct complaint with accusations that she failed for months to produce a report on a psychological exam she underwent, bullied court staff, created a climate of fear and improperly dismissed cases.
Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig of 52-4 District Court in Troy was formally accused in a complaint announced June 4 by the Judicial Tenure Commission, the state's judicial oversight body.
The complaint is the first step in a court-like process, after which the Michigan Supreme Court could decide to suspend or remove a judge, at the most severe.
Hartig could not immediately be reached for comment, but a spokesperson, Daniel Cherrin of Royal Oak-based public affairs and communications firm North Coast Strategies, issued a statement on her behalf, saying the judge respects the 'important role' of the commission and has patiently waited for the chance to address the allegations against her.
'After years of inquiry, the Commission has produced a complaint based on disputed claims and a flawed process," he said in the statement, later adding: "The public deserves confidence in both the judiciary and its oversight. That confidence depends on transparency grounded in fact, not fiction.
'Judge Hartig has served the public and the bench for more than a decade with integrity, transparency, and a commitment to justice. The Commission is expected to do the same.'
Hartig has 14 days to issue a formal response to the commission.
A public complaint itself is a rarity for the tenure commission. Even when judges are found to be at fault, their misconduct cases are most often resolved behind closed doors. The process can also take years.
Hartig, however, is the third Michigan judge in recent months to have a formal, public complaint issued against them.
The 52-4 District Court handles cases in Troy and Clawson.
More: Taylor judge called chief judge names, flipped off security cameras, complaint says
The chief judge of Hartig's court ordered that she be restricted to civil, landlord-tenant and small claims cases as of May 27.
Following the chief judge's order but before the announcement by the commission, Bill Mullan, public information officer for Oakland County, said in an email that it would let the order speak for itself.
"The order was issued to ensure fairness in the courtroom," Mullan said at the time. "We refer any future questions to the Judicial Tenure Commission."
Hartig had been under scrutiny by the commission in recent years, the Free Press previously reported. A former chief judge asked the commission to investigate in 2020, according to a filing in federal court by the county amid a lawsuit by a former court administrator.
The court administrator in the lawsuit claimed she had been wrongfully terminated after making complaints about Hartig mistreating staff and the public. It came after she cooperated with the commission amid interviews of more than 40 people, she said in the lawsuit.
More: Troy court worker who claimed judge was bully, abusive accepts $100K secret settlement
More: 'No teeth': Cases of 2 embattled Michigan judges highlight concerns with accountability
More: Visitors from Norway, fan pages, gifts: How judges' online fame affects Michigan courts
Though Hartig denied the allegations of creating a hostile work environment and said the administrator was doing a poor job, the county settled the lawsuit in 2023 with a $100,000 payout.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald also sparred with the judge in recent years, accusing her in 2022 of dismissing criminal cases because of a grudge with prosecutors regarding scheduling. In a court filing, the prosecutor's office said Hartig was frequently reversed on appeal and 'has a long-standing practice of seeking to impose her own personal view of what the law should be via the criminal cases before her.'
Hartig, at the time, said prosecutors knew she wanted them to appear in person, and they did not heed the law.
"They didn't do their job and now they'd like to blame the judge for enforcing the law,' she said.
Hartig was first elected to the bench in 2010 and was elected to her third six-year term in November 2022.
Reporter Dave Boucher contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Complaint: Oakland County Judge Hartig created 'climate of fear'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
SoftBank and Trump may not be enough to save Intel
Intel (INTC) rose roughly 7% on Tuesday, a day after SoftBank Group announced it would take a $2 billion stake in the struggling chipmaker. News of SoftBank's investment follows a Bloomberg report last week that said the Trump administration is considering taking up to a 10% position in the company. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed in a CNBC interview Tuesday that the investment would involve the US government converting Intel's grants from the Biden-era CHIPS and Science Act — worth $10.9 billion — into an equity stake aimed at stabilizing the company's US manufacturing business. Bessent did not confirm the size of the stake the government would take. Intel has fallen behind in an industry it once dominated. Its manufacturing division is bleeding cash, just as its legacy computer chip segment forfeits market share to rivals Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Qualcomm (QCOM) in the PC space. Intel is also woefully behind AMD and Nvidia (NVDA) in the AI race. The company's market capitalization of $111 billion is less than half of its value in 2021. And CEO Lip-Bu Tan has been forced to lay off 15% of the company's workforce and shelve plans to build plants in Europe. But the troubled chipmaker is the only large-scale US-based leading-edge chip manufacturer, giving it geopolitical significance as the nation looks to reshore semiconductor production. Intel's problems, however, may be too big for either SoftBank or the Trump administration to solve on their own. Intel in need of direction Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore said news of the US potentially taking a stake in Intel, combined with the SoftBank investment, shows that "[Tan] is taking bold actions to solidify Intel's financial and strategic positioning during its ongoing difficult transformation process." Tan became CEO in March after Intel's board ousted former CEO Pat Gelsinger late last year. But others on Wall Street expressed skepticism that those investments would be enough to save Intel from its decline, which resulted from years of missteps. Loop Capital analyst Gary Mobley wrote in a recent note to clients that the support from SoftBank and, potentially, the US government may be "akin to a lifeline with no secure anchor at the other end," because while Intel may be "finding new buyers of its primary equity capital," that may not guarantee it can find customers for its manufacturing business. Gelsinger established Intel's third-party chip manufacturing business, otherwise known as its Foundry, in 2021 as a means of competing with rival TSMC, which produces chips for companies including Nvidia, Apple (AAPL), AMD, and others. But so far, its Foundry business has been a disappointment, struggling to secure customers. While Intel has said it reached agreements to build chips for Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT), the company is still its own largest manufacturing client. Intel's plan includes building chips based on newer technologies, including its 18A and upcoming 14A node design processes, part of Gelsinger's plan for five process nodes in four years. But 18A, which was initially supposed to roll out in the first half of 2025, is now slated to debut in 2026. Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon was similarly critical of Intel's cash infusion in his own investor note, writing, "We do not believe that Intel's capability gap has anything to do with money." Rasgon also questioned whether the US taking a stake in Intel would be enough to complete the company's domestic manufacturing expansions. "Intel was originally supposed to get these CHIPS Act funds for free; giving up 10% of the company for them seems worse," he wrote in a note to clients. "And if the goal is to help Intel build substantial US capacity, $10.9B really isn't enough." Moor Insights and Strategy founder and chief analyst Patrick Moorhead told Yahoo Finance that while SoftBank's $2 billion investment and the prospect of a potential US stake are good things, the company would require as much as $40 billion to build out its next-generation 14A technology. Still, getting the US government involved, at least in the short term, could prove to be a boon for the company. "My short-term answer is that the US government is a kingmaker, and they just made Intel the king, and they are going to wrap policy around that to make Intel foundry successful," Moorhead said. If the government sticks with Intel for the long haul, though, Moorhead said it could further complicate the company's development problems, leading to a lack of innovation, inefficiencies, and growing costs. "My hope is that Intel gets back on its feet, it turns itself into a reputable, leading-edge foundry, and the government sells the stake," he said. Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @ Email her at Email Daniel Howley at dhowley@ Follow him on X/Twitter at @DanielHowley. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Trump says the Smithsonian focuses too much on 'how bad slavery was'
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has ordered his attorneys to conduct a review of Smithsonian museums, calling their portrayal of U.S. history too negative and focused too much on 'how bad Slavery was.' Trump said he would subject the museums to 'the exact same process' his administration has conducted of universities, with the goal of making the Smithsonian less 'woke.' A White House official told NBC News on Tuesday night that Trump plans to extend his review of museums beyond the Washington-based institution, saying the president will hold the Smithsonian "accountable" and "then go from there." Trump wrote on Truth Social: 'The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.' 'We are not going to allow this to happen, and I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made,' he added. The Smithsonian did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House has waged war on several colleges and universities, pulling millions in federal funding from schools like Harvard, Columbia and Brown, alleging they fostered antisemitic climates and lowering the hammer on their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Some of the schools have reached agreements with the administration walking back some of their DEI efforts, pledging to comply with federal policies and in some cases paying the government hundreds of millions of dollars. The Trump administration last week began conducting an unprecedented review of exhibits at the Smithsonian ahead of the country's 250th anniversary in an effort to make sure they comply with Trump's vision of history. The Smithsonian received a letter signed by White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought last week instructing officials at eight of its museums to turn over information about exhibits and plans to commemorate the country's 250th anniversary within 30 days. It instructed the officials to implement 'content corrections' where necessary, including replacing 'divisive' language. NBC News found in May that at least 32 artifacts once on display at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall were removed, prompting questions from historical leaders. One artifact included a book belonging to Harriet Tubman, which was filled with hymns she was believed to have sung when she was leading enslaved people to freedom. The Smithsonian, which comprises 21 museums, 14 education and research centers and a zoo, is the world's largest complex of its kind. The bulk of its funding comes from Congress, but its curatorial process is independent. This article was originally published on
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
The White House just joined TikTok a month before it's set to be banned (again)
A lot can change in a year — just ask TikTok. Last year, the US government took the extraordinary step of voting to ban the popular app used by millions of Americans, citing national security concerns. On Tuesday, the White House became its latest user. The White House TikTok account launched with a video montage of President Donald Trump narrated by the man himself. "Every day I wake up determined to deliver a better life for the people all across this nation," Trump says over images of him with UFC head Dana White, law enforcement officers, and American workers. "I am your voice!" The account's second post featured various shots of the White House during different seasons. The White House joined the app less than a month before it's set to be banned in the US on September 17 unless it's sold to a US buyer, though that deadline has already been extended several times. "The Trump administration is committed to communicating the historic successes President Trump has delivered to the American people with as many audiences and platforms as possible," Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said in a statement to Business Insider. "President Trump's message dominated TikTok during his presidential campaign, and we're excited to build upon those successes and communicate in a way no other administration has before." The White House did not respond to questions about whether the divest-or-ban deadline would be extended again or if a deal was expected by the deadline. Lawmakers in April 2024 voted to ban TikTok unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sold its American assets. Some officials cited concerns that sensitive data belonging to American users could end up in the hands of the Chinese government, and members of Congress have said it could be used for Chinese Communist Party propaganda. TikTok has said it does not share data with the Chinese government. The TikTok divest-or-ban law, signed by President Joe Biden last year, gave TikTok until January 19 to sell or risk shutting down. The app briefly went dark that day for US-based users before coming back online, with TikTok crediting Trump for its return. The White House has said the president does not want TikTok to go dark and prefers it be sold. Trump has delayed the divest-or-ban deadline three times since taking office in January. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC last month that TikTok will go dark again unless China agrees to a deal that will give Americans control over the app. "We've made the decision. You can't have Chinese control and have something on 100 million American phones," Lutnick said, adding that China's decision would be coming "very soon."
