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state Rep. Pauline Wendzel (Official photo)
Republican state Rep. Pauline Wendzel, a Republican from Watervliet on the western edge of the state, says the public doesn't care if she takes freebies from lobbyists, according to a column by Detroit Free Press investigative reporter M.L. Elrick.
Elrick writes that Eye on Michigan, an investigative reporting program for students he oversees, reports that Wendzel accepted at least 95 freebies from lobbyists worth more than $20,000 between her first election in 2018 and 2023.
Wendzel took more than $5,000 in freebies in 2024 and more than $2,500 in the first half of 2025, Elrick reports. And in early November, lobbyist Melissa McKinley of the firm Kelley Cawthorne in Lansing threw a black-tie-optional engagement party at Grewal Hall, a concert venue near the Capitol, for Wendzel and her fiancé, Greg VanWoerkom, who is also a Republican state representative.
State Rep Greg VanWoerkomp (Official photo)
Elrick notes that the engagement party was first reported by Detroit News Lansing reporter Craig Mauger.
Mauger had reported that Wendzel chairs the House Energy Committee, and one of the clients of lobbyist McKinley's firm is DTE Energy.
John Sellek of Harbor Strategic, speaking on behalf of Wendzel, tells Elrick the engagement party was simply about friendship.
"These are personal friendships that go back more than 20 years combined, before elected office, and as friends she simply wanted to help celebrate their engagement," Sellek said.
He also said free "food and beverage is allowed and essentially unlimited under state law," adding, "the bottom line is that all lobby laws have been followed and complied with
