Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan State Police director awarded himself and his chief deputy undeserved bonuses last year, according to a union complaint.

The MSP Troopers Association and MSP Command Officers Association filed a Jan. 6 complaint with the State Ethics Board that alleges Whitmer’s appointed director, Col. James Grady, violated MSP policy and ethical standards to boost his pay by $10,145, and his chief deputy’s by $9,156, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“The steps taken by Col. Grady and Lt. Col. (Aimee) Brimacombe undoubtedly were taken for their own personal economic gains. Apart from the Department’s own Code of Conduct provisions to which other MSP personnel are responsible, their actions raise ethical concerns under the State Ethics Act,” Nate Johnson, president of the troopers association, and Paul Pummill, executive director of the command officers association, wrote in a letter to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel obtained by Michigan Advance.

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The Board of Ethics complaint cites emails from the MSP’s former director of human resources, Stephanie Horton, to Grady in April 2024 explaining why she refused to sign off on the bonuses.

“The policy indicates that you are not eligible for performance pay if you have not been in your current position for at least one year during the first full pay period in February,” she wrote to Grady, who was appointed by Whitmer on Sept. 29, 2023. “My advice is to hold yourselves to the same standard that you hold other members of the department to … I cannot recall an instance where we have deviated from this performance pay policy for probationary members.”

Horton, who served 23 years with the MSP, resigned later that month and now works as an interim director of employee and labor relations for Michigan State University, according to the Advance.

Horton wrote in the April email to Grady that in order to process Brimacombe’s 5% bonus “you can sign hers and I can send it to the State Budget Office for processing.” She advised Grady “to discuss yours with the Governor’s office and get direction on how to proceed, should you decide to go that route,” the Free Press reports.

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Whitmer’s office told Johnson and Pummill that because Grady and Brimacombe are “unclassified” employees, they’re “not governed by MSP’s internal policy related to performance pay,” according to the complaint.

“In essence, the response suggests that appointed personnel are not subject to the same rules and restrictions of all other MSP personnel, including MSP’s internal policies and related past practices,” the complaint read. “To suggest that deviating from an established past practice for personal economic gain is permissible and condoned raises grave concerns as to the accountability of MSP leadership.”

Whitmer’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the media. MSP spokeswoman Shanon Banner told the Free Press Grady and Brimacombe were eligible for the performance bonuses.

“Integrity is a core characteristic of the Michigan State Police,” she wrote in a statement to Michigan Advance. “We are confident all actions by department leadership were in line with the State of Michigan’s ethics standards.”

The complaint notes that in addition to the $19,000 in extra pay, the performance bonuses are calculated into total compensation used to set pension payments, and will result in both Grady and Brimacombe earning roughly $3,000 per year more from those pension payments upon retirement.

Other allegations in the complaint center on how Grady promoted Brimacombe to the chief deputy position after she was sanctioned for personal use of a state vehicle, and Grady’s “lack of integrity and disregard for policy when he was less than truthful during his witness interview in the 2023 Flint promotion investigation.”

The latter resulted in former Flint Post Commander Yvonne Brantley’s decision to retire in lieu of termination, while Grady got a pass for “not being fully truthful about his relationship with Yvonne Brantley,” according to the complaint.

“(I)n his case, it was ignored by the Department’s Professional Standards Section as immaterial and dropped altogether,” Johnson and Pummill wrote.

“The Professional Standards Section evaluated Mr. Pummill’s request for an investigation but determined an investigation was not appropriate because the allegation was immaterial to the original matter being investigated,” MSP wrote to WJRT.

The State Ethics Board, comprised of seven gubernatorial appointees, is expected to consider the complaint at its next meeting in Lansing on March 6, according to the Free Press.

Pummill and Johnson are also asking Nessel to review the case for potential criminal charges.

“The manipulation of the appointment process and their self-approval of ‘Performance Pay’ to enrich themselves both warrant criminal review by your office,” they wrote to Nessel. “The potential economic windfall recognized from their personal actions exceeds $100,000 each, when taking into account not just the bonuses paid but, also, the improvement on their individual pension benefits over the course of their lives.”