Michigan Attorney General Nessel apologizes for 'tailgate-gate' at MSU-UM game

Lansing — Attorney General Dana Nessel apologized Wednesday night and admitted to drinking alcohol to the point of feeling sick and having to be helped out of the Oct. 30 football game between the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

Nessel posted the message on Facebook, saying she had consumed drinks, including two Bloody Marys, at a tailgate gathering and then started to feel ill during the game. 

"I laid low for a while, but my friends recommended that I leave so as to prevent me from vomiting on any of my constituents (polling consistently shows 'Roman showers' to be unpopular among most demographics)," the Democratic attorney general wrote on Facebook.

"I had a few folks help me up the stairs and someone grabbed a wheelchair so as to prevent me from stumbling in the parking lot," Nessel added. "Like all smart people attending festivities where drinking occurs, I had a designated driver. I went home, fell asleep on the couch, and my wife threw some blankets on me and provided me with some water and Tylenol for what she knew would be a skull-crushing hangover the next day."

She referred to the incident as "tailgate-gate."

In her post, Nessel noted that her communications adviser Kelly Rossman-McKinney died on Tuesday. She normally would have asked Rossman-McKinney for "advice on how to best handle this crisis," the attorney general said.

"I am human," she continued. "Sometimes I screw up. This was definitely one of those times. My apologies to the entire state of Michigan for this mishap, but especially that Michigan fan sitting behind me. Some things you can’t un-see."

Nessel was elected Michigan's attorney general in 2018. She is the state's top law enforcement official.

Tori Sachs, executive director of the conservative Michigan Freedom Fund, said Nessel was "out of control" in a tweet responding to her Facebook apology.

"The issue isn't that she got embarrassingly drunk at our state’s most-watched public event, it's that she is completely erratic, irrational and lacks judgment," Sachs said.

On her own page, Nessel was receiving mostly positive feedback Wednesday night. One person replied, "Those of us that support you don’t care that u got drunk." Another said, "You earned those drinks."

cmauger@detroitnews.com