What’s Florida got that Michigan doesn’t? Except healthier seniors, safer nursing homes, and lower COVID infection rates? …and a Governor who trusts and respects his citizens… and more freedoms… and well, you get the point!
Those are the questions we’re all asking after news broke this week that Governor Gretchen Whitmer secretly jumped on an airplane (we don’t know whose or who paid for it) and traveled to the Sunshine State for an undisclosed amount of time in an undisclosed Florida city.
Her trip came not only during Michigan’s spring break season, but at a time when she publicly scolded residents who considered traveling out-of-state, and used her administration’s appointees to issue guidance encouraging ‘the little people’ to avoid travel.
Leaked news of her sunny getaway followed the revelations that her director of the Department of Health and Human Services and her charged with handling the state’s vaccine rollout were also enjoying beach vacations recently.
Whitmer even went on national TV and blamed Michigan’s worst-in-the-nation COVID outbreak on vacationing families.
She was visiting her sick dad, she tells us. We sympathize with that and wish him well. Of course, she’s spent the last 14 months telling us to avoid seeing our own sick parents, grandparents, and other loved ones.
Talk about brazen hypocrisy.
Talk about shattered trust.
Talk about blown credibility.
It all begs one final question. If Governor Whitmer and her senior health care team aren’t willing to live by the rules and demands and burdens she puts on the rest of us, why in the world should any of the rest of us?
Sincerely,
Tony Daunt
Executive Director
Michigan Freedom Fund
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer lied about not traveling out of state in a podcast interview last week, saying she was “here in town the whole time.” Whitmer admitted earlier this week that she traveled to Florida in March, despite cautioning Michigan residents against traveling out of state. Last week, Whitmer joined the Michigan publication MIRS on their podcast, where she was asked by reporter Kyle Melinn if she was able to take any days off for spring break or over the past year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Whitmer, a Democrat, responded that she was “here in town the whole time” during spring break and that the last trip she had taken “was to Israel” on official business.
Wall Street Journal: Michigan Woman Defies State Travel Advisory
Now that Ms. Whitmer and her colleagues have joined the campaign against Whitmer policy, their example could be extremely powerful. The Democratic governor’s rejection of her own advice was eminently sensible. Her father, fortunate to live in the Sunshine State, where policy prioritizes the protection of senior citizens, had already been vaccinated at the time of her visit. Let’s hope their special time together wasn’t spoiled by some cranky family member insisting on masks even for the vaccinated.
Deadline Detroit: LeDuff: Michigan Gov. Whitmer Discovers the Downside of Being Surrounded by Pillow Fluffers and Hipsters
In a time of crisis, leaders lead. When you’re caught, you tell the truth. You don’t shop for milquetoast interviews with Cable Ken and Broadcast Barbie. You don’t blame the Supreme Court or the state legislature for taking your “tools.” You don’t hide behind statements of “health guidelines” and “positivity rates.” Leadership comes by example. If you ask the people to stay put, you stay put.
