Megan Turner
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office is responding to a report that she recently traveled out of state to vacation in Florida, but her office says she defied the recommendations she urges her constituents to abide to visit her ill father.
Michigan’s Republican Party said in a Monday press release that Whitmer’s travel to Florida contradicts 14 months of her administration’s shutdown orders, lockdowns, and calls for Michiganders to stay home to stay safe.
“Gretchen Whitmer’s blatant display of hypocrisy is an insult to every single Michigander impacted by her lockdown orders and travel warnings,” said Ted Goodman, communications director of the Michigan Republican Party. “Not only did Whitmer and her top staffers vacation to Florida, but they tried to keep it a secret because for Whitmer, it’s rules for thee, but not for me.”
Less than two weeks ago, Whitmer urged a two-week suspension of in-person high school classes, all youth sports and indoor restaurant dining, but didn’t impose it by executive fiat. Instead, she asked for voluntary compliance.
Just as Whitmer said schools should pause, indoor dining should be suspended and individuals should avoid gathering with friends indoors to mitigate the rise in new cases, her top aide Tricia Foster decided to spring break in Florida.
The news of Whitmer’s travel also comes just a week after it was reported that Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel — her top health official, who leads the state’s COVID-19 response — spent spring break in Gulf Shores, Alabama, Michigan Republican Party’s release reads.
Whitmer’s Press Secretary Bobby Leddy told Detroit’s Local 4 News that she left the state three times — once to assist her father who is battling a chronic illness. She also traveled to Washington D.C. for President Joe Biden’s inauguration and once to visit with Michigan National Guard troops.
“The governor did not go on spring break, and she has not left the state in over a month,” Leddy said. “All trips were very brief, two full days or less, closely followed public health guidelines, and were made when Michigan’s daily positivity rate was in the low single digits.”
Sources told Local 4 the trip to see her father was not paid for by taxpayer dollars, and officially, her office said it “will not be commenting further on her schedule due to security issues.”
Michigan House Appropriations Chair Thomas Albert said in a statement that there are two sets of rules in Michigan — one for the governor and her administration and one for everyone else. “The governor’s ‘do as I say, not as I do’ nonsense must stop,” he said, per Local 4 News.
“I understand the desire to visit an ill relative, and I hope for good health for the governor’s family – but I have heard countless stories of heartbroken Michiganders who wanted to visit sick family members during this pandemic and haven’t been able to do so,” Albert said.
“I don’t understand how the governor thinks it’s OK for her and members of her administration to travel out of state, while issuing recommendations to the rest of us that we stay home. How can anyone be expected to follow such guidance when the governor and her staff doesn’t follow it themselves?
Michigan House Appropriations Chair Thomas Albert
“It’s crystal clear now. If you want to enjoy your full rights and freedoms during the COVID pandemic, the key is to join the Whitmer administration.”
OMG! news flash, the dems are a bunch of lying hypocrites. You don’t say.
And to Florida no less. If DeSantis wasn’t one of the few sane governors…would the dem governors have had any state to go to get away from their draconian lockdowns?
incredible how close Florida was to having that coked out (married) guy who hired that male escort.
Good for Florida for getting it right tho
Ya, completely forgot about that putz, thanks for the reminder…Jeez us, can you even imagine it!
Have we figured out pointing out hypocrisy doesn’t do anything yet?
correct. shaking our heads and moving on has no impact.
But it is the Conservative (TM) business model. Impotent outrage sells.
My mum passed away in February, she had a fabulous life but was confined to memory care the last year of her life. She was in the Seattle area, and we were not allowed into the facility to see her for most of the last year of her life. It pretty much sucks to see one of our “betters” not following her own bullshit rules to see a sick parent, then use an emotional argument to justify her actions.
Anyone with two brain cells to rub together knows she is a fraud, a charlatan and a grifter. That millions of Michiganders support her because “she kept us safe” is an indictment of the intelligence and character of these people. It’s quite stunning what leftist sheeple will put up with.
Wasn’t she just complaining that the problems in Michigan were all Florida’s fault?! Why the hell is any Michigan individual still listening to these phonies.
Stockholm Syndrome.
These democratic constituents are getting lied to. They find out they are getting played and they still don’t care. They vote for them anyways because ‘orange man bad’ or something…
It’s incredible
Actually, they DON’T vote for them… massive DemoKKKrat vote fraud…
She’s not welcome in Florida. Ever.
I agree her policies are horrible. Visiting a sick father hopefully on her own dime is different. If I still lived in Michigan I’d have no problem getting out of there to see a sick immediate family member. I feel bad for my former state’s citizens – she’s been ridiculous.
Except she didn’t allow for other people to visit gravely ill loved ones. People like her deserve zero sympathy.
“How dare you!” – Greta Thunberg
vote her out. wake the fuck up, Michigan.
if its true—whats stopping every business from opening up fully and telling her to fuck off. she gonna arrest everyone, fine everyone?
So Whitmer doesn’t believe the coronavirus is a death sentence like she’s been telling everyone it is for the past year. If these cowardly politicians really believed it was a death sentence then they would lead the way in observing their lockdowns. They know the coronavirus isn’t a death sentence.
This has never been about public safety or public health. It has always been about control.
Dear Gretchen,
On the 132nd anniversary of my birthday, it’s glorious to see you keeping the work of National Socialism alive!
Love, Adolf
Liebchen,
P.S. You’re doing a wonderful job with the black untermenschen, but let’s not forget the priorities. Get yourself a good logistics guy like Heinie. Maybe that Levine from Pennsylvania — the one who dresses like a girl — would be a good place to start.
Thank God she’s white, otherwise SHE would be our president in waiting instead of Kamala (six vs half a dozen). She was Biden’s first choice but BLM and the rest of the wokesters demanded a black woman.
Well Gretchen, whatever the reason for traveling to Florida, it doesn’t hold water. Your policies/ mandates/ edicts in part have cost people their livelihoods and have separated families for over a year. How many families were forced to stay home while an aging loved one died alone? You have top aides traveling to warm weather destinations for spring break and wistfully publicizing it all while you are telling the residents of your state to do the opposite. Now, your spokesperson/ ministry of information is saying that they will no longer discuss your travel plans because of security issues. Michigan is officially a banana republic because of you. I hope you and your supporters are proud.
You are indifferent and incompetent. You possess zero leadership skills. But worst of all, you have no empathy and you have no shame.