Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) reportedly left Michigan to see her father in Florida, as cases of COVID-19 soar and strict pandemic measures remain in place.
According to Minnesota Information and Resource Center News:
While Communications Director Tiffany Brown wouldn’t say where the Democratic governor traveled, a source tells MIRS that Whitmer’s father, Richard Whitmer, has a home in Florida.
“Her dad was fully vaccinated, and the governor is tested regularly and has never tested positive for COVID,” Brown told MIRS, noting the governor traveled at her own expense and that utilized no state resources. …
Brown said Gov. Whitmer wasn’t on spring break but was assisting “her elderly father who is battling a chronic illness.”
Brown reportedly said Whitmer took a “personal trip,” despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) still recommends that Americans avoid traveling.
It’s the latest in a series of scandals faced by the governor regarding her handling of the pandemic.
Michigan, despite having some of the strictest lockdowns in the United States during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak, is one of the last states where the pandemic continues to rage.
Long ago, Whitmer was stripped of her emergency powers by the Michigan Supreme Court, after banning private gatherings among residents, an unprecedented and unconstitutional order.
She has retained control of the state’s response, though, via the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), an executive branch agency.
That agency, under Whitmer’s watch, was marred in controversy after its director, Elizabeth Hertzel, traveled to Florida for spring break just days after Whitmer admonished Michiganders for traveling to the Sunshine State, and also admonished “snowbirds” from Michigan, who spend their winters in Florida, for returning.
She has also faced scrutiny for handing a $155,000 severance package to former MDHHS head Robert Gordon, paid for by the taxpayer. Gordon was bound by a confidentiality agreement when he left the department just days after the state partially re-opened some businesses.
Whitmer is also accused of potentially endangering seniors with her COVID-19 nursing home policy, in a scandal similar to the one faced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who is under federal investigation. She will not face an investigation, though, according to Michigan’s Democrat Attorney General and Whitmer’s political ally Dana Nessel.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Michigan Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected]
