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Gretchen Whitmer’s Failed COVID Response
Townhall.com ^ | February 23, 2022 | Garrett Soldano

Posted on 02/23/2022 5:06:13 AM PST by Kaslin

In a recent Detroit News opinion piece, Governor Gretchen Whitmer opined that she released her Fiscal Year 2023 budget - a budget bolstered by nearly $5 billion in federal funds left over from prior COVID relief.

Despite her political talking points, Governor Whitmer’s budget isn’t a reflection of savvy negotiations or sound business principles - she’s merely playing Santa Claus with federal giveaway dollars in an attempt to salvage Michigan’s economy after her policies devastated our small businesses and workers.

As she touts her spending spree, it is important to remember what Governor Whitmer has done before and during the pandemic to undermine Michigan’s economy and target businesses.

Our nation’s founders constructed a system of government that relied on co-equal powers between the three branches of government, designed to protect individual liberty and prevent the accumulation of power in the hands of a few. Yet Governor Whitmer abandoned Constitutional principles and the separation of power to perpetuate a state of emergency, govern unilaterally by fiat, and purposely excluded the people’s elected representatives from having any voice in the state’s response to COVID-19.

Her unilateral lockdown orders – some of the strictest and most damaging in the nation - were unnecessarily cruel and irrational, leaving too many businesses shuttered and too many children with permanent setbacks in education and development. Governor Whitmer’s “go-at-it-alone” approach failed in every regard – it did not have a meaningful impact on the spread of COVID-19, failed to keep Michigan’s economy afloat, and failed a generation of students and their families.

During the so-called “State of Emergency” that the Whitmer administration argued warranted strict limitations on Michiganders’ freedoms and the exclusion of the legislature, the governor and several members of her cabinet were caught flagrantly violating the orders and COVID policies they supposedly supported and enforced.

In March 2021, while urging Michiganders not to travel out of state to help stop the spread of the virus, Governor Whitmer traveled to Florida to visit a relative. She boarded a private plane owned by three prominent political donors.

In April 2021, Governor Whitmer’s health director unabashedly traveled to Alabama with her family without being fully vaccinated as the state grappled with significant upticks of COVID. She didn’t believe she needed to follow the same guidance she imposed on Michigan citizens, and she clearly wasn’t terrified of catching COVID.

Also in April 2021, Whitmer’s chief operating officer traveled to Florida for spring break. These were not lower-ranking bureaucrats - these were key cabinet members defying the same orders they were tasked to enforce.

In May 2021, a picture posted on social media showed the Governor and 11 friends caught in an East Lansing bar squeezed together around three tables - without masks or social distancing, violating state guidelines.

“Rules for Thee, Not for Me” is the mantra of Governor Whitmer’s administration - rules and restrictions are for regular people, not the political elites and ‘lockdown liberals’ who have consistently prioritized their own power over public health.

Concerning the governor’s record since taking office, we need to begin with two of her campaign promises – transparency and roads. Her multi-point Sunshine Plan was promoted to finally bring about moving the legislature and governor’s office from the shadows by forcing both to respond to FOIA requests. Neither has happened. Michigan was rated as dead last by the Center for Public Integrity in 2015 and not much has changed since.

“Fixing the Damn Roads” was also a flop. In her first year in office, Whitmer attempted to raise the gasoline tax by 45 cents per gallon to fund road repairs - a policy so toxic and harmful to working-class Michiganders a majority of Democrats could not support it.

In 2021, Detroit Public Schools won the award of the worst math scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ 40-year history. Couple the disheartening standardized test scores with the nation’s lowest graduation rate, according to NPR, and you have a governor that has utterly failed Detroit students. Another sad commentary about the Whitmer administration’s management of our most precious resource, children.

With the 2022 election approaching quickly, Governor Whitmer’s rhetoric has taken a sharp turn towards the center - a desperate attempt to reverse the damage of the past three years. Using the federal government’s credit card for a shopping spree, Whitmer hopes this gifted cash will mask the pain and hardship that her unilateral orders and crushing policies have inflicted across our state.

So, as we look at the 2023 Whitmer budget and the fact that the available billions came from the Biden credit card, its plain to see behind the curtain that this administration has made a mess of Michigan and the governor is now hoping that this gifted inflationary money will mask all the pain that her unilateral policies and management style have inflicted across the state.

The Biden/Whitmer handouts are not free - we’re paying for them each week at the grocery store and at the gas pump, as skyrocketing inflation continues to make life more difficult for millions of Michiganders.

Governor Whitmer’s “leadership” has failed Michigan families, Michigan workers, and Michigan businesses. No amount of federal dollars will erase her lockdown legacy and record of corruption, hypocrisy, and partisan power grabs.


Garrett Soldano is an entrepreneur, public speaker, and philanthropist running to be the governor of Michigan.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: gretchenwhitmer; michigan

1 posted on 02/23/2022 5:06:13 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

As long as people like her keep getting voted into office the behaviors will never change. There is a system in place (the vote) that is a fix for such actions, perhaps the voters will wake up in time to apply that remedy.


2 posted on 02/23/2022 5:18:17 AM PST by The Louiswu (The times they are a changin. )
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To: Kaslin

She killed the elderly in nursing homes when she put the sick in with them. She is evil.

But she left the pot shops and liquor stores open.


3 posted on 02/23/2022 5:21:36 AM PST by jimpick
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To: The Louiswu

Yeah the vote was all above board in Michigan. So above board they papered over the windows and kicked out the pole watchers. Then went after the people who said it was not legitimate. And the repubs did nothing to fix it after being voted in.

The only way to fix it is by throw them out with force I fear.


4 posted on 02/23/2022 5:24:11 AM PST by jimpick
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To: The Louiswu
-- There is a system in place (the vote) that is a fix for such actions --

Universal suffrage is a guarantee that Whitmer-like figures will evetually be predominant in government. A majority of people want something for nothing, and they actually believe the government can and should make this happen.

5 posted on 02/23/2022 5:24:29 AM PST by Cboldt
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To: Kaslin

wHitler is a flop.
Her and the trio of democommies must go...
attorney general and secretary of state..
But, now that pot is legal, the stoners will stay home, and the large breasted trio will not be re-elected


6 posted on 02/23/2022 5:33:41 AM PST by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: jimpick

Sad, but probably true.


7 posted on 02/23/2022 5:51:04 AM PST by ASA Vet (Stolen Elections Have Consequences.)
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To: Kaslin

I still remember quite clearly in a radio interview from early on in the pandemic her stating any concerns about her inexperience were false. She was getting help and advice daily in conversations with fellow Governors Newsome and CUOMO. I wonder why nobody mentions this?


8 posted on 02/23/2022 5:51:04 AM PST by Nekman (The Dems are SocialistCommunistUtopianMarxists...SCUM for short...it FITS!)
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To: Kaslin

Michigan hasn’t had a one-term governor for generations, but because of the state level do-nothing GOPe RINOs that control everything (especially regarding 2020 elections) it may stay that way.

Many conservatives no longer vote for the lesser of evils, the vote this fall may not be the wipeout many think is coming.


9 posted on 02/23/2022 6:05:31 AM PST by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute. )
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To: jimpick
So above board they papered over the windows and kicked out the pole watchers.

If there's a pole watcher in my neighborhood, I'll paper over my own windows. ;-)

10 posted on 02/23/2022 6:13:54 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
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To: The Louiswu

I live in Michigan. We didn’t vote for her- Detroit and the truckloads of after hours absentee ballots delivered to the official counting center all through the night did. They locked out Republican poll watchers, workers were put in the center of the room so they couldn’t do their jobs. At one time, GOP workers were on the roof of the TCF building and not allowed back in because of COVID- only limited amount of workers allowed. They asked to send out Dem election workers to allow some GOP workers to go in- they were denied. The 6 ft distance was maintained hardcore for GOP ELECTION workers. Election workers for Dems, the counters, etc were paid $50.00 an hour due to Dem millionaires giving election funding to Detroit counting center. They actually used same contract workers that Kwame used. They put paper on the windows so observers contained outside of the building couldn’t see what was going on.


11 posted on 02/23/2022 6:49:56 AM PST by Engedi
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To: jimpick

Yep, our Dem Mayor in my town is in photo showing him helping them cover up the windows. We have a RINO for Michigan Speaker of the House and other Rino’s who did nothing. They caved to the election fraud when the Dems said they were racist.


12 posted on 02/23/2022 6:52:32 AM PST by Engedi
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To: The Louiswu

Gonna be elected this time too. Feckless, unfaithful Rs are against anything that will rock their boat.
The 2R candidate ads I have seen are James Craig( former Detroit police chief with little support in Detroit)and Perry Johnson.(Owns a company that helps other companies meet standards to qualify for Gvt. and industry certifications.)
Neither are inspiring.
The others have the go along to get along background, or are running on the I’m not Whitmer platform.


13 posted on 02/23/2022 7:24:26 AM PST by themidnightskulker (And then the thread dies... peacefully, in it's sleep....)
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To: The Louiswu

Democrats are afflicted with “mass Stockholm Syndrome”.


14 posted on 02/23/2022 8:54:10 AM PST by motor_racer (Who will bell the cat?)
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To: The Louiswu
There is a system in place (the vote) that is a fix for such actions...

Sorry, but it is just the opposite.

No fix - merely buying MORE and more votes to keep increasing the folly until the end comes.

15 posted on 02/23/2022 2:05:37 PM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Engedi

Thanks for the reminder and summary.

The rats know that we know they stole 2020.


16 posted on 02/23/2022 3:03:45 PM PST by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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