Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was trying to avoid having vacation destinations get overcrowded as travel restrictions were eased to areas including Traverse City and its Clinch Park Beach shown years before COVID-19. | Spenceemmett
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was trying to avoid having vacation destinations get overcrowded as travel restrictions were eased to areas including Traverse City and its Clinch Park Beach shown years before COVID-19. | Spenceemmett
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s husband got her into hot water when he asked a Northern Michigan dock company to put his boat in the water at the same time she was telling state residents not to rush to the area.
Tad Dowker made Facebook posts claiming Marc Mallory, Whitmer’s husband, made the request of his business, NorthShore Dock LLC, before the Memorial Day weekend, the Sturgis Journal reported.
Whitmer planned easing restrictions on the Upper Peninsula and Northern Lower Michigan. The areas have reported fewer COVID-19 cases than other parts of the state and are popular vacation destinations. Dowker’s Facebook post appeared three days later before he apparently took it down.
Republican lawmakers cried foul over Whitmer’s family seeming not to follow guidelines she set for everyone else in Michigan.
“A small spike could put the hospital system in dire straits pretty quickly,” Whitmer said, the Sturgis Journal reported. “That’s precisely why we’re asking everyone to continue doing their part. Don’t descend on Traverse City from all regions of the state.”
Dowker’s post recalled a phone conversation in which a man he identified as Mallory asked to get his boat into the water before the holiday weekend. As it was a holiday weekend and the coronavirus pandemic kept them from working until three weeks after they were scheduled, he said that would not happen.
“Well our office personnel had explained this to the man and he replied, ‘I am the husband to the governor, will this make a difference?’” Dowker’s Facebook post said.
The governor and her husband own an Elks Rapid area home that’s taxed at $175,000. Estimates by Zillow said it could sell for more than $437,000, the Sturgis Journal reported.
The Whitmer family no longer understand what it means to be a public servant, House Majority Floor Leader Triston Cole (R-Mancelona) told the Sturgis Journal.
Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) took down a Facebook post he made criticizing Mallory’s action when the governor’s office asked Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake) to have it removed.
Now, Barrett feels he was duped into helping to cover up the situation.
Whitmer later called her husband’s comments a bad joke.
“My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with the small business that helps with our boat up north, knowing it wouldn’t make a difference. He jokingly asked if being married to me might move him up in the queue,” Whitmer said, ClickonDetroit reported.
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