The governor of Michigan — whose strict coronavirus lockdown policies have caused infamous revolts in the state — is taking heat after her husband appeared to have flouted some of her own advice about holiday travel.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pushed some of the strictest regulations in the country as Michigan became engulfed in cases and deaths, prompting widespread protests by some residents, including those who stormed the statehouse last month. Whitmer has said some of the protesters had “nooses and swastikas,” along with guns, as they screamed, “Lock her up!”
Last Monday, Whitmer announced that she was lifting some lockdown restrictions in areas before Memorial Day weekend.
But “if you don’t live in these regions … think long and hard before you take a trip into them,” she said.
“A small spike could put the hospital system in dire straits pretty quickly. That’s precisely why we’re asking everyone to continue doing their part. Don’t descend on [waterfront] Traverse City from all regions of the state.”
Three days later, a marina owner wrote on Facebook that the governor’s husband, Marc Mallory, had asked its workers to get their nearby boat in the water before Memorial Day, the Detroit News said Monday.
The vacation property that the governor and her husband own is about 25 minutes from Traverse City, the News said. The couple’s main residence is in Lansing.
“This morning, I was out working when the office called me, there was a gentleman on hold who wanted his boat in the water before the weekend,” NorthShore Dock LLC owner Tad Dowker wrote Thursday on Facebook, according to the News, which said the posting has since been made private.
“Being Memorial weekend and the fact that we started working three weeks late means there is no chance this is going to happen,’’ Dowker wrote, the paper said.
“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?’ ”
The docking company later said on its Facebook page that Mallory was respectful when told it couldn’t accommodate him, according to the News.
Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) noted to the News that Whitmer had urged state residents not to flock to Traverse City, and “Yet, what did her family try and do?
“In the Army, we have a tradition that the leaders get in line for chow last behind everyone else in the unit,” he said. “Here is the leader of our state. … Her family is trying to cut people in line.”
Whitmer’s spokeswoman, Tiffany Brown, did not deny the claims involving her boss’s husband to the News but said the governor’s office would not be responding to “every rumor that is spread online.”
The governor landed in President Trump’s cross hairs in March when she complained about the federal government’s response amid the pandemic.
“I love Michigan, one of the reasons we are doing such a GREAT job for them during this horrible Pandemic. Yet your Governor, Gretchen ‘Half’ Whitmer is way in over her head, she doesn’t have a clue. Likes blaming everyone for her own ineptitude!” he tweeted after her comments.
Whitmer confirmed last week that she is in talks with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to become his running mate.