Whitmer Wednesday: Whitmer’s Long List of Flip-Flops And Broken Promises

Whitmer’s Long List of Flip-Flops And Broken Promises

FIX THE ROADS PLEDGE

• Whitmer repeatedly promised that she will Fix the Damn Roads ever since she first announced she was running for governor in 2018.
• No significant progress was made in her first year after Whitmer demonstrated an inability to build a working relationship with the legislature.
• After her legislative failure, Whitmer unilaterally declared in January 2020 that she would borrow $3.5 billion through state bonds.
  • Whitmer’s spending plan for that $3.5 billion only accounted for trunk lines (state-owned roads) and left the country roads “in the dust” according to the County Roads Association.
  • This plan was panned as it would recklessly increase state debt and provide no help to local roads.
• It wasn’t until 2021 that Whitmer came up with her first true plan to fix the roads.
  • However the scope of the plan was only for 920 “lane miles” of highway.

FIXING THE PIPES

• Whitmer made fixing the lead pipes and providing safe drinking water part of her campaign for governor.
  • In May 2018, Whitmer released a video of herself handing out bottled water to Flint residents claiming “this government has failed the people of Flint time and time again.”
  • In July 2018, Whitmer released an ad showing kids playing with a water sprinkler in a backyard saying that Benton Harbor’s pipes “now [have] more lead than Flint.”
  • In August 2018, Whitmer released a video message saying: “We got a lot of work to do here in Michigan, whether it is restoring bottled water and expediting replacement of lead pipelines – lead drinking water lines in Flint…”
  • At a 2018 gubernatorial debate, Whitmer called clean drinking water a “fundamental human right” and vowed to create the Department of Great Lakes and Fresh Water so residents complaining about water “won’t get ignored for two years” and called for expediting lead pipe replacement and providing bottled water.
  • Garlin Gilchrist promised to “change out the pipes” if Whitmer is elected and creates the Department of Great Lakes and Fresh Water.

• However, as governor, Whitmer ignored Benton Harbor’s water crisis for three years.
  • EGLE Director Liesl Clark admitted that EGLE did not make a request for Benton Harbor to have their lead lines replaced for three years despite knowing that lead contamination levels was dangerously high.
  • In September 2021, Whitmer struck a deal with the legislature on a $70 billion budget deal, however only $18.6 billion of that went to fixing pipes.
  • Frustrated Benton Harbor residents begged the EPA in an “emergency petition” to intervene in speed up the delivery of clean drinking water that Whitmer earlier promised but was too slow to deliver on.
    • The EPA responded with “support and oversight” assistance to fill in for where Whitmer failed.
  • Benton Harbor Mayor Marcus Muhammad criticized Whitmer for not giving the city what it needed. Muhammed said “we are at the mercy of the state” and the state has not delivered.
  • Benton Harbor Community Water Council Leader Rev. Edward Pinkney criticized Whitmer for ignoring the rising led lead levels in the water and not sounding the alarm sooner.

VACCINE MANDATES

• In December 2021, Whitmer told the Greenville Daily News that Biden’s vaccine mandate “concerns her.”
  • Whitmer: “We’re an employer too, the state of MI. I know if that mandate happens, we’re going to lose state employees. That’s why I haven’t proposed a mandate. We have a lot of the same concerns…it’s going to be a problem for all of us.”
  • Whitmer specifically cited the harm a vaccine mandate would inflict on business owners.
• Later that same month, Whitmer flip-flopped and supported Biden’s vaccine mandate even though she was aware that workers might walk off the job over it.
  • Whitmer got in line with the Biden talking points and backed the employer mandates saying “I appreciate what President Biden is trying to accomplish … It’s about saving lives. It’s about getting more people vaccinated.”

IN-PERSON K-12 EDUCATION

• In her 2021 state of the state address, Whitmer said that COVID-19 “stole” in-person instruction from students and announced an advisory council to “promote comprehensive recovery” in schools.

• A full year later, many school districts refused to fully reopen.
  • Schools in Flint was closed to in-person learning through February 2022.
  • Parents of students with disabilities in Ann Arbor sued in federal court to force schools to reopen to in-person learning.
  • Detroit schools suspended their return to in-person learning from the Christmas break all the way to the end of January 2022.
  • Schools in Battle Creek refused to reopen at the start of 2022.
  • Schools in Lansing refused to reopen at the start of 2022.
• Many private schools remained open during the pandemic.
• A K-8 student assessment in Michigan released in December 2021 showed that students who were forced into at-home learning are underperforming students with in-person learning.

AUTO INSURANCE

• Whitmer promised to “bring down the cost of auto insurance” rated in the state.
• Auto insurance rates increased in Michigan in 2021.

AUTO INDUSTRY

• Whitmer visited a Detroit auto show in her first month as Governor in which she expressed the importance of investing in Michigan’s auto industry and supporting advanced vehicle technology.
• However, Whitmer did not even place a bid for two new Ford factories that were announced to be built in Kentucky and Tennessee, missing out on 11,000 combined jobs.

• • Detroit News: Michigan is “…unprepared to achieve its dreams of dominating the automotive future.”

• Whitmer neglected to declare the auto industry an essential industry during COVID-19.
  • Whitmer even threatened to shut down auto plants if residents do not follow her mask orders.
• During the pandemic, Whitmer banned automobile sales, including online sales.
• Auto sales have been declining:

• In 2020, the number of cars sold nationally decreased by 28.8 percent and trucks by 10.2 percent.

• The market share of American cars has been declining compared to foreign brands.
• Truck transportation and freight trucking jobs have declined in Michigan in December.

GAS TAX

• In 2018, Whitmer called the notion that she would raise the gas tax “ridiculous” and “nonsense”
• In her third month in office, Whitmer called for a 45-cent gas tax, effectively tripling it

PENSION TAX REPEAL

• Whitmer campaigned in 2018 on repealing the pension tax promising she would get it done in her first year in office.
• Whitmer is now in her fourth year in office and failed to get it done in 2019 as promised outraging many retirees.
• The repeal had bipartisan support.
  • Detroit Free Press’ Paul Egan: “…but more than a year after Whitmer took office, the tax remains in place, despite the fact majority leaders in both chambers say they support its repeal in principle.
• Whitmer poisoned the well by tying the pension tax repeal to an increase in taxes on Michigan’s businesses.

GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITICS

• Whitmer broke her campaign promise to get unlimited spending out of Michigan Politics.
  • Whitmer campaigned on her “Sunshine Plan” which called for the reversal of Citizens United.
• Whitmer received nearly $4 million in excess contributions after falsely claiming she was in an active recall election and then and citing an obscure memo in the 1980’s to claim she violate contribution limits.
  • After being called out, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson suggested that Whitmer contribute the excess money to a charity.
  • Instead of a charity, Whitmer transferred the money to the Michigan Democrat Party to spend on political campaigns, including hers.
• A prominent pro-Whitmer super PAC called Road To Michigan’s Future, reported that they raised nearly $6.5 million in 2020.
  • The PAC is run by former Granholm staffers and shares a treasurer with Whitmer’s campaign.
  • The PAC promoted Whitmer’s Fix The Damn Roads initiative and funded a political activist group that tried to get the ballot initiative limiting her emergency powers on COVID-19 thrown out before it got to the ballot.