Gretchen Whitmer lacks knowledge of how state government works, and is a little ignorant about the US Constitution… but other than that she’s great
Michigan’s Trump bashing Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been vocal (make that EXTREMELY vocal) in deriding the federal government (and President Trump’s) response to the Coronavirus, specifically as it relates to Michigan’s difficulty in providing hospital beds, respirators, masks, etc., to the many virus victims in the State.
Whitmer (while addressing the State and imposing a two week quarantine or Stay at Home order ) continually reminded Michiganders that she (Whitmer) could never have anticipated the severity of this epidemic and this was a fair point, right up until she pointed the finger at Trump for also failing to anticipate it. Apparently President’s (unlike Liberal Progressive Governors) are expected to be psychic.
It’s not really surprising that Whitmer (in keeping with the time honored traditions of Democratic politicians (okay, most politicians) everywhere) – is not telling her constituents the whole (or even a large percentage of the) truth.
Perhaps Whitmer can be excused for not being able to predict the future, but it would seem reasonable to expect the Governor to spend even a small portion of the time that she has spent being a media darling (which has basically involved bashing the President and finger pointing at everyone but herself) brushing up on FEMA regulations and perhaps studying the actual job that Governor’s are supposed to do
Paul Egan writing in the Detroit Free Press (which incidentally endorsed Whitmer for Governor in the 2018 election) states that Whitmer failed to apply for the Federal disaster relief that was available to all states
The article remarks that
The administration of President Donald Trump has already declared major disasters for Iowa, Louisiana, New York, California and Washington, officials confirmed.
The article continues:
But for Michigan, where the number of confirmed cases topped 2,200 Wednesday, with at least 43 deaths, “FEMA has not yet received a request for a major disaster declaration,” spokesman Michael Hart said.
Tiffany Brown, a spokeswoman for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, said Wednesday morning state officials were “reviewing and looking into” a request to FEMA. But by Wednesday afternoon, after the Free Press published a story on the issue, Brown said officials were “working urgently” on a disaster request. She did not immediately respond to a question about why the request was not completed sooner.
Perhaps Whitmer was under the mistaken impression that complaining on National TV (something that she is extremely good at – having received a great deal of practice as of late) was the same thing as actually applying for the funding
According to the Free Press article the Michigan GOP was quick to reach the same conclusion:
“We now know the shameful fact that, while Gov. Whitmer has been sniping at the president as a frequent guest on national television, she has refused to take advantage of all the resources the president is offering.” said Laura Cox, the party chairwoman.
“It’s time for the governor to put aside her partisanship and do what’s right for the people of Michigan,” Cox said. “Whitmer must seek FEMA assistance immediately.”
Tori Sachs, executive director of the conservative group Michigan Rising Action, said it is “unfortunate” that Whitmer “didn’t know that going on cable news to blast the president won’t get the state any federal disaster resources if the governor doesn’t submit a request for the funds.”
“This is state emergency management 101,” Sachs said in a news release
Putting aside partisan politics (in addition to running the State Government) is something else that Whitmer is not particularly good at.
Rather than counting her losses and retreating to a more tenable position, Whitmer has doubled down on her TDS induced hatred of the Trump administration and joined at least four other states (Ohio, Nevada, Idaho and Texas) in restricting or prohibiting the prescription of medications that President Trump has touted as showing promise in treating the Coronavirus.
The other states mentioned above have rationalized prohibiting (or restricting) the use of these drugs by describing this rationing as an effort by the states to prevent shortages of the medication, insuring that it is not administered as a “just in case” drug. Michigan under Whitmer however has taken the additional step of threatening to revoke licenses of doctors or pharmacists who prescribe the medication ‘without further proof of efficacy’
Given that Whitmer has been engaged in an ongoing (and VERY public) feud with President Trump, (a feud that appears to involve Whitmer blaming the Trump administration for her lack of knowledge of both how her State government runs along with the knowledge of how the United States Constitution actually works) one could be forgiven for believing that Governor Whitmer has placed her need to own the President far above the very real needs of her constituents.
Of course the fact that she is tangling with the President (who dared to call her a (insert gasp here) WOMAN) some rather looney ‘personalities’ (such as Alysia Milano and Jennifer Rubin) have been effusive with their praises of the Governor (despite Whitmer doing little if anything to be deserving of any such acclaim) and this combined with the adoration being expressed for Whitmer by such liberal luminaries as Jennifer Granholm (who single handedly brought Michigan to the brink of economic disaster during her (Granholm’s) tenure as Governor) tells you all you need to know about Michigan’s current governor.
Whitmer appears to love microphones and television cameras almost as much as Adam Schiff (if such a thing is humanly possible) and being far more attractive than Schiff (but then who isn’t?) she (Whitmer) has attracted the attention of the Main Stream Media, appearing on a plethora of talk shows and news programs, shows that for some reason never seem to mention the Governor’s failings.
In addition to her lack of knowledge about FEMA funding, Whitmer seems to be woefully uninformed about how her state is managed (or is supposed to be managed). While blasting the feds for her lack of medical supplies and for Michigan’s inability to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic Whitmer fails to address a few key points:
1. The Obama administration utilized 75% of government stockpiles of masks during H1N1 pandemic and never replaced or replenished the supply (hard to blame Trump for that). But Whitmer is gal pals with Jennifer Granholm who in addition to being one of the worst Governors in Michigan’s history (excluding Whitmer) is also a disciple (and good friend of) Barack Obama. Whitmer while not being that well versed in running her State is Liberal politician enough to know that criticizing Barack Obama represents the dreaded third rail of Democratic politics.
2. Michigan participates in the CON (Certificate of Need) Program, that limits the number of things such as medical beds, doctors and hospitals. This CON program deserves a little more explanation, an article prepared by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University provides a very in depth discussion of the program and also expounds upon the unfortunate side effects of it. The program was originally touted as a means to help the poor (aren’t they all?) but administration of the program has become increasingly problematic. The article cites a study by Thomas Stratmann and Jacob Russ which states in regards to CON programs
…. these regulations do little to increase access to health care for the poor, but they instead limit the supply of such services
Many states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Dakota and Pennsylvania) have repealed their CON programs, but Michigan remains one of the states that has not done so. Stratmann and Russ’s study describes the effect of this on the State of Michigan as follows:
Throughout the United States there are approximately 362 beds per 100,000 persons. However, in states such as Michigan that regulate acute hospital beds through their CON programs, Stratmann and Russ find 131 fewer beds per 100,000 persons. In the case of Michigan, with its population of approximately 9.9 million, this could mean about 12,982 fewer hospital beds throughout the state as a result of its CON program.
The article is too large to reproduce here, but it warrants further examination. Who knows?? Maybe Governor Whitmer will even read it.
