It’s time for Whitmer to fully explain the hush money payments and questionable nursing home data.
March 8, 2021
Questions Remain on Whitmer’s Hush Money Payments & Nursing Homes Data Scandals
Governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared on CNN and MSNBC the last two days and was not asked a single question about her hush-money payments to former state officials and other top issues impacting Michigan.
For comparison, in a press event held online last week, Whitmer took questions from only four members of the Michigan press, which did focus on hush-money payments to former health director Robert Gordon and the “data” driving shutdown decisions. Whitmer deflected on each topic.
Whitmer has refused to discuss the hush-money payment of $155,506 to former Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon – the person who was responsible for all the state’s shutdown orders after the Supreme Court ruled that Whitmer’s executive actions were unconstitutional in October 2020.
Gordon also oversaw all nursing home data information. Reporter Charlie LeDuff is now suing Whitmer after trying for months to get straight answers and statistics detailing the coronavirus-related death toll in nursing homes. (Flashback: Michigan DHHS Director Confident COVID-19 Nursing Home Deaths Are Undercounted)
Nursing home data in New York was rewritten to hide the higher death toll and over the weekend, U.S. Senate Democrats blocked an amendment to hold states accountable for underreporting coronavirus nursing home deaths.
While Whitmer turns her attention to national news outlets who are not covering her hush-money payments, news outlets across Michigan are calling out the governor’s use of tax-payer dollars to buy silence.
- Detroit Free Press Editorial Board: Non-disclosure agreements and government accountability don’t mix, Governor
- Detroit News Editorial Board: Don’t let Whitmer hide behind hush money
- Crain’s Detroit Business Editor: Don’t like it being called ‘hush money’? Bring in some sunshine
- Traverse City Record-Eagle Editorial: Taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook for hush money
Michiganders deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent, especially as Gov. Whitmer uses the money to buy the silence of the state’s former health director. This is the same official whose actions shut down the state and oversaw nursing home data and policy. It’s time for Whitmer to fully explain the hush money payments and questionable nursing home data. – Tori Sachs, executive director of Michigan Rising Action