As if we needed proof politicians do not have morals, principles, or a heart.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made waves in 2020 with her insane lockdowns and rules. The woman ruled the state with an iron fist, putting everyone’s livelihood at risk.
Who could forget barber Karl Manke? He made national headlines when he defied Whitmer’s rules.
Then we saw protest after protest against Whitmer. The police unleashed disorderly conduct tickets during Operation Haircut in Lansing.
Whitmer acted like a typical Democrat in 2020.
But Whitmer had a sudden change of heart this week.
Whitmer is taking a path similar to those awful Republican governors.
Whitmer and the Michigan state legislature agreed on a budget. This is no ordinary budget because it bans mask mandates and vaccine passports:
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state legislature have agreed on a budget proposal that includes language banning health officials from enforcing mask mandates in schools and preventing state public agencies from enforcing vaccines on employees or customers.”The director or local health officer shall not issue or enforce any orders or other directives that require an individual in this state who is under the age of 18 to wear a face mask or face covering,” the 1,000-page budget states in one section.The language could mean that health officials’ mask mandates for K-12 students in areas such as Oakland and Wayne counties could be null and void. Instead, mask mandates would be left in the hands of school boards and districts.
I repeat: Whitmer agreed to ban mask mandates and vaccine passports.
However, the wording is directed to the state. School districts and schools boards can enforce their own mask mandates:
“The governor has demonstrated that she believes that local health departments and local school boards should be involved in these decisions,” says Oakland County Executive David Coulter, Click on Detroit reported. “I agree with that and any opportunity to remove us from that would be a huge mistake, and I would certainly hope that she would not support that.”The $70 billion budget deal would also prevent Michigan public agencies from enforcing vaccine mandates on employees and customers, allocate $2.2 billion in higher education funding, $50.7 billion for state agencies and programs, as well as $17.1 billion for the school aid budget.
Did Whitmer change out of the goodness of heart?
No. Whitmer wants to stay governor:
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) trails former Detroit Police Chief James Craig by 6 points in a hypothetical general election matchup, according to a poll released this week.The survey from the GOP-leaning Trafalgar Group shows Craig, a Republican, leading Whitmer 50.4 percent to 44.4 percent among likely general election voters. Another 5.2 percent of respondents remain undecided.
I can hear people brushing it aside because the Trafalgar Group leans right.
Let’s look at the EPIC-MRA poll. Whitmer has a slight edge, but her approval rating is slipping:
The EPIC-MRA poll exclusive to ABC12 shows the two candidates separated by only one percentage point, which is well within the margin of error. Results show 45% of likely voters support Whitmer for a second term while 44% of likely voters support Craig, who is a retired Detroit police chief.In that same poll, 52% of respondents said they didn’t recognize Craig’s name, who is considered a top contender for the Republican nomination. Another 17% said they recognize Craig’s name, but haven’t formed an opinion of him yet.“It is clearly a horse race at this juncture,” said Bernie Porn of EPIC-MRA.The same poll shows Whitmer’s approval rating down from last spring.“In previous tests, we have had slightly more saying the state was heading in the right direction,” Porn said. “Now you’ve got a few points more saying it is off on the wrong track and you’ve got 63 percent giving a negative rating to the Michigan economy.”The Detroit News commissioned some questions on the poll about COVID-19 vaccine and masks in Michigan. It found that 52% of respondents said they agree with a mask mandate, but only 33% agree with a vaccine mandate.
A survey by the Glengariff Group found that people of Michigan believe “the state is on the wrong track and that they disapprove by a wide margin of the job that President Joe Biden is doing.”
They don’t like Whitmer, either, especially independents. Whitmer’s numbers tumble with each survey:
About 48% of voters approve of the Democratic governor’s performance and 46% disapprove, according to the poll commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber, whose political action committee in 2018 endorsed Whitmer over Republican Bill Schuette for governor.The latest numbers are a marked shift from September 2020, when 59% of voters approved of Whitmer’s performance and 38% disapproved, according to the poll. In May, 50% of voters approved of her performance, while 44% disapproved, the polling firm found.Much of Whitmer’s approval decline has occurred among independent voters, 39% of whom approved of her performance and 51% of whom disapproved, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.”Michigan elections are decided by independent voters and how she does with these independent voters moving forward will really dictate” her performance in the 2022 election, said Richard Czuba, a pollster with the Lansing-based Glengariff Group.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY