Michigan Governor Whitmer Bars The Press From Her Press Conference
Can Governor Whitmer get anymore dictatorial than she has been?
The answer is a resounding yes.
Governor Whitmer has now banned the press from actually attending her PRESS conference.
It does not end there, she then would only consider taking their questions if they submitted questions electronically.
It does not even end there, she would then choose just 6 questions she wanted to answer and skip the ones she preferred not to answer.
It does not even end there, the reporters were given permission by Whitmer to watch her answer those 6 questions via Zoom. The 6 reporters whose questions were chosen by the Governor were not allowed to ask any follow-up questions.
You really can not make this stuff up.
The governor's office stated that the reason they barred the press from the press conference was due to her tightened executive order limiting attendance at indoor events.
That explanation does not hold water since just last Friday only 8 hours and 59 minutes after signing Executive Order 2020-160 which reinstated restrictions on gatherings in northern Michigan to limit indoor gatherings to 10 people and outdoor gatherings to 250 people, she attended an outside ceremony of over 700 people in Northern Michigan.
Why would she do this, well it is obvious she is attempting to avoid her very contradictory and inconsistent statements, decisions, and actions.
The Detroit News reported that she declined to answer a question form a Detroit News reporter who wanted to ask her to:
“explain the reasoning behind the decision to reopen Detroit's casinos while shutting down northern Michigan bars.“
Finally, I have a news organization that is starting to tell their readers what I have been telling my listeners and readers for months now. The Detroit News editorial board stated:
“She has manipulated ambiguous state laws regarding gubernatorial emergency powers to claim total control of state government and strip the Legislature of its oversight role.
That leaves the press as virtually the only watchdog of the governor's decision-making while the state of emergency is in place. And, unless stopped by the courts, she can unilaterally extend the emergency declaration for as long as she wants.”
Right now we can only hope that the Michigan Supreme Court will reign in the power of this and future governors. According to Whitmer’s interpretation of the 1945 Emergency Powers Act and her ignoring The Emergency Management Act of 1976 any Michigan Governor can declare an Emergency for just about anything and then take control of the State for their entire term.
Will the Michigan Supreme Court save the citizens of Michigan, only time will tell.