Northwest Wayne News

Michigan Rep. Joe Bellino (R-Monroe) says Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's guidelines and standards have been inconsistent and unclear throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a column he wrote on the Michigan House Republicans website.

"As a sitting member of the state Legislature, I know firsthand how slowly the government can move," Bellino said in the column. "That is why emergency powers exist, to allow swift action when necessary and legally warranted. The COVID-19 pandemic is exactly that, an emergency where swift action was necessary. Emergency powers are not intended, however, for political posturing, which is what I believe Gov. Whitmer displayed with her inconsistent standards and unclear guidelines."

Bellino said that while he hoped the governor thought she was acting with Michiganders' best interests at heart, her decisions lacked common sense and she disregarded the well-being of small businesses.

"Little regard was given for Michigan’s rural counties, where small mom-and-pop shops could have safely offered curbside pickup for their customers," Bellino said in the statement. "Wouldn’t it have been nice to craft an emergency response that would have worked for both Wayne County and Michigan’s rural regions, like the majority of the Upper Peninsula, which was largely unaffected by COVID-19?"

Bellino said in the column that hundreds of thousands of Michiganders were out of work and without paychecks for more than a month, and during that time, his office received hundreds of calls from his constituents who were frustrated because they couldn't access unemployment insurance, pay their bills or feed their families.

"This is simply unacceptable," Bellino said on the website. "Executive orders are a tool given to our governor to react to an emergency. After 28 days, it is incumbent on the governor to work with the Legislature to form a plan that works for the people they represent. Our governor has instead chosen to go it alone, ignoring the voices of the people we represent across all of Michigan -- not just Wayne County."

Bellino said he worried about the aftermath of the pandemic and the problems that have been created by it.

"It is my hope that moving forward, the governor will work with the Legislature to move all of Michigan forward," Bellino concluded his column.