Northwest Wayne News

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is under growing criticism over what some see as her failure to live up to the vow of transparency she made as a gubernatorial candidate back in 2018, according to Bridge Michigan.

As secret details about severance payouts and confidentiality agreements regarding former Michigan Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon and former Unemployment Insurance Agency Director Steve Gray have come to the forefront, questions have been mounting for Whitmer in the midst of her administration's development of COVID-19 orders that have sometimes seemed cloaked in secrecy.

“They are don’t-say-anything, cover-things-up, no-transparency-type contracts,” Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) recently charged of the payouts during a fiery speech delivered outside the Michigan Capitol, reported Bridge Michigan.

Sen. Jim Runestad | #MiSenateGOP

Bridge Michigan's Jonathan Oosting says Gordon signed several of the most controversial COVID-19 health orders, and Gray oversaw a department that ran into difficulty paying claims and deterring fraud at a time when the pandemic cost countless residents their employment. At the time of their resignations, the two were collectively paid some $241,000 in severance.

“This is an unprecedented time where there’s no transparency in how (COVID-19) decisions are being made,” Rep. Matt Hall, (R-Marshall) told Bridge Michigan. “Because of that, the public doesn’t know how they were made” and now there is a former cabinet member “being paid not to talk.”

It’s a far cry from the ten-part “Sunshine Plan” Whitmer released as a candidate three years ago, where she made the pledge to “make state government more open, transparent and accountable,” according to Bridge Michigan.

Among other things, the plan pushed for tougher lobbying guidelines, personal financial disclosures by state employees and the reversal of legislation that allows candidates to raise unlimited funds for super PACs that support them.

To date, Whitmer has not signed any of the legislation into law, though supporters are quick to point out that the Republican-led Michigan Legislature has not sent any transparency-related measures to her desk.