By Zachary Gorchow
President of Michigan Operations
Posted: April 13, 2021 4:47 PM

A disagreement between Governor Gretchen Whitmer and close political ally President Joe Biden about the best way to respond to Michigan's worst-in-the-nation coronavirus situation underscores the difficult position for the governor as the state confronts a third wave of virus cases and a sharp rise in deaths.

The Biden administration is calling for Ms. Whitmer to implement stay-home order type restrictions. Ms. Whitmer instead wants the federal government to boost the state's vaccine allotment. Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II has said the state should try to vaccinate its way out of the surge in cases. Federal health authorities have said it is not possible to do that because of the time it takes for someone to become vaccinated.

Having an anonymous source from the Whitmer administration describe the contents of Ms. Whitmer's phone call to Mr. Biden to The New York Times and say (as paraphrased by the newspaper) that Mr. Biden "seemed to have inaccurate information about what restrictions remained in place" is not exactly how one would have envisioned the Biden-Whitmer relationship looking two months into his presidency. The newspaper described the source as "a state official with knowledge of the call." Ms. Whitmer has been careful to praise Mr. Biden's handling of the virus, but this is a significant disagreement, no doubt about it.

Ever since the number of coronavirus cases began rising in late February, Ms. Whitmer has embarked on a completely different path in response to the virus compared to the aggressive approach she took in 2020. Starting in January, and especially since Elizabeth Hertel became Department of Health and Human Services director at the end of the month, the Whitmer administration has moved to relax restrictions even after the third wave kicked into high gear in March.

To be clear, Michigan still has a number of regulations in place – mandatory face coverings, a myriad of workplace requirements for in-person work if permitted, gathering limits and capacity limits for retailers, restaurants, bars and event venues.

But nearly all the changes in January were to ease up on those restrictions, letting school athletics start up, reopening dine-in service at bars and restaurants, raising gathering limits, etc.

And now, with Michigan clearly in the worst shape of any state in the nation, the governor has strongly indicated she will not issue new restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.

Pop quiz, who said the following, Ms. Whitmer or Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey (R-Clarklake)?

"Policy change alone won't change the tide. We need everyone to step up and to take personal responsibility here."

Okay, if you're reading this piece, you likely know the answer is Ms. Whitmer, last Friday.

But for those who have been following the response to the pandemic from Ms. Whitmer and Mr. Shirkey for the past year, the change in tone from the governor in the past month has been startling and has echoes of Mr. Shirkey's calls for government to "inspire" residents to do the right thing instead of set regulations or take actions. Mr. Shirkey's critics would say he has hardly followed his own call to inspire, particularly given his delayed and seemingly reluctant acknowledgement he contracted the virus and inconsistent use of face coverings.

There are a growing number of voices on the left urging Ms. Whitmer to impose new restrictions.

For the Republicans, there's been a scattershot response to Ms. Whitmer's decision not to impose new restrictions. A handful have praised Ms. Whitmer. Several have instead continued to pillory the governor, saying Michigan's case surge shows restrictions don't work. House Speaker Jason Wentworth (R-Farwell) said Ms. Whitmer should now lift all restrictions as some other states have done. That would seem to render dead the legislation passed by the Senate to set statutory metrics on when restaurants, bars and event spaces can be open for in-person service and to what extent or closed.

In fact, far from SB 250 offering an opportunity for discussion, as I wrote about a couple weeks ago, it's just another point of dispute. The House seemingly has distanced itself from it. The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association (which proposed the framework on which the bill was based) criticized Ms. Whitmer's call for people voluntarily not to dine indoors even as the bill, if it was now law, would have automatically closed dine-in service several days ago. And Ms. Whitmer said Monday the bill proves orders from the executive branch are more nimble than statutory actions to handle the pandemic, noting her administration's orders have kept dine-in service open while the bill would have closed it.

Ms. Whitmer is wrestling with all manner of crosscurrents: a public that is fatigued with restrictions, a hospitality industry workforce that has been economically hammered, a health care workforce that is exhausted and on the verge of getting overrun with patients again, Republicans who appear intent on blocking her at every turn and some natural allies wondering what happened to her aggressive mitigation strategy from 2020. The governor herself said recently that no matter what course she follows on the pandemic, there will be pushback.

The surprise in the past week is that the pushback has been coming from the Biden White House.