The Michigan Republican Party asked the state attorney general to investigate a reported separation agreement between Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her former director of the state’s health department.
The Michigan Republican Party issued a statement on Tuesday asking Whitmer, a Democrat, and his former Health Department director Robert Gordon, “to release all information” around a “secret agreement” between the two after Gordon’s “abrupt” departure from his post.
Gordon and Whitmer’s office reportedly agreed to a payment of $ 155,506 after Gordon’s abrupt dismissal in January, with details of his departure remaining confidential.
Republicans want Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office to “immediately open an investigation” into the deal.
They also called on the state legislature to “issue subpoenas and hold hearings to answer a very simple question – why is Governor Whitmer buying silence from a former government official, the state’s top public health official, in the midst of a global pandemic? ” ”
State Sen. Jim Runestad, a Republican, said that “the confidentiality agreement just adds another wrinkle to the problem.”
“Management has not disclosed the data or information surrounding its COVID policies,” continued Runestad. “Continued secrecy is worrying, and even more reason to investigate the Whitmer government’s COVID policies.”
Ted Goodman, communications director for the Michigan Republican Party, told Fox News that the deal “does not pass the test of smell and the Michiganders deserve answers.”
Whitmer’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment.
The demands for an investigation into the governor’s undisclosed deal are not the only demands.
Republican lawmakers are also demanding an investigation into how Whitmer handled nursing homes during the coronavirus pandemic, accusing the governor of hiding crucial data from the public.
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Charlie LeDuff announced on Monday that he is “preparing a lawsuit” against Whitmer for the release of state coronavirus mortality data in nursing homes.
“The public has a right to know. Above all, the public has a need to know. We closed the entire economy, interrupted the lives of our children, all in the name of protecting the most vulnerable. We now know that this was the institutionalized elderly. If we couldn’t protect them, at least we deserve an explanation from the governor, “LeDuff told Fox News in an email on Monday.
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“If there is anything more than that, say gross incompetence or gross negligence or gross press conferences designed to cover the facts, she needs to answer for that. As I always said, the power is in the people, not the political parties,” he added. .