Et tu, Freep?

“Whitmer aide posts Facebook photos from Florida beach, despite governor’s travel warning,” read headline on Detroit Free Press last Friday evening. Article by Paul Egan went on to characterize this as “a new controversy” for Governor Whitmer, “amid rising coronavirus case numbers” here in Michigan. By his third paragraph — consisting of a single sentence — Mr Egan wrote that “Whitmer’s office did not deny the report, but dismissed it as a partisan attack.”

By that point, he had also been quick to point out that Free Press coverage followed that of “conservative publication Breitbart” [emphasis added], posted earlier that same day.

That Breitbart news feature, titled “Top Gretchen Whitmer aide takes spring break to Florida, ignoring MI Gov’s Warning,” by Kyle Olson, was night-and-day different in terms of focus on the substance of the story at hand, as well as citing detailed particulars. Tricia L Foster, appointed by our governor to serve as Chief Operating Officer for Michigan “posted several photos from the Florida Keys” to her Facebook account.

• Images and comments appear to show Ms Foster in Florida during this trip, along with her daughters.
• The son of Ms Foster “apparently” was not along on the trip in question, due to having remained at “home with covid [coronavirus.”
• “On April 3, just days before Foster purportedly left the state, Whitmer urged Michiganders to avoid spring break trips to Florida ….
• “Foster was tasked in January with implementing Whitmer’s vaccine rollout strategy …. She blamed the Trump administration for Michigan’s lagging distribution process.”

Then today, Glenn Beck news site Blaze media cited both stories above in its own coverage. By way of added perspective, Paul Sacca wrote: “‘… Michigan is home to nine of the 10 metro areas with the country’s highest recent rates’ ….

In January, Whitmer traveled to Washington, DC, for the inauguration of President Joe Biden despite discouraging ‘Michiganders from traveling and attending gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic.’

Last June, Whitmer flouted her own executive order mandating social distancing when she attended a George Floyd march and was photographed shoulder-to-shoulder with protesters.

Last May, Whitmer was embroiled in controversy when her husband reportedly attempted to use his influence to persuade a company to prioritize putting their family’s boat in the water before Memorial Day weekend. Whitmer claims that her husband was simply making a joke when he told the company, ‘I am the husband to the governor, will this make a difference?’ Whitmer had instructed her constituents not to vacation in the area where her family’s boat was docked.