Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that her husband’s bad jokes are to blame for his controversial comment about trying to get their family boat into the water in time for Memorial Day weekend.
“My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with the small business that helps with our boat and dock up north,” Whitmer said at a press conference Tuesday, according to the Detroit Free Press. “Knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, he jokingly asked if being married to me might move them up in the queue.”
Marc Mallory, a dentist and First Gentleman, reached out to NorthShore Dock last week to ask about getting his boat out in time for the holiday, owner Tad Dowker wrote on Facebook, according to the Free Press. When he was told that there was at least a three-week wait period due to a coronavirus-related backup, he pointed out that he’s “the husband to the Governor.”
“As you can imagine, it does make a difference, that would put you to the back of the line!!!” Dowker wrote in the since-deleted post. “Needless to say, our Governor and her husband will not be getting their boat.”
Dowker’s post went viral in the area and was met with backlash, especially from local Republicans.
“Using your wife’s political office to score favors is not a laughing matter,” Laura Cox, the state party chairwoman, said in a press release.
“How many times has Gov. Whitmer’s husband told this ‘joke’ to gain special favors from businesses? The only joke here is that Gov. Whitmer doesn’t seem to understand how serious it is for a family member to misuse your office.”
Whitmer has dropped the coronavirus shutdown order against residents visiting their second homes, but has still warned people against travel during the pandemic.
She and her family own a lakefront cottage near Elk Rapids, according to the Free Press, but denied that they had “pile(d) in the car to go enjoy our second home.”
“He thought it might get a laugh,” Whitmer said Tuesday.
“It didn’t, and to be honest I wasn’t laughing either when it was relayed to me because I knew how it would be perceived.”
