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Two public policy experts are suing Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the state of Michigan, asking a court to force them to release background data on the executive order that funneled nursing home residents hospitalized with COVID-19 back into nursing homes. This is the same policy followed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is now under criminal investigation for covering up the massive numbers of seniors who died as a result of the policy.Steve Delie, the policy lead for open government and transparency at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and Charlie LeDuff, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and a radio show host say that underlying data that Whitmer and the state are refusing to release could shed more light on the actual number of COVID deaths, as well as data relevant to Whitmer’s public health decisions that have remained secret.USA Today:QuoteMichigan is one of only two states where the governor is exempt from Freedom of Information laws, and the only state where that exemption is written into statute. Thanks to this exemption, the governor has no obligation to produce any records whatsoever, despite making decisions affecting the lives of every Michigander.Gov. Whitmer has used this veil of secrecy to act with impunity. Her office has almost single-handedly dictated the state’s COVID-19 policies, without disclosing the data she has used to make her decisions. After the Michigan Supreme Court struck down the statute Gov. Whitmer relied on for her emergency authority, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services became the vessel for COVID decision-making. Yet while that department is subject to FOIA, it has not been any more transparent. The state continues to release information about the number of cases and deaths but not the underlying records.
Michigan is one of only two states where the governor is exempt from Freedom of Information laws, and the only state where that exemption is written into statute. Thanks to this exemption, the governor has no obligation to produce any records whatsoever, despite making decisions affecting the lives of every Michigander.Gov. Whitmer has used this veil of secrecy to act with impunity. Her office has almost single-handedly dictated the state’s COVID-19 policies, without disclosing the data she has used to make her decisions. After the Michigan Supreme Court struck down the statute Gov. Whitmer relied on for her emergency authority, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services became the vessel for COVID decision-making. Yet while that department is subject to FOIA, it has not been any more transparent. The state continues to release information about the number of cases and deaths but not the underlying records.
