The Beginning of the End for Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer?

Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer got some bad news this week when a county in the northern part of her state expressed support for a resolution to impeach her that was put forth by three Republican members of Michigan’s House of Representatives. The Kalkaska County Board of Commissioners voted four to two in favor of supporting the impeachment effort, according to Michigan Live.

Whitmer has become known for imposing some of the strictest coronavirus lockdown measures in the country on her state. Commissioner David Comai stood by the board’s decision to support the impeachment effort, claiming that  Whitmer’s “unconstitutional executive orders” were to blame for Kalkaska County’s current economic crisis.

Corrupt Conduct Concerning COVID-19 Guidelines

This comes days after Republican Representatives Beau LaFave, Matt Maddock, and Daire Rendon issued the impeachment resolution, alleging that Whitmer was guilty of “corrupt conduct in office and crimes and misdemeanors” over her latest COVID-19 guidelines.

Today I introduced Articles of Impeachment against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The four articles of impeachment against Gov. Whitmer include failing to respect the separation of powers by exercising power granted to the legislative branch, violating the constitutional pic.twitter.com/tCr2KUZb3E

— Beau M. LaFave (@BeauMattLaFave) November 18, 2020

Not all Michigan Republicans are behind this effort, however, as the state’s GOP Speaker of the House Rep. Lee Chatfield has spoken out against it. He described the resolution as a “distraction from the real things we have to get done in our state.”

“We’re not the party that impeaches someone because we’re upset with policies that they’ve enacted,” he said, according to Fox News. “I thought it was shameful what the Democrats did to President Trump last year, and I would assume that any attempt by Republicans right now, with the current set of facts that we have to impeach the governor, would be on the same level.”

However, Maddock said last week that he has a “growing list of Michigan Legislators” who are planning to begin proceedings to impeach Whitmer, according to The Hill. When asked why he feels she should be impeached, Maddock claimed that the Democrat has “ignored court orders. Violated our Constitutional rights. Completely ignored due process and the legislature. Weaponized contract tracing databases to aid democrat campaigns,”

This piece was written by James Samson on November 25, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and Maness and is used by permission.