The airline that flew Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Florida last March will not be penalized by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to new reports.
An FAA investigation into the March 15 trip to Whitmer’s father, which attracted a Bureau of Elections complaint from the Michigan GOP in June, via a chartered Air Eagle flight despite the airline lacking a charter certificate, was concluded, FAA spokeswoman Crystal Essiaw told the Washington Examiner.
“The FAA investigated and made clear to the operator what the rules are for chartered flights,” Essiaw said. “The operator took steps so a similar situation won’t occur in the future.”
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While applauding the FAA’s decision, some on the Right nonetheless took aim at Whitmer, with conservative group Michigan Rising Action slamming the governor’s “decision to violate campaign finance law and list the flight as a campaign expense” as a “calculated move.”
“The FAA’s decision today was correct, and the operators should not be penalized after Governor Whitmer was caught and made an about face on her explanation for her secret trip,” Eric Ventimiglia, executive director for Michigan Rising Action, said. “Whitmer’s attempt to avoid accountability by making political ally Jocelyn Benson the judge and jury in her Florida scandal is as low as it gets in politics, but the hardworking people of Michigan expect her to be held to the same laws as they are.”
State Rep. Steve Johnson, the chairman of the Michigan House Oversight Committee, said in an email to the Washington Examiner that although the FAA may have concluded its investigation, “the Governor has still not been honest with the people of Michigan on why she thought it was fine to tell Michiganders to stay home while she went on a junket to Florida.”
“This administration continues its hypocrisy without any accountability,” Johnson, a Republican, continued.
In early June, the Michigan GOP filed a complaint with the state’s Bureau of Elections over Whitmer’s trip to visit her ailing father in Florida, saying the flight, which was at least partly funded by a nonprofit group, amounted to “numerous violations of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act.”
“There is no individual or organization who should have paid for the Governor’s luxury personal travel to Florida except for Governor Whitmer herself,” the filing said. “This is abundantly clear in light of the numerous complaints being filed against her and the organizations associated with this trip with various state and federal agencies. … We ask that the Secretary of State immediately investigate this conduct and penalize all responsible parties to the fullest extent of the law.”
The complaint alleged Michigan Transition, a nonprofit group established to facilitate Whitmer’s inauguration in 2019, paid the flight’s $27,521 price tag. Then, after the matter became public despite Whitmer going to “great lengths” to keep the plane use secret, the governor offered personally to reimburse $855, which covered the equivalent costs of first-class flight seats for herself and her daughters, the filing alleged.
“However, when it became clear that FAA rules did not allow the operator to accept any flight reimbursements from 501(c)(4) organizations, Whitmer’s attorney then shifted positions to state that the Campaign would be covering the charter cost of the flight … So far, Governor Whitmer has only claimed to have paid $855 for her seat on the private jet and not explained what she thinks the reimbursement amount for her daughters’ seats on the luxury jet would be,” the state Republican Party continued.
The Michigan GOP claimed Whitmer justified Michigan Transition’s financing of the trip as an “incidental office expense,” a characterization that the complainants rejected.
“There is no dispute that Governor Whitmer’s trip to Florida was a personal trip to visit her father. Nonetheless, the Campaign attempts to argue that it can pay for the trip by claiming that the trip was an ‘incidental office expense’ under [Michigan Compiled Law] 169.209,” the filing continued. “This argument defies logic, as MCL 169.209 and interpretive guidance on ‘incidental office expenses’ make clear that any expenditures for personal activities are not considered ‘incidental office expenses,’ regardless of the circumstances.”
Whitmer’s flights to and from Florida attracted scrutiny from state Republican officials, with Johnson saying in May that there may even need to be an inquiry into the financial arrangements behind Whitmer’s visit to her father if her administration is not sufficiently responsive to the committee’s letter, which Johnson sent to the governor in late May.
“We will be issuing a letter to Governor Whitmer with specific questions related to her junket to Florida. Based off the response we receive, the Oversight Committee will consider doing hearings on this scandal,” Johnson wrote in an email to the Washington Examiner on May 18. “The people of Michigan deserve answers on what the Governor is trying to hide and why.”
After Whitmer’s chief of staff, JoAnne Huls, said the administration used “a chartered flight for this trip,” an FAA representative said Detroit-based Air Eagle didn’t hold a certificate authorizing charter-type services. The federal agency said it was investigating the matter.
Representatives for Whitmer, a Democrat, defended the arrangement. Bob Leddy, a spokesman for the governor, said Whitmer needed secure transportation, that Air Eagle was able to provide it, and that the trip costs were covered.
“Due to ongoing security and public health concerns, we made a decision to use a chartered flight for this trip,” Huls wrote in a memo explaining the March trip funded by Michigan Transition. “The governor’s flight was not a gift, not paid for at taxpayer expense and was done in compliance with the law.”
Whitmer also faced controversy after it was reported that multiple aides to the governor, including Elizabeth Hertel, the director of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, and Tricia Foster, the governor’s chief operating officer, traveled out of state last month despite April 5 guidelines issued by Hertel warning would-be travelers that “travel increases your chance of spreading and getting COVID-19.”
The governor was accused of violating the April 5 guidance when she was photographed at the Landshark Bar & Grill in East Lansing on May 22 alongside several others who were not wearing masks, with their tables pushed close together, an arrangement that violated the May 15 order from the state’s Department of Health and Human Services mandating all parties be separated by 6 feet, which was in effect at the time. Whitmer apologized, saying she “made a mistake,” and the bar was not cited.
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The controversies have led to several long-shot bids to oust Whitmer via recall. While the recall petitions are unlikely to be met with success, the governor broke fundraising records with an $8.6 million haul in the first half of 2021 via a loophole lifting campaign finance caps on recall elections.
Representatives for Whitmer and Air Eagle did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
