Whitmer Jets Off to Japan Amid Scandal and a Looming Shutdown

Lansing, MI - Governor Gretchen Whitmer is again out of the country, but this time with an entourage of 18 people, on a trip to Japan and Singapore funded by her allies. Among those accompanying her is Quentin Messer, CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), whose office is currently under investigation for its connection to Fay Beydoun and her organization’s potential $20 million embezzlement. 

Recently, the MEDC offices were raided by the Attorney General, and Messer himself acquired private legal counsel. Additional reporting revealed that Messer dined with Beydoun the night her funding was approved by the legislature and several MEDC members failed to sign conflict of interest reports, a self-accountability measure for MEDC officials like Beydoun. 

While families in Michigan worry about a potential government shutdown and the uncertainty it brings for schools, roads, and other public services, Whitmer is globe-trotting with actors under an investigation. Her record for overseas travel continues to grow, but her record for helping Michigan families is worse by the day. 

Whitmer has attempted to spin these trips as economic development missions, but, from lavish spending by MEDC grant recipients to failed projects, Michigan taxpayers have seen how her so-called development schemes play out. 

“Governor Whitmer and Quentin Messer should be answering questions about why MEDC’s money was given to a major Democrat donor and working to protect Michigan families from a government shutdown,” said Mary Drabik, a spokesperson for Michigan Forward Network. “Instead, they’re absconding to Japan. It’s the same Whitmer pattern: political insiders first, Michigan taxpayers last.”