OPINION:
“Never allow a good crisis go to waste.”
That’s what former President Barack Obama’s right-hand man Rahm Emanuel said back in 2008. Well, his party has taken that adage and is running with it. They take advantage of anything to gain more power for themselves, but none so much as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson — Democrats swept into office in 2018’s Blue Wave — have used and abused the crises that our families, our schools and our small businesses have faced to steal more and more freedoms away from Michiganders.
Now they are trying to make their unconstitutional election orders from 2020 a permanent “fix” on Michigan’s election system. And hey, if that doesn’t work, Ms. Whitmer is calling on President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to federalize Michigan elections.
Under Ms. Whitmer’s leadership, Michigan has been hit hard with avoidable catastrophes stemming directly from her actions. First, Ms. Whitmer, supposedly unaware, lost Ford’s EV plant to Kentucky and Tennessee, resulting in the cost of 11,000 potential jobs, not to mention the millions in tax revenue that would come from this plant. On top of that, she continues her crusade against the Line 5 energy pipeline, which would have an economic loss of billions and the loss of thousands of good-paying jobs here in Michigan. Even Mr. Biden doesn’t support this disastrous decision. Her handling of the Benton Water Crisis hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Lead levels have exceeded state and federal standards since 2018 — the entire time she has been in office! Ms. Whitmer did nothing until the heat was on. Bad leadership and partisan decision-making isn’t a bug of her administration — it’s the feature.
At the pandemic’s beginning, Ms. Whitmer and her lackeys took advantage of COVID-19 in every way imaginable. They grabbed as much power from Michiganders as she could, defying the legislature and acting as a tyrant. Changing our election laws was one of many ways she could ensure their side had an advantage. The liberal trio in Lansing eliminated proven systematic checks and best practices on absentee ballots, including verifying signatures, allowing online applications and even allowing for digital signatures.
They even tried to get election clerks to presume the signatures were valid and accurate. Still, thankfully a Michigan Court of Claims judge struck that down before the 2020 November election because the rule changes went “beyond the realm of mere advice and direction” and instead should have gone through an administrative rule-making process.
Now, Ms. Whitmer and her radical left cronies are trying to make the COVID-19 voting laws permanent through the administrative rule-making process. The same laws were never passed in the legislature but ordered into place by Queen Whitmer.
It’s a shame that Gretchen doesn’t care about securing our election system. Our legislature did its job and passed a package of 19 bills to fix our election system to ensure a free, fair and transparent process. These bills were commonsense solutions to address real flaws in our system, but what did our governor do? She vetoed every single one of them and is now leading the effort with 16 other Democratic governors to push a federal government takeover of our election system.
Just this month, Ms. Whitmer sent a letter urging the U.S. Senate leadership to pass federal legislation that would permit online registration, same-day voter registration and two weeks of early voting.
What’s clear to me is that Ms. Whitmer knows she cannot run on her record as governor of Michigan and win reelection. Now she’s attempting to “fix” the election in Michigan, and just in case that doesn’t work, she’s calling for help from her Democratic colleagues in Washington.
We cannot allow this to happen. Our elections need to be more secure, not less. Every citizen should have faith that their votes count. There need to be more checks for the validity of signatures, applications, and ballots — absentee or in person.
Democrats are not even trying to hide their corruption anymore. They are outwardly trying to fundamentally change our country to become the socialist haven they crave. Democrats feign this equity platform to trick voters into thinking they should rely on our government.
Don’t fall for it. Republican legislators around the country need to fight against these socialist policies and protect our elections so that our nation can once again be a beacon of light and liberty.
• Garrett Soldano is an entrepreneur, public speaker and philanthropist running to be the governor of Michigan.
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