Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Tuesday that her husband’s request for special treatment was a “failed attempt at humor.”
Whitmer addressed outrage over reports that her husband Marc Mallory requested special treatment last week — a topic that spread following now-deleted Facebook posts from Northshore Dock LLC and the company’s owner, Tad Dowker, according to the Detroit News.
“My husband made a failed attempt at humor last week when checking in with the small business that helps with our boat and dock up north,” Whitmer said. “Knowing it wouldn’t make a difference, he jokingly asked if being married to me might move him up in the cue.”
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“Obviously, with the motorized boating prohibition in our early days of COVID-19, he thought it might get a laugh. It didn’t, and to be honest, I wasn’t laughing either when it was relayed to me, because I knew how it would be perceived.”
Whitmer added that she wished the incident hadn’t occurred.
“He regrets it, I wish it wouldn’t have happened, and that’s really all we have to say about it,” Whitmer said. (RELATED: Whitmer Does Not Deny That Her Husband Sought Special Treatment Over Boating On Memorial Day Weekend)
Both Northshore Dock LLC and Dowker’s posts have since been deleted, but Dowker’s post described Mallory arriving at the dock company and requesting that his boat be put in the water early, the Detroit News reported.
“This morning, I was out working when the office called me, there was a gentleman on hold who wanted his boat in the water before the weekend,” Dowker posted on Facebook Thursday, according to the Detroit News. “Being Memorial weekend and the fact that we started working three weeks late means there is no chance this is going to happen.”
“Well our office personnel had explained this to the man and he replied, ‘I am the husband to the governor, will this make a difference?’”
Dowker’s post came three days after Whitmer announced that she would loosen restrictions on Northern Lower Michigan and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula ahead of Memorial Day Weekend. These areas are popular vacation destinations and have lower coronavirus rates than other parts of the state, according to the Detroit News.
“If you don’t live in these regions … think long and hard before you take a trip into them,” Whitmer said May 18, the publication reports.
“A small spike could put the hospital system in dire straits pretty quickly,” she said. “That’s precisely why we’re asking everyone to continue doing their part. Don’t descend on Traverse City from all regions of the state.”
Whitmer and her husband reside in Lansing, Michigan, according to the Detroit News, and additionally own a home in Elk Rapids, Michigan, which is about 25 miles from Traverse City.
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