Gulfstream G280, the model Whitmer hitched a ride on.
Gretchen Whitmer (Photo: State of Michigan)
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's visit in March to her ailing father in West Palm Beach, Fla., is causing more heartburn than she could have ever expected.
The latest: A conservative group filed a complaint Wednesday with the IRS, alleging that a Lansing nonprofit organization improperly funded her flights aboard a Gulfstream G280 private jet owned by wealthy businessmen, Craig Mauger of The Detroit News reports:
The new filing by Eric Ventimiglia, executive director of Michigan Rising Action, says the governor's trip on a private plane in March fell outside the tax-exempt purpose of the social welfare organization Michigan Transition 2019.
The nonprofit, which was formed to help fund Whitmer's inauguration, paid $27,521 to charter the plane that carried the governor, according to a voluntary disclosure and a memo from JoAnne Huls, Whitmer's chief of staff. Whitmer paid the nonprofit $855 in exchange for her seat on the plane.
Questions remain.
Gulfstream G280, the nine-seat luxury model Whitmer hitched a ride on.
On Monday, Deadline Detroit columnist Charlie LeDuff wrote:
Your crack team of communicators claim that your fund, Michigan Transition 2019, set up for the transition of power and to promote "civic action and social welfare," was using the plane for official business when you tagged along to Florida.
What business? No expenses are filed for any type of business except for the flight. Were the fund's executives on the plane with you? The fund's director– a union lobbyist – could not be reached for comment. Nor its treasurer – a former power company executive. Nor its secretary – a professor of legal ethics, of all things.
Were they on the plane? That's not what I've heard. Is it true?
You may be in hot water with the Internal Revenue Service if no one affiliated with the fund was using the jet for legitimate political purposes. Your problems with the public may be worse. You told them you took a personal trip as a dutiful daughter. So who else was on the Gulfstream G280?
Related:
LeDuff: Whitmer Mooches Billionaires' Plane As Father Makes Miraculous Recovery
