LANSING, Mich. — State Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, issued the following statement calling on Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon to resign after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and her administration extended the recent three-week shutdown for an additional 12 days:
“The Whitmer Administration’s biggest bureaucratic disasters during the pandemic have been directly linked to poor leadership at the Unemployment Insurance Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services. The UIA director recently resigned in shame, and it’s time for DHHS Director Robert Gordon to resign as well.
“Director Gordon has issued statewide mandates shutting down small businesses without providing them the opportunity to operate safely — a move that has pushed these hardworking small business owners into bankruptcy through no fault of their own. He continues to ban in-person high school instruction and athletics, even when they can demonstrate safe health practices and standards. His one-size-fits-all approach lacks collaboration, thoughtfulness, and empathy.
“Director Gordon, under Gov. Whitmer’s instruction, presided over the disastrous nursing home policy and ignored Michigan-made, FDA-approved testing supplies at the outset of the pandemic when our state was in desperate need. He also oversaw a no-bid contract for the governor’s political operatives that was run through a taxpayer-funded nonprofit to conceal activities that sparked a criminal investigation.
“The time for Director Gordon to resign is way past due, and the governor should replace him with an independent leader who will bring much-needed organization and a spirit of partnership to this administration.”
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