Gubernatorial candidate and used Toyota salesman Kevin Rinke recently released a new 30-second out-of-touch TV ad attacking Governor Whitmer for securing bipartisan auto insurance reform and delivering $400 refunds to every Michigan driver. In addition he falsely and nonsensically attacks her for establishing the MCCA which was created in 1978 – 40 years before she was elected governor. Rinke is spending over $227,000 to run his new, misleading TV ad.
Rinke’s ad alleges that Governor Whitmer was imposing a “bad program” on Michigan drivers when in reality, she worked with the Republican-led legislature in her first year in office to deliver “historic” bipartisan auto insurance reforms that drastically lowered MCCA fees to the lowest they have been in nearly two decades.
Rinke is actively campaigning against cutting costs for working families, describing the reforms delivering Michiganders $400 refund checks for every auto-insured vehicle in the state as a “mistake” and saying he would have vetoed it had he been governor instead.
In 2019, legislative leaders in Rinke’s own party, like House Speaker Lee Chatfield and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey praised Governor Whitmer for securing massive cost-saving reforms “saying that the deal couldn’t have gotten done without her.” Additionally, legislative Republicans celebrated the announcement once the refund amount was finalized.
MDP spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite issued the following statement:
“Out-of-touch millionaire and used Toyota salesman Kevin Rinke can’t stop going out of his way to let Michigan working families know that he won’t be looking for opportunities to save them money. Now he’s doubling down by falsely asserting that Governor Whitmer created the auto insurance system established 40 years before she was elected. Michiganders need a governor that will keep them first, which is why Governor Whitmer worked across the aisle to deliver massive cost-saving auto insurance reforms within the first year of her term.”
