This afternoon in Traverse City, gubernatorial Republicans were asked what transparency measures they would support as candidates. Their answers ranged from dodge, duck, dive, highlighting how none of the six on stage have released any personal financial information or tax returns.
The candidates on stage tried to mislead and distract from their own failed records:
- Rabid election conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer Garrett Soldano claimed he would release tax returns and personal financial disclosures, but has failed to do so. He also owes Michiganders answers on how much he’s profited on Juice Plus+, a product he claimed would “literally” turn consumers’ bodies “into an environment of greatness and you’ll dominate any virus.”
- Tudor Dixon has proven over her campaign that she’ll stoop to any low necessary to mislead Michigan voters. This year, an advisor for her campaign admitted to spreading outright lies about Governor Gretchen Whitmer with attacks the Detroit Free Press had to dismiss as “a massive stretch, at best.”
- Kevin Rinke has fundraised off his hollow claim that “government should serve the people, not the other way around,” only to then pan these measures that are standard for elected officials and candidates in nearly every other state as “cynical,” according to reporting from Gongwer. He has refused to disclose how many corporate boards he sits on and how much he is paid for those, how many times he has been a defendant in lawsuits for racial and sexual harassment, and how many times he has made hefty settlement payments as a result.
- All six candidates on stage have so far refused to disclose their tax returns or personal financial information.
Meanwhile, Governor Whitmer has voluntarily released tax returns and personal financial information since she was a candidate in 2018. Michigan working families deserve answers on whose interests the wrong-for-Michigan candidates are angling to protect.