#Operation gridlock michigan free

2 “a head-shot at Michigan’s recovery”-but they had bigger things in mind: With McNeilly, who managed the anti-Prop. They gladly took on the job-DeVos called Prop. That summer, a group of GOP lawmakers and business leaders-McNeilly won’t say who-asked DeVos and Weiser (who served as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee in 2012) to lead the charge to defeat Proposition 2. Here’s how that played out (the DeVos mentioned below is Dick Devos, scion of the Amway fortune and husband of Betsy): He managed a campaign against a ballot measure that would’ve enshrined collective bargaining rights in Michigan’s constitution. Michigan, mind you, is wrestling with more than 30,000 confirmed cases and 2,227 deaths from the coronavirus, with Detroit at the epicenter.Īs Mother Jones reported in 2014, McNeilly served as a longtime political adviser to Dick and Betsy DeVos and a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party. In a Wednesday op-ed for the Detroit News, McNeilly followed Trump’s lead in calling for easing restrictions on social distancing and demanded that Whitmer unveil her plan for re-opening the state.

The rift between Whitmer and the groups over the protest emerged on Monday when Whitmer criticized the Michigan Freedom Fund, saying the nonprofit “is funded in large part by the DeVos family,” and adding that “it’s really inappropriate for a sitting member of the United States president’s Cabinet to be waging political attacks on any governor, but obviously, on me here at home.” Greg McNeilly, chairman and founder of Michigan Freedom Fund and a longtime adviser to the DeVos family, tweeted that Whitmer was “misinformed and disconnected with reality.” The organization also promoted the event on Facebook.

#Operation gridlock michigan free

The Detroit Free Press reported that the fund was listed as one of the protest’s hosts on Facebook.

The whole charade was facilitated by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a conservative political group that doubles as a front for Michigan Trump Republicans, and promoted by the Michigan Freedom Fund, a conservative group with ties to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire philanthropist power broker before she joined the Trump administration. They clogged up the streets outside the state Capitol and defied Whitmer’s ban on public gatherings. The protest, known as “ Operation Gridlock,” featured a fair share of MAGA hats, Trump flags, at least one Confederate flag, chants of “ Lock her up!” in reference to Whitmer, and far-right groups from the Proud Boys to the Michigan Liberty Militia. Gretchen Whitmer to shelter in place to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Check out our most recent coverage of the coronavirus crisis, and subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.Įarlier this week, hundreds of demonstrators blocked the streets of Lansing, Michigan, and defied an executive order from Democratic Gov. The coronavirus is a rapidly developing news story, so some of the content in this article might be out of date.