Last month, Gretchen Whitmer and a coterie of bureaucrats took a lovely five-day trip to Spain, totaling $69,203.03. Supposedly this trip was meant to strengthen economic ties and encourage Spanish investment in Michigan. However, it more closely resembles a dream vacation worth more than the average Michigander makes in a year.
Michigan Enjoyer recently got her itinerary and discovered that Big Gretch might just be the new Anthony Bourdain!
The official delegation was made up of Gov. Whitmer, two of her staff members, three representatives from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the director of the Trade Commision of Spain in Chicago, and four mystery figures (names omitted). Somehow they managed to spend over $36k on airfare. Now, we don’t expect our beloved governor to fly Spirit, but surely there were other options.
Upon arrival in Barcelona, the representatives of our great state checked into the W Hotel Barcelona. It’s a shining tower of glass, shaped like a billowing sail overlooking the Mediterranean. They dined at 7 Portes, winner of the National Gastronomy Award of Catalonia, and El Tribut, a beautiful restaurant designed to look like lovely caves, with a stunning view of the sea. If ever visiting Barcelona, be sure to check these spots out—if you can afford them.
From one five-star hotel to the next: The Principal Madrid Hotel. Whitmer & Co. stayed at a five-star “gem in the shape of a hotel.” It’s the sort of place where they might film the next season of “White Lotus,” but certainly isn’t where your average Michigander would stay. And the hotel prides themselves on exclusivity, calling to mind when the governor ignored her own Covid-19 protocols to launch her boat. Very elegant. Very exclusive.
One evening, after a day of meetings, the troupe took what I’m sure was a lovely walk through Madrid, then went to dinner at Oven Mozzarella. Now, Oven Mozzarella is not a particularly expensive restaurant. The problem here is that while visiting the capital of Spain, the governor went out for Italian food. I appreciate her taking a break from all the fine dining, but this one was just weird.
The stated purpose of the trip was “to meet with companies investing in Michigan’s Automotive and Innovation ecosystem” and “thank them for their investment as well as discuss further expansion opportunities and other foreign direct investment leads.” Apparently Michigan and Spain have “deep and mutually beneficial economic ties.” Ignoring the fact that we have multiple U.S. states with larger GDPs than Spain, Spain’s foreign investment hasn’t even created 1,000 Michigan jobs over the past decade.
By the looks of it, Whitmer’s trip was actually an investment in Spain, its tourism industry at least. All this money—money earned by the citizens of the great state of Michigan—was spent rather frivolously in an extravagant display of our state’s power.
At least we can account for the flights, hotel suites, and meals. A review: airfare ($36,562.75), hotels ($14,901.61), food ($2,984.99), and entertainment ($574.32).
But then there’s the $14,179.36 line item for “miscellaneous.” As if the large living on another man’s dime wasn’t enough, they’re willing to spend the money without even bothering to track the expense? It could be anything, but clearly the governor doesn’t think the people of Michigan deserve an explanation.
This scandalous instance of government excess wouldn’t be as shocking in other parts of the country. The coasts are full of power-hungry politicians openly seeking to amass wealth for themselves.
But Whitmer is from Michigan, where we’re honest and hardworking. She loves to play up her Midwestern values in the press; yet, here she is, spending our hard-earned money on tapas.
Caleb Wallace Holm is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer. Follow him on X @calebwholm and Instagram @calebwallaceholm.
