LANSING (May 14, 2021) — A private jet Gov. Gretchen Whitmer used to fly to Florida in 
March was chartered by the nonprofit created to fund her inauguration, her office disclosed in an email Friday. One aide's description of the nonprofit's use is akin to an administrative account, and despite prior pledges of transparency, the picture offered of the nonprofit's finances is far from complete.
“The governor's flight was not a gift, not paid for at taxpayer expense, and was done in compliance with the law,” JoAnne Huls, Whitmer’s chief of staff, wrote in an email first obtained by MIRS News.
In the email, Huls said Whitmer paid $855 for her seat out of her own pocket. The flight cost $27,521, according to a disclosure posted online. Huls referred to the nonprofit as an “executive office account.”
Huls wrote that the nonprofit, Michigan Transition 2019, “defrays the cost of the Governor’s travel when it’s consistent with the account’s purposes and not covered by taxpayers.”
Whitmer had previously said she traveled to Florida to care for her ailing father and had worked throughout the trip, but had dodged specific questions about who had paid for use of the private jet.
The scrutiny originated in part from the ownership of the jet, a Gulfstream 280. It is shared by some of Michigan’s wealthiest families — and most prolific political donors, as first reported by The Detroit News. They include the Moroun family, which owns the Ambassador Bridge, and the Cotton family, which until 2018 owned MeridianHealth, a major medicaid provider.
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