{"id":526678,"date":"2021-05-19T17:35:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=526678"},"modified":"2021-05-19T17:35:52","modified_gmt":"2021-05-19T21:35:52","slug":"watchdog-group-files-irs-complaint-over-whitmers-private-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-group-files-irs-complaint-over-whitmers-private-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog Group Files IRS Complaint Over Whitmer\u2019s Private Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatchdog-group-files-irs-complaint-over-whitmers-private-flight%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=526678&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Whitmer-e1621453779145.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A conservative watchdog group on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service over a nonprofit-sponsored private flight Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) took to Florida.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan Rising Action alleges Whitmer improperly benefited from nonprofit funds that were used to pay for a private charter flight she took to Florida to visit her father on March 12. Michigan Transition 2019, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that paid for the flight, was founded in 2018 to pay for Whitmer&#8217;s inauguration expenses.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmer did not initially acknowledge taking the trip, and for weeks <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2021\/05\/14\/whitmer-discloses-cost-florida-trip-how-paid\/5097543001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">refused to disclose<\/a> how the flight was paid for, until her administration released a memo last week revealing Michigan Transition 2019&#8217;s funding of the trip. The purpose of the trip was to visit her chronically ill father and assist him with &#8220;household duties like cooking and cleaning,&#8221; according to the statement. Whitmer&#8217;s office said she contributed $855 of her personal funds toward the $27,521 cost of the flight to pay for her seat.<\/p>\n<p>Whitmer&#8217;s chief of staff JoAnne Huls <a href=\"https:\/\/www.freep.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2021\/05\/14\/whitmer-discloses-cost-florida-trip-how-paid\/5097543001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">defended<\/a> the administration&#8217;s lack of transparency in the memo, saying the governor&#8217;s office does not &#8220;generally comment on the governor&#8217;s personal schedule&#8221; because of &#8220;extraordinary and ongoing threats to the life and safety of the governor and her family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Michigan Rising Action executive director Eric Ventimiglia said the cost of the flight borne by the nonprofit represented an improper personal benefit to Whitmer. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/charities-non-profits\/other-non-profits\/social-welfare-organizations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IRS code<\/a>, a 501(c)(4) organization &#8220;must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare&#8221; and &#8220;may not inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.&#8221; Ventimiglia called on the IRS to conduct an investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From her blatant hypocrisy to the litany of ethical and legal violations, Governor Whitmer has spent the last two months misleading the people of Michigan about her trip to Florida,&#8221; Ventimiglia said. &#8220;It&#8217;s time for her to be held accountable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Michigan Rising Action also criticized Whitmer for <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pandemics-pontiac-michigan-florida-coronavirus-pandemic-ca29e85b0f00ecae8039bb4df39f4fef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comments<\/a> she made in April expressing concern over Michigan residents traveling to Florida.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is the time of the year that snowbirds come home from Florida, where people are going on spring break, and all of these things can contribute to spread,&#8221; Whitmer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2021\/04\/19\/whitmer-traveled-florida-visit-her-father-spokesman-says\/7294610002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> during an appearance on <em>Meet the Press<\/em>. &#8220;That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re imploring people to take this seriously, mask up, get tested.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A conservative watchdog group on Wednesday filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service over a nonprofit-sponsored private flight Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer (D.) took to Florida. Michigan Rising Action &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312405,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Whitmer-e1621453779145.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Watchdog Group Files IRS Complaint Over Whitmer\u2019s Private Flight","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Whitmer-e1621453779145.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Watchdog Group Files IRS Complaint Over Whitmer\u2019s Private Flight","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}