Capitol News

John Cox is calling into question Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's actions regarding use of executive orders during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Cox, an attorney, media personality and owner of a development company, is the former GOP candidate for governor in California in 2018. He came in runner up next to current governor Gavin Newsom. 

Cox said Whitmer is in a very precarious situation given, unlike Newsom in California, Whitmer has a gop-controlled legislature.

“In Michigan where the Republicans control the legislature that's even a bigger issue because there you have a situation where a governor is trying to go around a legislature of an opposing party and really grab a lot of power,” Cox told the Capitol News.

Whitmer has been challenged in court successfully. Last month, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that Whitmer’s Covid-related executive orders issued after April 30 were unconstitutional.

“We've seen it in Michigan and a couple other places,” Cox said. “We've seen governors grab emergency powers here for what they call emergency powers without having to talk to the legislature.”

Cox said she will have a hard way going forward.

“When government tries to do too much or tries to tell us to do things that are either obvious or useless, that I think erodes trust,” he said.

Similarly in Illinois and California Cox said Democratic Governors J.B.Pritzker and Gavin Newsom have exercised government overreach and bypassed legislature to enforce Covid regulations.

“I think Americans should be rightly concerned that our system is being challenged by some of these governors who don't want to work with legislators and make the needed compromises, that want to grab power for themselves,” he said.