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Governor Gretchen Whitmer signs first executive directive

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Michigan.gov
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer
Credit Michigan.gov
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has issued her first executive directive as Michigan’s governor. The directive requires state department employees to report threats to public health, safety or welfare up the chain of command, and it requires those threats to be investigated.

“We thought this was an important way to lead on the first day. To tell state employees we listen to them, and public health is paramount to anyone’s ego, to anyone’s agenda, to any one department’s arena,” says Whitmer.

Whitmer signed the directive while flanked by employees of the Department of Environmental Quality. The DEQ has faced reports of low morale and came under the microscope in the wake of the Flint water crisis.   

Whitmer says this isn’t about just one department.

“But I do think that there are a few examples that would tell you that when there isn’t that upward communication, where it doesn’t get to decision makers, that people can get hurt in the process,” she says.

Whitmer says requiring people to report potential threats up the chain of command will encourage and empower state employees to speak up.

Copyright 2021 Michigan Radio. To see more, visit Michigan Radio.

Cheyna Roth
Before becoming the newest Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Cheyna Roth was an attorney. She spent her days fighting it out in court as an assistant prosecuting attorney for Ionia County. Eventually, Cheyna took her investigative and interview skills and moved on to journalism. She got her masters at Michigan State University and was a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer before finding her home with NPR. Very soon after joining MPRN, Cheyna started covering the 2016 presidential election, chasing after Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and all their surrogates as they duked it out for Michigan. Cheyna also focuses on the Legislature and criminal justice issues for MPRN. Cheyna is obsessively curious, a passionate storyteller, and an occasional backpacker. Follow her on Twitter at @Cheyna_R