Great Lakes Wire

While COVID-19 and the restrictions that created the current economic crisis still loom large over Michigan businesses, Rich Studley, the president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said that a recent letter begging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to have mercy on small business owners has fallen on deaf ears.

Studley recently appeared on WJR's "The Frank Beckmann Show" about the state of business in Michigan.

Studley said that he sees frustration from within the business community, as well as from leaders left out of the loop and employees left without work.

"I think there is some frustration, both in the administration -- because the endless chain of constantly changing executive orders is now being questioned by a larger number of employees and employers across the state,” Studley told Beckmann. “There’s certainly frustration in the Legislature in terms of being excluded entirely from the public policy decision-making process, and I think there’s growing frustration in the business community as well.”

Studley said that he recently joined the leaders of multiple business-oriented organizations -- including the Detroit and Grand Rapids Chambers of Commerce -- in a letter to Whitmer requesting that she reconsider a number of her decisions.

It was that letter, which Studley described as professional and measured, that elicited Whitmer’s declaration she would not be “bullied,” Studley told Beckmann.

"Her response yesterday was a surprise and disappointment,” Studley said told Beckmann. “Being an advocate for your members is not bullying.”

In fact, Studley characterized Whitmer’s response as demonstrating “callous indifference” to the plight of the many small business owners and their employees who languish, unassisted, while Whitmer holds their industries under her heel.

"The situation is serious. Most other states have allowed these businesses to be open,” Studley said on the radio program. “The governor said she would take an earnest look at this question last week. She said the same thing yesterday, I think. The plain English translation here is, she just doesn’t care about these businesses. And we need help; we need action now."