A Michigan man has filed a recall petition against Governor Gretchen Whitmer over her stay-at-home order. This comes less than two weeks before Whitmer’s stay-at-home order ends.
Albion resident Chad Baase, who filed the petition, says he believes the governor’s decision to shut down certain businesses is illegal.
“When she took office she swore to uphold the Constitution, and she’s not doing that with her executive order,” Baase says.
Baase himself has had previous problems with the law. The Battle Creek Enquirer reports that after a custody dispute with his ex-wife, Baase told Calhoun County Commissioner Steve Frisbie that he would kill 10,000 people a day by poisoning the water supply.
It also reports that he threatened to kill family court referees and county judges and their children in a series of August 2013, Facebook messages he sent to Frisbie.
The Board of State Canvassers will meet remotely next week to discuss the petition. The board will decide if the language in the written petition is enough to put a recall on the ballot.
Whitmer’s stay at home order will end on April 30 unless it gets extended.
Baase says he believes Whitmer is abusing her powers as governor. He says Whitmer needs to be replaced by someone more in tune with state lawmakers.
“We have to get somebody who can work with our Legislature. We're not going to fix the damn roads without working with our Legislature,” he says.
Baase says he has filed four recall petitions before, including a petition against former Albion mayor Garrett Brown – who was voted out of office four months after the recall election would have taken place.
This post has been updated to add details of Baase's past legal issues and to remove an error about former recall petitions.
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