Whitmer spent $69,203 on Spain trip

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and ten others spent $69,203 on a five-day trip to Spain in November.

The Michigan Enjoyer first reported the details, which it obtained through a records request.

Here’s the breakdown: airfare, $36,562.75; hotel, $14,901.61; miscellaneous, $14,179.36; food, $2,984.99; and entertainment, $574.32.

The trip itinerary lists 11 names: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; Lluisa Oliveras, director of the Trade Commission of Spain in that country’s consulate in Chicago; Quentin Messer Jr., CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Zack Pohl, the governor’s principal deputy chief of staff; Christina Grossi, the governor’s chief legal counsel; Vlatko Tomic-Bobas, MEDC investment director; and Maci Gilmore, the MEDC assistant chief of protocol.

Four names are redacted.

Whitmer’s office did not respond to a request for comment about who else attended the trip and why.

The redacted names were exempted from disclosure under sections13(1)(s) and 13(1)(u) of the Freedom of Information Act, MCL 15.243(1), which protects the public records of a law enforcement agency, according to the MEDC.

“This investment mission to Spain is an opportunity to expand Michigan’s global footprint and attract new economic opportunities to our state,” Whitmer said in a news release. “Engaging directly with international business and policy leaders allows us to showcase Michigan’s strengths and competitive advantages, helping to foster new investments that create good-paying jobs for Michiganders.”

Previously, Whitmer spent $141,597 on a 2024 trip to Taiwan and $285,000 on a 2023 trip to Japan.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist led an investment mission to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands last year. Michigan Capitol Confidential has requested the total cost of that trip but hasn’t yet received the documents, five months after asking.

The economic development agency and Michigan Economic Development Foundation’s trade missions are funded by private, voluntary donations, not taxpayers, Otie McKinley, media and communications manager at the MEDC, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

Whitmer and others took the trip “to meet with companies investing in Michigan’s Automotive and Innovation ecosystem to thank them for their investment as well as discuss further expansion opportunities and other foreign direct investment leads,” according to an MEDC document.

The governor should instead stop handing out corporate welfare, Rep. Ken Borton, R-Gaylord, told CapCon.

“The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is supposed to attract business investment to our state, but most of the time, it seems more interested in funding lavish trips overseas for the governor and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars to build Chinese EV battery plants and create only a small number of underpaid jobs,” Borton wrote in an email. “Instead of traveling to Spain, maybe it's time for the governor to say adiós to her failed corporate subsidy strategy that has failed to bring Michiganders any real value for their tax dollars.”