Pontiac Times

As thousands of Michigan small businesses and workers were financially devastated by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s extensive COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, some government-sector employees have avoided economic setbacks and have even thrived during this period.

Michigan Capitol Confidential has been collecting and analyzing payroll data from local governments, and it seems that some government workers have benefited from outsized pay increases during the pandemic. Included among those workers are state and local regulators tasked with seeking out and punishing small businesses that don’t comply with the state lockdown restrictions, potentially leading them to financial ruin.

Plymouth ROC Restaurant was recently charged by the state of Michigan for engaging “an illegal occupation or illegal act upon the licensed premises,” according to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The issue at the restaurant was that it served alcohol to people in an outside tent with four walls, which is considered “indoors” under the governor’s orders prohibiting food establishments from offering indoor dining service.

Following a complaint that was filed with the city, Allen Cox, the police chief for the city of Plymouth, ordered John Buzuvis, the director of community development for the city, to observe and take pictures of the beer tent in mid-December. Those photos were later used in the case against the restaurant.

From 2019 to 2020, Cox has received a gross pay increase from $100,646 to $104,313, an increase of 3.6%, and Buzuvis has received a gross pay increase from $78,555 to $79,831, a 1.6% raise. 

Last March, when Whitmer announced the first COVID-19 lockdown, she said, “This is going to be hard, but we’re going to get through this, and we’re going to get through it together.”

Michigan Capitol Confidential points out that the actions of her administration contradict the spirit of “getting through this together,” as officials unaffected by the financial hardships of the pandemic clamp down on those who actually face the economic burdens of the government shutdowns.