GOP gubernatorial candidate who opposes $400 checks for Michiganders shows off $20,000 Rolex watch at gun show
Michigan gubernatorial candidate Kevin Rinke, who earlier said he would have vetoed legislation providing $400 refund checks to Michigan drivers, showed off a $20,000 Rolex Submariner watch at the Kent County Gun and Knife Show this week.
He also inadvertently pointed an M1A style rifle at attendees, a picture shows.
The Detroit-area businessman and multimillionaire launched his campaign in November with a mission to “blaze a bold new path of freedom and opportunity,” and with $10 million of his own money.
Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite said in a statement that nothing showed the Rinke was out of touch with Michigan voters quite like “showing up to events on the trail sporting a watch that retails for 50 of the auto insurance refund checks he doesn’t want Michigan drivers to receive.”
A couple days after his campaign launched, Rinke appeared on PBS’ “Off the Record Overtime” to discuss his run. When asked about the bipartisan auto insurance reform bill, Rinke, whose family owned and operated auto dealerships throughout Michigan, said accident victims were “suffering because our governor agreed to a bill that was not complete.”
The auto insurance reform bill passed the Republican legislature and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2019. At Whitmer’s request last November, it allowed the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association Fund to provide $3 billion in total refunds to Michigan motorists, $400 per insured vehicle, drawn from the fund’s $5 billion surplus.
When he was pressed on who responsibility for the bill fell on, Rinke said that while it was the Legislature who put the bill forward, “it’s the leader who has line-item veto that is responsible for that bill and how it impacts the citizens of Michigan.”
“I would have not signed the bill as it was presented. Absolutely not.”
Applewhaite said the checks were an example of Gov. Whitmer’s strong leadership, which was “necessary to work with legislative Republicans and deliver this major win for working families.”
1/17: This article has been updated with comment from Rodericka Applewhaite.
Follow Zach Cunning on Twitter @zcheartlandsig
