While at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island over the weekend, freshman state Representative Pauline Wendzel got the opportunity for a meeting among a small group of lawmakers and other leaders with Vice President Mike Pence.
“His office called mine to see if I would be interested in a community leaders round table discussion,” she explains. “It was great to talk to the Vice President about issues that are important to southwest Michigan. He knows the area well being from Indiana and us being a border community.”
Wendzel was in the meeting along with House Speaker Lee Chatfield, Speaker Pro Tem Jason Wentworth, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, and U.S. Senate candidate John James. The goal of the meeting was to find ways the Trump administration can work with Michigan lawmakers on issues GOP leaders feel are important to the state.
The visit to Mackinac Island by Vice President Pence wasn’t without a little controversy, however, as he ruffled some feathers by taking an eight-vehicle motorcade to the Grand Hotel.
“I love that there’s no cars on the island,” Wendzel told WSJM News. “But I’m practical and I understand that there’s a lot of threats to our elected officials and having something bad happen to him on the island would have been a lot worse than possibly driving a motorcade. We have a world-class Secret Service, and I think they probably looked at every angle, and that’s what they came up with. If that’s what they say is the best way to protect the Vice President, I have to agree with that.”
President Gerald Ford had a vehicle on standby during a visit to the island in 1975, but chose instead to use a horse-drawn carriage. Wendzel and others note times have changed and security needs to be there. Shepler’s Mackinac Island Ferry took the motorcade cars to the island and also trolled some of the critics on Twitter. In a post, the ferry company noted their vessels have been used to take the live trucks from television stations to Mackinac Island to cover events over the years, though those didn’t roll down the streets.
