Dem governor of Michigan awards no-bid contract to a crony who's building a database on citizens

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration admitted yesterday that "normal protocols were bypassed" when her administration awarded a no-bid contract for coronavirus contact tracing to a company owned and run by a well-known Democratic consultant, Michael Kolehouse.

Kolehouse wrote on his Fakebook page that President Trump should "get Coronavirus ASAP" and that someone should "do the country a favor and cough on that man."

The Washington Free Beacon reported earlier Tuesday that Michigan gave a separate contract to track the spread of coronavirus to Every Action VAN, a division of the Democratic data operation NGP VAN. The contract paid $200,000 over eight weeks.

NGP VAN boasts on its website that “Nearly every major Democratic campaign in America is powered by NGP VAN's software, including the Obama campaign’s voter contact, volunteer, fundraising and compliance operations in all 50 states."  The Washington Post has described NGP VAN as "the voter file provider for Democratic campaigns."

The contracts raised concerns that Whitmer's administration was tying confidential health information to a political data gathering operation and that Whitmer, a rising star floated as a possible vice presidential candidate, had circumvented the state's normal process for awarding key financial resources.

Gee, ya think?

Whitmer's office told Fox News that neither Kolehouse's operation nor NGP VAN should have gotten the funds, but didn't explain how the purported mistake had occured in the first place.

Kolehouse Strategies appears in contact tracing testing materials obtained by Fox News, although the governor's office indicated that the firm hadn't yet begun work.

Kolehouse also runs Kolehouse Strategies, which openly advocates on behalf of progressive candidates. On social media Kolehouse has praised Whitmer and called Trump a "maniac."