Ottawa County, Michigan offers a glimpse of what happens when one of the building blocks of American democracy is consumed by ideological battles

[essentialsaltes]

In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself​

[Ottawa County is also one of the places that has been having arguments about funding the library.]

The eight new [GOP natch] members [out of 11 total] of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people.
In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran.

The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the lawyer who had represented Ottawa County for 40 years. Gone was the county administrator who oversaw a staff of 1,800. To run the health department, they voted to install a service manager from a local HVAC company who had gained prominence as a critic of mask mandates.

As the session entered its fourth hour, Sylvia Rhodea, the board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. “Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,” Rhodea said. [Her proposal was not "Get Out" as I assumed, but rather Where Freedom Rings.]

[The new board refused to meet with the head of the health department, so at board meetings, she] described how the department’s communicable disease specialists had been the first in Michigan to spot an E. coli outbreak in 2022 that caused four deaths and sickened hundreds in six states. She talked about the department’s mobile dental teams, which offer free cleanings to children whose parents could not afford care. And she showed board members a photo of the garden that the department had built as a final resting place for the cremated remains of those who were indigent and alone. “We strongly believe that every person’s life matters,” Hambley told them. [That's a firing, though it's currently tied up in court.]

Moss and the board’s choice to run the county health department was Nathaniel Kelly, an HVAC service manager with degrees from an online university and no experience working in public health. Kelly, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, had regularly pushed discredited covid treatments, such as the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.

And it was not just the health department. Across the county, government workers worried about running afoul of the new board’s edicts. Department heads canceled implicit bias training sessions, which some social workers needed for their state certifications. A clear bin with condoms that had been in the county mental health agency’s lobby bathroom for years was quietly removed.

 

[DaisyDay]

Weaponized incompetence.

 

[Belk]

Only we are allowed to push our ideology on people!

 

[Ana the Ist]

In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself​

[Ottawa County is also one of the places that has been having arguments about funding the library.]

The eight new [GOP natch] members [out of 11 total] of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people.
In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran.

Mhm.

The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the lawyer who had represented Ottawa County for 40 years.

Ok.

Gone was the county administrator who oversaw a staff of 1,800.

Ok.

To run the health department, they voted to install a service manager from a local HVAC company who had gained prominence as a critic of mask mandates.

Ok.

As the session entered its fourth hour, Sylvia Rhodea, the board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. “Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,” Rhodea said. [Her proposal was not "Get Out" as I assumed, but rather Where Freedom Rings.]

Ok.

[The new board refused to meet with the head of the health department, so at board meetings, she] described how the department’s communicable disease specialists had been the first in Michigan to spot an E. coli outbreak in 2022 that caused four deaths and sickened hundreds in six states. She talked about the department’s mobile dental teams, which offer free cleanings to children whose parents could not afford care. And she showed board members a photo of the garden that the department had built as a final resting place for the cremated remains of those who were indigent and alone. “We strongly believe that every person’s life matters,” Hambley told them. [That's a firing, though it's currently tied up in court.]

Moss and the board’s choice to run the county health department was Nathaniel Kelly, an HVAC service manager with degrees from an online university and no experience working in public health. Kelly, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, had regularly pushed discredited covid treatments, such as the anti-parasitic drug ivermectOK.

Ok.

And it was not just the health department. Across the county, government workers worried about running afoul of the new board’s edicts.

Oh no...

Department heads canceled implicit bias training sessions, which some social workers needed for their state certifications.

Well that's easy... they can just make it something that isn't required for certification. It doesn't work anyway....and it's pretty racist.

A clear bin with condoms that had been in the county mental health agency’s lobby bathroom for years was quietly removed.

Not the condoms! I hear those are almost impossible to find.

What is this story about??? How appointing unqualified ideologues isn't helpful? I would agree...and point out that stuff like implicit bias training is a good example of why it's not helpful.

I don't know if you've been paying attention to the Biden appointees....but they're nearly all woke ideologues with little to no relevant experience. It's been happening at the state and local levels as well. The result of not choosing people on merit is a bunch of idiots end up in charge. In order to remove them....sometimes new idiots will be chosen to be certain they aren't just like the old idiots.

The left hasn't come up with a policy or plan for anything that actually works. Crime is up, poverty is up, we're in a recession, and they don't even want to acknowledge it. Eventually, people will choose differently out of desperation.

 

[DaisyDay]

We're in a recession?

Citigroup hikes 2023 global growth forecast, sees US recession only in Q4

Citigroup raised its 2023 global economic growth forecast to 2.4%, citing "solid" performance in the United States, euro area and China, and also pushed out its expectation for a U.S. recession to the fourth quarter of the year.

www.reuters.com

Is it true that crime and poverty are increasing?

 

[Say it aint so]

I read that story yesterday. They literally put someone who has a background in home air conditioners as head of the counties health department.

 

[durangodawood]

I read that story yesterday. They literally put someone who has a background in home air conditioners as head of the counties health department.

Purity is a crucial aspect of public health. Ideological purity, that is.

 

[rambot]

In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself​

[Ottawa County is also one of the places that has been having arguments about funding the library.]

The eight new [GOP natch] members [out of 11 total] of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people.
In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran.

The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the lawyer who had represented Ottawa County for 40 years. Gone was the county administrator who oversaw a staff of 1,800. To run the health department, they voted to install a service manager from a local HVAC company who had gained prominence as a critic of mask mandates.

As the session entered its fourth hour, Sylvia Rhodea, the board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. “Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,” Rhodea said. [Her proposal was not "Get Out" as I assumed, but rather Where Freedom Rings.]

[The new board refused to meet with the head of the health department, so at board meetings, she] described how the department’s communicable disease specialists had been the first in Michigan to spot an E. coli outbreak in 2022 that caused four deaths and sickened hundreds in six states. She talked about the department’s mobile dental teams, which offer free cleanings to children whose parents could not afford care. And she showed board members a photo of the garden that the department had built as a final resting place for the cremated remains of those who were indigent and alone. “We strongly believe that every person’s life matters,” Hambley told them. [That's a firing, though it's currently tied up in court.]

Moss and the board’s choice to run the county health department was Nathaniel Kelly, an HVAC service manager with degrees from an online university and no experience working in public health. Kelly, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, had regularly pushed discredited covid treatments, such as the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.

And it was not just the health department. Across the county, government workers worried about running afoul of the new board’s edicts. Department heads canceled implicit bias training sessions, which some social workers needed for their state certifications. A clear bin with condoms that had been in the county mental health agency’s lobby bathroom for years was quietly removed.

I'm simply not convinced Republicans are interested in competent....

Actually, I don't know how to finish that sentence. Maybe I'm not sure if Republicans are interested in competence period.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Ottawa County becomes ‘constitutional county’​

The new designation was approved Tuesday, May 23, by a 9-1 vote of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.

While the resolution is largely symbolic, the board is now resolved to not to use any funds or resources on enforcing any law or rule that “restricts the rights of any law-abiding citizen affirmed by the United States Constitution,” or aid any state or federal agency infringing or restricting those rights.

The resolution doesn’t outline what constitutes an infringement or restriction of constitutional rights. It also doesn’t point to any specific rules or law -- proposed or otherwise -- that the county will no longer use funds or other resources to enforce.

A number of those opposed to the resolution said the board, in deciding what rules and laws are or are not constitutional, would be overstepping their role and asserting themselves as a higher authority over the Michigan and U.S. Supreme Courts, where issues of respective constitutionality are decided.

 

[rambot]

Ottawa County becomes ‘constitutional county’​

The new designation was approved Tuesday, May 23, by a 9-1 vote of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners.

While the resolution is largely symbolic, the board is now resolved to not to use any funds or resources on enforcing any law or rule that “restricts the rights of any law-abiding citizen affirmed by the United States Constitution,” or aid any state or federal agency infringing or restricting those rights.

The resolution doesn’t outline what constitutes an infringement or restriction of constitutional rights. It also doesn’t point to any specific rules or law -- proposed or otherwise -- that the county will no longer use funds or other resources to enforce.

A number of those opposed to the resolution said the board, in deciding what rules and laws are or are not constitutional, would be overstepping their role and asserting themselves as a higher authority over the Michigan and U.S. Supreme Courts, where issues of respective constitutionality are decided.

Wow. This county must have a HUUUUUUGE legal budget to deal with the upcoming slew of legal challenges.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Wow. This county must have a HUUUUUUGE legal budget to deal with the upcoming slew of legal challenges.

"While the resolution is largely symbolic"

Yes, if they decide to go beyond the symbolic and put this plan in action, they will be in a world of hurt.

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

Edit: Link died

 

[DaisyDay]

Where Freedom Rings.

That is eerily reminiscent of the John Birch Society's "Let Freedom Ring".

When I was a kid they used to have a phone number we could call to get their daily message which always had "Let Freedom Ring" somewhere in it. The only one I remember is a diatribe against the Beatles' "Back in the USSR."

 

[GreatLakes4Ever]

Someone is happy about the moves Ottawa County has made. This was at a recent county meeting Satanic Temple supports Ottawa County’s “Constitutional County”

 

[essentialsaltes]

In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself​

The eight new [GOP natch] members [out of 11 total] of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to “thwart tyranny” in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people.
In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran.

The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began.

TL;DR article, I know, but

A sex educator in Michigan refused to be shamed. Then came the backlash.​

Heather Alberda watched as her elected representatives on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners sought to dismantle what remained of her life’s work.

As the sex educator for the county’s health department, Alberda, 46,developed programs to lower teen pregnancy and curb the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

The board’s vice chair, Sylvia Rhodea, was introducing a resolution that sought to “protect childhood innocence” by blocking the county from spending money on programs that “normalize or encourage the sexualization of children.”

Doug Zylstra, the board’s lone Democrat, was pushing her and the measure’s other backers to provide examples of taxpayer-funded activities that sexualized children. County employees, he said, deserved to know specifically what was being prohibited. [No clear answer was received.]

Alberda had already endured months of scorn from the new commissioners, who had publicly accused her of promoting abortion and sexualizing children. What she’d been doing was her job, which required her to talk about birth control, sexually transmitted infections, abstinence and consent. She met with high school students, migrant farmworkers, teens in juvenile detention and people struggling with addiction.

--

The biggest driver [in these new changes in government] was Ottawa Impact, a political group that formed in 2021 and pledged to field county board candidates who would govern according to conservative Christian principles. The group’s leaders drew inspiration from Matthew Trewhella, a Wisconsin-based pastor who preaches a version of Christianity that focuses on using politics and the law to purify the community of evildoers and sin.

In 2013, Trewhella self-published a book called “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates,” which argues that low-level elected officials — “lesser magistrates” — have a sacred duty to oppose higher authorities who attempt to enforce immoral or anti-Christian laws.

Trewhella drew inspiration for the book, which he said has sold more than 80,000 copies, from 1500s-era treatises written by Protestant leaders resisting the tyranny of the Catholic Church. His roots, though, were in the 1990s antiabortion movement. In 1993, he signed a letter describing the murder of doctors who provided abortions as “justifiable,” and he often boasted of the 15 months he spent in jail for blocking the doors to abortion clinics.

--

Alberda wasn’t the only one feeling pressure from the county board. In April, Bonnema and the new board members toured the Children’s Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group that works with law enforcement to prosecute sex offenders and counsel their victims.
[tour]
[Commissioner] Bonnema recalled suggesting that they discuss “the elephant in the room.” At first, [nonprofit director] Fluharty wasn’t sure what he meant. Then Bonnema began talking about the 3-by-5-inch LGBTQ+ Pride sticker on the center’s front door

The county provided about $120,000 a year to the center ... After the commissioners left, Fluharty warned her board of directors that the Pride symbol could put their county funding at risk.

Bonnema, an insurance agent who was new to politics, didn’t approve of the Pride symbol. But he was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the way some Ottawa Impact commissioners viewed any compromise as betrayal

Bonnema was concerned about what would happen if the center’s relationship with the county unraveled. ... it would cost the county more than $800,000 a year to replace the center with something that might not serve abused children as well.

[but really, isn't it worth providing worse care to abused children at greater cost, as long as gay people feel less welcome? Commissioner Bonnema is starting to have his doubts, but even so, that's likely to mean that certain board issues go 9-2 instead of 10-1.]

 

[iluvatar5150]

TL;DR article, I know, but​

​

A sex educator in Michigan refused to be shamed. Then came the backlash.​

Heather Alberda watched as her elected representatives on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners sought to dismantle what remained of her life’s work.

As the sex educator for the county’s health department, Alberda, 46,developed programs to lower teen pregnancy and curb the spread of sexually transmitted infections.

The board’s vice chair, Sylvia Rhodea, was introducing a resolution that sought to “protect childhood innocence” by blocking the county from spending money on programs that “normalize or encourage the sexualization of children.”

Doug Zylstra, the board’s lone Democrat, was pushing her and the measure’s other backers to provide examples of taxpayer-funded activities that sexualized children. County employees, he said, deserved to know specifically what was being prohibited. [No clear answer was received.]

Alberda had already endured months of scorn from the new commissioners, who had publicly accused her of promoting abortion and sexualizing children. What she’d been doing was her job, which required her to talk about birth control, sexually transmitted infections, abstinence and consent. She met with high school students, migrant farmworkers, teens in juvenile detention and people struggling with addiction.

--

The biggest driver [in these new changes in government] was Ottawa Impact, a political group that formed in 2021 and pledged to field county board candidates who would govern according to conservative Christian principles. The group’s leaders drew inspiration from Matthew Trewhella, a Wisconsin-based pastor who preaches a version of Christianity that focuses on using politics and the law to purify the community of evildoers and sin.

In 2013, Trewhella self-published a book called “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates,” which argues that low-level elected officials — “lesser magistrates” — have a sacred duty to oppose higher authorities who attempt to enforce immoral or anti-Christian laws.

Trewhella drew inspiration for the book, which he said has sold more than 80,000 copies, from 1500s-era treatises written by Protestant leaders resisting the tyranny of the Catholic Church. His roots, though, were in the 1990s antiabortion movement. In 1993, he signed a letter describing the murder of doctors who provided abortions as “justifiable,” and he often boasted of the 15 months he spent in jail for blocking the doors to abortion clinics.

--

Alberda wasn’t the only one feeling pressure from the county board. In April, Bonnema and the new board members toured the Children’s Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group that works with law enforcement to prosecute sex offenders and counsel their victims.
[tour]
[Commissioner] Bonnema recalled suggesting that they discuss “the elephant in the room.” At first, [nonprofit director] Fluharty wasn’t sure what he meant. Then Bonnema began talking about the 3-by-5-inch LGBTQ+ Pride sticker on the center’s front door

The county provided about $120,000 a year to the center ... After the commissioners left, Fluharty warned her board of directors that the Pride symbol could put their county funding at risk.

Bonnema, an insurance agent who was new to politics, didn’t approve of the Pride symbol. But he was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the way some Ottawa Impact commissioners viewed any compromise as betrayal

Bonnema was concerned about what would happen if the center’s relationship with the county unraveled. ... it would cost the county more than $800,000 a year to replace the center with something that might not serve abused children as well.

[but really, isn't it worth providing worse care to abused children at greater cost, as long as gay people feel less welcome? Commissioner Bonnema is starting to have his doubts, but even so, that's likely to mean that certain board issues go 9-2 instead of 10-1.]

It's wild to me that the Christian right is still pushing nonsense like this. I thought we'd left this behind 20 years ago.

 

[Pommer]

It's wild to me that the Christian right is still pushing nonsense like this. I thought we'd left this behind 20 years ago.

No that was “No Child Left Behind” AKA teach-the-test.

 

[SarahsKnight]

but really, isn't it worth providing worse care to abused children at greater cost, as long as gay people feel less welcome? Commissioner Bonnema is starting to have his doubts, but even so, that's likely to mean that certain board issues go 9-2 instead of 10-1.]

Well, you know how we Christians like to practice our faith here in America where the politics are concerned: it's all about letting the world know what we're against, not what we're for. =/

 

[DaisyDay]

It's wild to me that the Christian right is still pushing nonsense like this. I thought we'd left this behind 20 years ago.

If only. It seems as if the old Sovereign Citizens has been conglomerated into Constitutional Counties.

Controversial sheriffs group ideology expands to ‘constitutional counties’

In an expansion of its ideology that pushes a supreme authority for county sheriffs, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association is encouraging a nascent movement of so-called “constitutional counties.”

azcir.org

Overseen by Constitutional Sherrifs.

In the Sheriff We Trust

The Constitutional Sheriff and Peace Officers Association has for years railed against gun control laws, COVID public health mandates and alleged election fraud. The group has also spread its ideology across the nation, seeking to become more mainstream by securing state approval for law...

azcir.org

 

[Arcangl86]

The whole Constitutional Sheriff thing makes no sense to me because sheriff is not a Constitutional office, so the idea of that office being the final decider on what laws are constitutional is ridiculous.