Letters to the Editor

Exploiting faith has made Republicans easy to herd

On Thursday, Clint Reamer described the political terrain of the Ottawa Commission and asked, “How did these fringe candidates take over”? He stated he was reminded of Eva Braun and the Nazi days in Germany. I was reminded of their goose-stepping troops.

The “goose step” was developed by the Prussian army so that it might march in tight line formation allowing for disciplined shooting. In Ottawa County, that discipline has been provided by the large population who have been taught to have “faith.” Developing faith tends to dissuade inquiry and fact confirmation. The Republican Party has identified this trait among the faithful and has recruited these believers by espousing their social agenda. In exchange, the believers have deferred to their Republican leaders for guidance on all issues social and fiscal.

This has made Republicans easy to herd. I do not intend to suggest they do not think, they’re just more malleable as a group. Normally, the discussion would end here, but the county of Ottawa is overwhelmingly Republican and so we need to look deeper.

Ottawa County Republicans, like all Republicans, have been schooled to vote Republican ... regardless. By the time of the General Election, it is believed Republican candidates have all been thoroughly vetted by the party. Therefore, most Republicans ignore the primaries and vote straight-ticket in the general election without much concern. After all, it’s not like Ottawa Impact was banging its drums and blaring its horns regarding their intentions. You had to dig to find their agenda and translate their euphemisms (e.g. “where freedom rings”). Those of us who saw the coming storm were not taken earnestly before the primary. And by the general election, when the media started to notice these candidates, it was too late.

Thankfully, American democracy has many checks and balances. Ottawa Impact already deserves to be recalled as they have already demonstrated they have very little understanding of fiscal responsibility and how government is legally required to work. As commissioners, they have little control over the issues that caused their candidacy. In addition, a vigilant electorate will encumber or block the balance of their agenda.

Because frankly, I have “faith.”

Ronald J. Colton Jr.Holland

Gibbs, Ottawa Impact board making costly, self-serving decisions

I recently received an email from new Ottawa County Administrator John Gibbs, who was put in charge of 300,000 resident county without interview or vetting by the Ottawa Impact members that took over the county board of commissioners on Jan. 3.

Gibbs starts by writing how busy the county board has been and goes on to highlight county success stories as lower county unemployment rates from 2022 and two Social Justice Awards for Ottawa County from the City of Holland from 2022.

Neither of these achievements were accomplished by the new Ottawa Impact majority board, but Gibbs seems to be claiming these accomplishments for the new board.

What Gibbs doesn’t mention in the administrator’s report is the firing, without cause, by the OI board members of County Administrator John Shay to put Gibbs in the job.

Nor does the email talk about other county department head firings without cause during the first county board meeting, all of that will likely cost Ottawa County taxpayers over $300,000 to settle contracted salary payments for these county employees. That’s the minimum cost if there are no lawsuits for unlawful termination.

Gibbs also didn’t mention the change of the county motto from “Where You Belong” to “Where Freedom Rings,” which will require the changing all county letterheads and printed and visual material that bear the “Where You Belong” motto. One estimate reported that this change  could cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars to implement.

This is obviously not being fiscally conservative with our tax money.

All of this was done by the board through decisions apparently made by the Ottawa Impact group in secret before the actual first board meeting, which might be against the Michigan Open Meetings Act, or at least abuse of the intent of transparent government.

Mr. Gibbs, you and the Ottawa Impact members should know the people of Ottawa County are watching you and so far what we’ve seen are ugly, costly, self-serving decisions that will hurt the county.

Myron KuklaPark Township

How hard is it to not steal classified documents?

Sandy Berger, General Petraeus, (most egregiously) Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden. And those are just the ones we know about. Shouldn't it be harder to take off with classified documents from various government locations than it is to have an overdue book at Herrick Library?

Caroline Van AntwerpHolland

We need to rededicate the goal of reducing nuclear weapons

People of the world have united to outlaw nuclear weapons building on incredible success in reducing nukes — from 50,000-plus when I was a kid in the 1960s — to about 4,000-6,000 ready to launch today. Martin Luther King, and Hope College’s own AJ Muste both worked for peace and contributed to this progress. Congressional Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) has introduced a resolution to the House “Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) adopted Jan. 22, 2021.

Each and every person can follow the example of MLK and AJ Muste and add their names to the growing list of Americans, cities, towns, counties and states supporting such resolutions: check out “Back from the Brink” a peoples movement working to ignite support by local grass roots efforts to get federal and state representatives to join on.

MLK Day renews his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” where MLK called for “activism” to ignite change stating the greatest threat to progress was the “do nothingism” of the complacent.” AJ Muste of Hope College was a dedicated activist for peace, who helped MLK realize the United States was the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world.” With such great local leaders as Muste, and the connection to MLK, we residents of southwest Michigan are called to carry on their foundational work as MLK urged:

Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co workers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right.

Use this time creatively to end the threat to creation.

Kary LoveWest Olive

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letters to the Editor: Exploiting faith has made Republicans easy to herd