Signs of fracture as three commissioners distance themselves from Ottawa Impact
OTTAWA COUNTY — After controversial beginnings on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, controlling party Ottawa Impact is showing signs of fracture, as it severs its relationship with one commissioner and two others publicly cut ties.
District 4 Commissioner Jacob Bonnema said in a statement Monday, March 13, that he notified county corporate legal council at noon Thursday that he was separating from Ottawa Impact.
The group responded, saying it would no longer support Bonnema or his campaign.
In an unsigned letter from Ottawa Impact PAC dated Friday, March 10, the organization tells Bonnema: "This letter is to inform you that effective immediately Ottawa Impact PAC will not provide any services, resources, support or in-kind contributions to your campaign committee."
Bonnema said he ran to serve the people in his communities and that Ottawa Impact no longer aligns with his values.
"In 2022, I ran to serve the people of the City of Zeeland, Zeeland Township, and Holland Township," Bonnema wrote in a statement. "I ran on the values of government transparency and accountability and respect for parental rights. At the time, these same values appeared to be aligned with the Ottawa Impact PAC. Unfortunately, some of the PAC’s leaders, who now lead the county commission, have not acted in strict accordance with some of these values."
Ottawa Impact is an upstart far-right political group borne from clashes over the county’s COVID-19 mitigation mandates in 2020. Its founders, Joe Moss and Sylvia Rhodea, were unsuccessful in suing the previous board of commissioners and the county's former health officer.
In response, they targeted seats on the board in 2022, recruiting like-minded candidates who agreed “traditional Republicans” weren’t enforcing true conservative policies. They successfully defeated eight incumbent Republicans in the August primary.
Ottawa Impact required candidates to sign a contract saying they agree to the group's core principles, including the belief the U.S. is an "exceptional" Judeo-Christian nation "blessed by God." Those who signed the contract, including Bonnema, received OI's financial backing, including campaign fliers, billboards and website support.
As of Sunday, Bonnema's website — jacobbonnema.com — was disabled.
Bonnema said he'll move forward as an independent conservative "still committed to support traditional, conservative values — free speech, free markets, no medical mandates without informed consent, low taxes, pro-life, pro-family, pro-business, full support of public safety and the individual right to keep and bear arms."
“As county commissioner, I am here to do the work of the voters who elected me, and for all of the people of the county," Bonnema wrote. "The values I ran on in 2022 have not changed. I have not changed, nor will I compromise my values for the sake of expediency.
"I will continue to act in accordance with the values that make our county the best place to live, work and start a business. That means making every decision in full view of the voters who put me here. I am accountable to them in every decision I make as county commissioner, even if it upsets some members of my political party.”
Two additional commissioners, both Republican, have said they've either never been, or are no longer, affiliated with the group.
District 6 Commissioner Kyle Terpstra confirmed to The Sentinel on March 8 he never signed Ottawa Impact's contract, nor has he ever accepted funding from the group.
District 7 Commissioner Rebekah Curran said March 8 she initially was affiliated with Ottawa Impact, but withdrew in spring 2022. She did not receive campaign support from Ottawa PAC and did not have a website managed by the organization.
Board embroiled in two lawsuits
The rift comes as the embattled Ottawa County Board of Commissioners faces two lawsuits filed in the past month, both challenging actions from the board's inaugural meeting Jan. 3.
During that meeting, the Ottawa Impact commissioners made sweeping, unannounced changes to how county government operates. After being sworn in, commissioners:
Fired administrator John Shay and replaced him with former GOP candidate John Gibbs without conducting a public interview
Eliminated the county’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office
Chose a new health director to replace the already-named successor to Lisa Stefanovsky, Adeline Hambley, whose appointment had been approved by the state
Replaced the county’s counsel with Kallman Legal Group
Changed the county’s motto to "Where Freedom Rings"
Hambley, on Feb. 10, sued seven of the eight commissioners, including Curran, claiming they overstepped their authority when they voted to demote her Jan. 3. Hambley also claims Ottawa Impact commissioners have repeatedly interfered with her ability to do her job and have attempted to limit her state-authorized health duties, which she says violates state law.
More:Lawsuit: Health officer says Ottawa Impact commissioners targeted her
More:Ottawa County's prospective health officer has no experience. Here's why that could be a problem
Bonnema wasn't present during the Jan. 3 meeting and isn't named in Hambley's lawsuit.
A second lawsuit from a citizen group was filed March 8, alleging the Ottawa Impact majority violated Michigan's Open Meetings Act at its inaugural meeting. The lawsuit names the board as an entity and doesn't identify individual commissioners.
The suit seeks to nullify the decisions made by the board Jan. 3, arguing Ottawa Impact commissioners were a de facto public body and required to adhere to OMA beginning Nov. 9 — the day after the general election — because, during that period, they:
Constituted a majority and quorum of the incoming board
Performed government functions by meeting and communicating in-person or electronically to deliberate and make decisions on public policy
Exercised government authority by directing Ottawa County employees to carry out their decisions — orders that were obeyed
More:Second lawsuit against Ottawa Impact-led commission targets decisions made Jan. 3
More:AG: Ottawa Impact violated spirit of OMA, stronger transparency laws needed
The commissioners-elect had meetings as a group and with county staff prior to being sworn in, according to emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Progress Michigan, a progressive nonprofit dedicated to "holding public officials and government accountable."
Two months before officially taking office, Ottawa Impact announced Moss had been pre-selected as chair of the incoming board.
Despite announcing Feb. 16 commissioners didn't criminally violate OMA, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel noted in an interview with The Sentinel that Ottawa County residents could still pursue legal action, which could set new precedent for what commissioners can and can't do before taking office.
Brewing tension
Bonnema and Curran have been vocal during meetings of the whole commission and committees on which they sit, often questioning why the board isn't following historically accepted practices and protocols.
Most recently, the six remaining Ottawa Impact commissioners forced through a "correction" at the board's Feb. 28 meeting to the December resolution that appointed Hambley as county health officer.
Several commissioners questioned if changing the resolution was an effort to undermine Hambley’s hire.
At the meeting, Terpstra, who was on the previous board, alluded to perceived ulterior motives behind the motion and said the change wouldn't benefit the county.
“I think all of us up here as commissioners understand why this was brought to us. I’m not going to speak to that, but I believe it’s a pretty big 'Hail Mary,'” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to land. I believe it’s probably going to land us in a harder situation going forward. I don’t think this is going to be helping us out, I think it’s going to be hurting us.”
More:Ottawa Impact forces through 'correction' on Hambley hire 6-5
More:Judge's temporary order blocks Ottawa Impact from firing health officer Hambley
Hambley has since obtained a temporary restraining order after expressing fears over her belief the action was taken to nullify her appointment. The board cannot fire her until after a March 31 hearing in Muskegon County's 14th Circuit Court.
Bonnema said he felt it was “crossing the line” to alter minutes approved by the previous board.
"I want to walk away tonight knowing that we truthfully represented the will of the prior commissioners, out of respect to them,” Bonnema said. “I don’t want to be seen as misleading the public as to what was accomplished that night.”
Moss has interrupted Bonnema and Curran several times during discussions over various board business. Most notably, he attempted to get the board to take a brief recess during the board's Jan. 31 meeting after Curran questioned District 1 Commissioner Gretchen Cosby over the vetting process to select Nathaniel Kelly as the county's new health officer.
After some contentious back and forth, with Bonnema and Curran insisting her question be addressed, Moss' motion for a recess was voted down. Cosby then admitted the application "came my direction through Ottawa Impact," and couldn't recall if or how many other applications she reviewed.
Kelly, a health and safety manager at a Grand Rapids-area HVAC company, has no previous work history in public health. His appointment is now being challenged in Hambley's lawsuit.
The move to fire Shay also took Curran and Bonnema by surprise.
Curran said she was “completely blindsided” by the move and thought Shay deserved a chance to work with the board.
More:Ottawa Impact campaigned on transparency. In their first meeting, they blindsided the community.
More:County attorney pleaded with Ottawa Impact not to fire Shay. 'You will send shock waves.'
“I came to you (Moss) and specifically asked if this was going to happen today and I was pretty much told no,” Curran said. “I’ve been completely blindsided by this, this morning. While I think John Gibbs is a fantastic candidate and is very overqualified, I felt that it was prudent to at least give (Shay) the benefit of the doubt to prove if he was going to be able to work with the board or not.”
Curran said Moss misled her as to what was planned for the inaugural meeting, after new commissioners received a letter from outgoing corporate counsel Doug VanEssen, warning them not to fire Shay.
“Absolutely not,” Curran told FOX 17 when asked if she had knowledge that six of the Ottawa Impact commissioners would bring a vote to replace Shay with Gibbs. “It was brought to my attention that there might be a possibility of legal counsel and the administrator being dismissed. I reached out to Joe Moss and I personally asked him if that was the case, and in essence, I was told no.
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“When I went to him during the recess and said, ‘Hey Joe, you lied to me,’ he said, ‘Oh no, I skirted the question,’” Curran said. “And I’m like, well, that’s deception.”
— Sarah Leach is executive editor of The Holland Sentinel. Contact her at sarah.leach@hollandsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Signs of fracture as three commissioners distance themselves from Ottawa Impact
