# My county board was wiped out by anti-science nutjobs in one election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 3, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033 "2022-08-03T15:51:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/81 "2023-02-23T05:32:13Z")
I’ve been watching the news regarding the mess in Ottawa county. They are so totally nuts I can’t even believe they managed to get into office. I know I shouldn’t judge people on their appearance but the head loon has NO chin. He looks like some incel in his mom’s basement hating on all the hot chicks who won’t notice him. Ugh. This board is totally non-transparent to the people they serve, and disregard any opinion they don’t like. OH! The local news was interviewing people who were against the board and for them. The against guy said (paraphrase I can’t remember verbatim) ‘Being more concerned with the community rather than the individual is Communism. People don’t understand what they are inviting in.’ Urm, they were discussing a county board. How is this board supposed to look out for every individual and not the community? Isn’t a county board supposed to have the best interests of the _county_ i.e. the community at the forefront? This guy was so proud of himself, but he sounded like and idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/82 "2023-02-23T14:04:07Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > The against guy said (paraphrase I can’t remember verbatim) ‘Being more concerned with the community rather than the individual is Communism. People don’t understand what they are inviting in.’ So then, every form of government is communism? The military is communism? That’s some serious genius there. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/83 "2023-02-23T16:04:52Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > So then, every form of government is communism? Sounds crazy but the idea seems to be gaining traction these days. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/84 "2023-02-23T16:16:44Z")
You know I just reread my post and I was mistaken. The guy I paraphrased was in support of the maga right wing board not against. Sorry, my mistake. Really, though you should have seen the self satisfied smirk on the guy’s face. He thought he was dropping nuggets of wisdom for all the ignorant people concerned about the well being of the community. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/85 "2023-02-23T16:26:47Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > > [@Akaj](#): > > > > So then, every form of government is communism? > > Sounds crazy but the idea seems to be gaining traction these days. I wish it would gain enough traction that its adherents abandon voting. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/86 "2023-02-23T16:29:11Z")
I think the idea is to keep everyone else from voting. Does that work for you? ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/87 "2023-02-23T17:16:49Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Does that work for you? Nope, sorry. If you believe all forms of government are communism, and you hate communism, ideological purity demands that you abstain from supporting any form of government. Anyone who votes is a traitor to the cause. (Obviously not _you_ you, @74westy!) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/88 "2023-02-23T17:42:18Z")
When you believe that the ends justify the means, and that hypocrisy is a valid tool because it works, it’s clear sailing all the way. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/89 "2023-04-22T13:17:13Z")
The _Washington Post_ has a feature length article up regarding the Ottawa County Commissioners and the associated tumult. Sounds like a real shit show, hope you’re making out OK @Happy_Lendervedder. > **[In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/22/ottawa-county-commission/)** > > Ottawa County offers a glimpse of what happens when one of the building blocks of American democracy is consumed by ideological battles. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/90 "2023-04-22T13:47:08Z")
Overview article from the Guardian on school board elections: > **[Rightwing extremists defeated by Democrats in US school board elections](https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/apr/21/school-board-elections-illinois-wisconsin-republicans-lose)** > > Republican-backed culture warrior candidates fare poorly in Illinois and Wisconsin, offering hope to the left ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/91 "2023-04-22T17:21:26Z")
That WaPo article was deeply, deeply disturbing. It made me quite angry, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/92 "2023-04-22T17:56:23Z")
Yeah, me too. I’m hoping we’ll see something like what happened in the Guardian story happen here in the next election. But I’m not holding my breath over getting Dems in, just some sane pro-business, do-no-harm Republicans like we used to have. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/93 "2023-04-22T17:59:22Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Sounds like a real shit show, hope you’re making out OK @Happy_Lendervedder Quite embarrassed to admit where I live now. Didn’t used to feel that way, even though it’s always been a Republican county. Now it just feels like people are pointing and laughing at, or feeling sorry for, the doofuses who live in Ottawa County. ETA: Maybe “quite embarrassed” is a bit harsh. Most of the time I don’t even think about county government, or the county at all. It’s when these shitbirds make the news (which is at least once every 10-14 days, i suppose), I get angry, and feel a bit embarrassed and hope that people I know realize I don’t think I support this bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2023, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/94 "2023-04-22T19:40:40Z")
My county (Chester in Pennsylvania) went the other way. Until about ten years ago, it was solidly Republican. The Obama elections were close, with Romney winning by 500 votes. Then Trump lost in landslides both times, and and virtually all the local offices went to the Democrats. Last year, the Republicans got the message and, internally, voted out Trumper leadership. Now their local [web sites](https://uniongrovegop.org/) mention nothing about abortion, immigration, the evils of mail-in voting, or the national Republican party. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2023, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/95 "2023-04-23T00:22:23Z")
Wow, that’s an encouraging shift. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/96 "2023-06-29T22:48:34Z")
My mom (Ottawa County resident) sent me an update today on the shitshow that is the county government. > Ottawa County has now gone further than my wildest nightmare would have imagined. There is one County Commissioner who ran under the flag of Ottawa Impact (the bunch of loonies who have taken over the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners), but has since decided they are too far right. So the Republican party of Ottawa County has censured him and will not allow him to vote for their next 6 meetings. Not to be outdone, the Ottawa Board of Commissioners has now censured him as well and has removed him from his committees. > > At this week’s meeting, the Board censured and are now trying to figure out how to punish the Ottawa County Health Department because they had a booth at the Pride Day celebration with information and sign-up for Monkey Pox and Covid vaccinations. At Monday’s meeting they passed a resolution to “promote the good and the honorable to children rather than the normalization of sexual behaviors, protecting the health and well-being of our children and the future of our country.” > > I get apoplectic thinking I live in a county run by such stupid, dangerous people. I cannot conceive of the nasty idiocy of this group that is running this county. So if you hear I am in jail… I’m preparing the bail money now. @Happy_Lendervedder, would you mind swinging by the jail to pick up a pissed off 80-year old granny? ---
**Author:** ![Nightaudit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightaudit/32/17181_2.png) [@Nightaudit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightaudit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/97 "2023-06-29T23:11:50Z")
Would be ironic if one of the commissioners got caught in Saugatuck leaving a hotel or bar…. Maybe someone needs to start the rumor mill churning. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/98 "2023-06-29T23:28:56Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > He looks like some incel in his mom’s basement hating on all the hot chicks who won’t notice him. Ugh. He is married with two kids- as two minutes Googling told me. The solution is simple. Vote them out. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/99 "2023-06-30T01:58:48Z")
Perhaps work on your reading comprehension? Seriously, I know he’s married with kids. That’s why he decided he had to take over the county government so the “leftists” couldn’t make his kids wear masks and not spread disease. I didn’t need even a second of googling because I’ve been watching this train wreck unfold for months on local news. This guy is a raging bigot who wants to shove his religion down everyone’s throats. He thinks that no one ever, for any reason, should tell him or his friends or family what to do ever for the common good, because that there is Communism. I seriously hope they do get voted out for all the poor people in Ottawa county who are being lorded over by this bunch of self serving, self righteous assholes. Sadly, though there may just be enough dumbasses in the county that care more about their right wing ideology and “freedom” from science, logic, and (shudder) equity, that the pos’s will get voted right back in. Karomo for dog’s sake. She’s a freakin’ lunatic. I’m so glad she lost her election for SOS. It doesn’t surprise me a bit that she is his idea of good “leadership”. For the record I said: _He looks like an incel_ etc. He still does. He’s worse though, he walks around with a gun strapped to his hip and dreams of being a little dictator, well a bigger little dictator than he already is. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033/100 "2023-06-30T20:36:09Z")
> [@Sylvanz](#): > > For the record I said: _He looks like an incel_ etc. He still does. So just a cheap shot baseless insult then. What are we- on the playground? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-county-board-was-wiped-out-by-anti-science-nutjobs-in-one-election/969033.md?page=6)