A Large carnivorous fish?
So we had some good come out of the primary this past Tuesday:
Come January, Ottawa Impact (the anti-science nutjobs who took over my county board two years ago) will no longer be in control of the board! Some did survive primary challenges from sane Republicans, but all districts, probably for the first time ever, will have Democrats on the ballot in November.
Election summary, winners in bold, happy faces indicating the good guy won.
District 1 (my district):Gretchen Crosby (NUTJOB) was defeated by challenger James Barry (SANE REPUBLICAN)
District 2: Lucy Ebel (NUTJOB) was defeated by Jordan Jorritsma (SANE REPUBLICAN) (Note: Lucy was elected two years ago as an Ottawa Impact candidate, but lost a recall election this past spring; she ran to get her seat back. This district is currently represented by a Democrat who ousted her in the recall.)
District 3: No primary, currently represented by a Democrat. The nutjobs figured they didn’t have a chance in this district so didn’t put a candidate up. The Republican running there was unopposed and relatively sane.
District 4: No primary, currently represented by a Republican who was previously part of the nutjobs, but broke away half-way through the term. Apparently, they didn’t find anyone to challenge him.
District 5: Joe Moss (NUTJOB) defeated challenger Mark Northrup (SANE REPUBLICAN). (Note: Joe Moss is the founder of Ottawa Impact and was the chair of the board for the past two years. He’s the King Scumbag who started this mess because he got his feelings hurt when the state told his kids to put masks on while at school during a global fucking pandemic.)
District 6: Kendra Wenzel (NUTJOB) defeated challenger Shawn Haff (SANE REPUBLICAN)
District 7: Rachel Atwood (NUTJOB) was defeated by challenger John Teeples (SANE REPUBLICAN)
District 8: Sylvia Rhodea (NUTJOB) defeated challenger David Lee Morren (SANE REPUBLICAN) (Note: Sylvia is the co-founder of Ottawa Impact. She and Ratface Joe Moss are fully responsible for the fiscal and legal shitshow in Ottawa County over the past two years)
District 9: Roger Belknap (NUTJOB) was defeated by challenger Phil Kuyers (SANE REPUBLICAN) (Note: Kuyers was the sane Republican that was ousted by Nutjob Belknap in 2022, so this victory is especially sweet)
District 10: Jason Koert (NUTJOB) was defeated by Josh Brugger (SANE REPUBLICAN) (Note: There was no incumbent running in this race. There is currently a sane Republican holding this seat, but he’s retiring at the end of this term. The Nutjobs were hoping to pick up a seat here, but failed.)
District 11: Allison Miedema (NUTJOB) defeated two challengers Sara Bajema and Richard Van Dop.
So to sum up the County Board races: Five happy faces, four frowny faces, and two districts where the Nutjobs don’t have anyone running which is basically a happy face too. The best they can hope for is four seats on the 11-seat board come January. Hopefully, some of the Dems running will be able to pick up a seat or two.
In the county-wide races (sheriff, prosecutor, water resources commissioner, clerk and treasurer), all of the Ottawa Impact candidates got their asses handed to them, so that’s great news too!
Excellent!
Yeehah!
Also, this is especially good news because, due to a new state law, these offices go from 2-year terms to 4-year terms starting next year. I couldn’t imagine having to live with these Nutjobs running things for four more years.
This is great news, @Happy_Lendervedder. If I’m understanding correctly, the board will likely be composed of “sane” Republicans, nutjobs and Democrats with no group having a majority? Hopefully the sane Republicans and Democrats can work together to repair the damage done over the last few years.
Yep, that’s correct. It’s possible that Dems could take control if they can win some seats in November, although that may be a heavy lift. Ottawa is still a pretty conservative county. Really, the only truly safe Democratic seat (of the two they currently control) is the City of Holland (District 3).
ETA: The County Dems are particularly fired up right now. There’s a chance, however remote, that the enthusiasm around Harris/Walz could trickle down to the county races. There’s a level of organization on the left that this county has probably never seen before, so…never say never.
It’s just too bad Moss didn’t go down. Nutjob doesn’t really describe him. How about asshole, dickhead, radical weirdo? Some of the quotes I’ve heard from him are damn creepy.
Yeah I was really hoping Moss was done, and I thought if any of the challengers had a shot, it was Mark Northrup. He’s the mayor of Hudsonville, so he knows how to win elections, he’s actually accomplished things as an elected official, and has good name recognition in that district.
I still plan on donating to the Democrat running against him in November though.
His slimy entitlement is likely to take him out at some point. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the Democrat.
Bumping this because the Library Wars in Ottawa County continue. I am not sure if this is the same library referenced in the OP, but it’s in the same library system. Most of the staff quit because they couldn’t work with the board. They had tried to accede to the board’s demands, putting some books behind the counter, stickers in others, etc., but the anti-science nutjobs were not appeased. They continued to be, according to the librarians, rude, disrespectful and unprofessional. Now the library is closed. Picketers are accusing the library staff of being groomers and in the thrall of Satan. The community suffers because of these self-righteous assholes.
I am so sick of the self-righteous religious nutjobs trying to shove their obsessions down everyone’s throat. I am also sick of this “think of the kids!” crap as justification for their power grab. Show of hands: who read or saw inappropriate things as a kid? Got your hands on your dad’s Playboy (back in the days before web surfing)? Read the sex scenes in your mom’s bodice-ripper romance books? Watched a dirty movie you knew you weren’t allowed to see? Not to mention movies with violence or language inappropriate for kids. Half of us? All of us? We survived. The notion that kids will be irretrievably traumatized if someone tells them about same-sex relationships or, God forbid, shows them a cartoon with two men kissing or something, is ridiculous. I’m sick of that being used as a fig leaf for what is plain and simple a power grab.
I understand the librarians’ frustration. I’m not sure their walk-out will achieve the desired result as the board is probably thrilled to be rid of them all, and the community will suffer. But I would be tempted to do the same in their shoes.
Yep, although it was a carrier bag of magazines we found in the woods, not my dad’s. I think children are more likely to be damaged by being repeatedly and forcefully told that their perfectly natural developing bodily functions are evil.
Possibly the intention is that the community will vote the board out next chance that they get.
I used to be taken by my parents to visit friends of theirs; we stayed in the friends’ apartment. I was (still am) in the habit of reading in bed for a while before I went to sleep. I was probably about 12 the time that they must have forgotten that they’d left a copy of, I think it was Justine, in the room that I slept in.
I concluded at the time that the author wasn’t getting any and therefore kept coming up with more and more implausible imaginations to make up for the lack of any actual physical stimulation. I suppose this was probably inaccurate; but I rather like my 12-year-old attitude.
It is indeed. I happened to drive by this library today, and it was dead. Literally no cars in the lot. I guess that makes sense since the staff quit, but it just sucks for this community, especially as summer’s coming and reading programs won’t be happening.
My dad had Justine in the bookshelf in his room, I got my grubby little hands on it when I was 14 or so, and I knew about the book’s reputation.
But it was in English and that point I didn’t knew enough English to even start to make sense of it, I tried but it was not to be.
Ironically I ended up learning English in order to read Star Wars and Battletech books that were not available in Spanish.
After a while one becomes tired of being a punching bag.
At this point I fear the only solution is to let the children touch the damn stove, no more running ragged trying to mitigate the disasters these people have brought.
May be afterwards they’ll be more receptive to advice.
Scrolling through this thread from the beginning, what happened in Ottawa County was indeed a chilling preview to what has been happening nationwide. @Euphonious_Polemic was clairvoyant here.
How long before we get rid of these psychotic incompetents?
Just found this thread today and wanted to acknowledge how prescient EP was.
Oh heck, I was ninja’d by Toxgoddess.
Who is it that has the deep pockets that funded the 2022 Ottawa Impact takeover? Was it this guy?
Also, I thought there was an election in Nov 2024 and that the nutjobs would only have a max of 4 of 11 board positions. So I don’t understand this:
I reserved a cottage in Interlochen, Grand Traverse County for a family vacation this summer. I’m hoping that they don’t have the same issues as Ottawa County. Anyone familiar with Grand Traverse County?
You’re correct, the nutballs don’t control the county board anymore (although there’s still a minority presence). However, the Jamestown Township librarians quit the Patmos Library, not due to the county board, but rather due to the nutballs on the Patmos Library Board of Trustees. It’s Nutballs all the way down around here.