Just in time for the midterms, the culture wars are back at the Livingston County Commission meetings.
And with them, comes an intra-party threat about recalls from the chair against fellow Republicans.
Commission Chair Wes Nakagiri issued the thinly veiled threat at the end of the Sept. 12 meeting because he was annoyed by other commissioners’ removal of an item from the agenda.
“It is appalling. It’s appalling to me. It’s embarrassing to me,” Nakagiri said about the other commissioners’ decision to block his plan to let anti-maskers present their claims as part of the board’s formal proceedings.
Speaking to the audience of anti-maskers, he went on, “It’s important to understand who you’re voting for. And I would urge all of you to google Ottawa Impact. Remember Ottawa Impact because Ottawa Impact was an organization of citizens who were fed up in Ottawa County with their commissioners. There’s 11 commissioners in Ottawa County. They ousted eight of them over this covid-related crap. So I’m just telling you because it can be done. People can be heard. I’m encouraging you to stay engaged. This is disappointing what happened today, but don’t go away. Stay engaged.”
Livingston County’s nine-member board is currently all Republican. The board had voted 4-3 to remove from the agenda a report from a parent upset about school masking and quarantine policies during the pandemic. Nakagiri had inserted the woman’s report in the agenda under his own name in the agenda item, “Reports from Commissioners.”
Other commissioners said it would set a bad precedent to give citizens a place on the agenda outside the Call to the Public to share their views, especially since commissioners have heard the same information about masks and school quarantine policies repeatedly over the last two and a half years. Commissioner Brenda Plank, who will leave the board at the end of the year because she lost her primary, made the motion to remove the item.
“You guys are all cowards,” one woman shouted.
“You guys are out of order,” another said.
The mostly anti-mask crowd was unruly throughout the meeting, often shouting their disagreement with board comments which required Nakagiri to ask for order repeatedly.
“You’ve had order for two and a half years. We’re kind of done,” shouted one man.
“We have not gotten mad yet,” another woman interrupted.
During the second call to the public, the anti-maskers took turns reading segments of the parent’s report, forcing the board to sit through it but without the legitimacy that making it part of the board’s formal business would have implied.
When they finished, just before adjournment, Nakagiri issued his threat. Other commissioners did not respond.
If you needed further evidence that our county commission is dysfunctional, this is it. You can fix it on Nov. 8 by voting for Democrats, for a change.
