There are several things notable about the appointment of Norris Hardeman of Pinckney at a special meeting Thursday to fill the seat on the Livingston County Board of Commissioners left open by the death last week of Frank Sample.
Hardeman is the first-ever Black member of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, which is notable. Just as notable — if not more so — is that both he and Commissioner Wes Nakagiri chose to puff up their Republican chests by claiming that Bob Miles, former grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, was a Democrat.
I have no idea where Hardeman and Nakagiri got their information because it’s not only wrong, it’s also easy available and verifiable with a few keystrokes.
Hardeman asserted that Miles was a Democrat first in answering an interview question from Commissioner Doug Helzerman.
“Our county has a reputation of being racially biased,” Helzerman said as he stumbled for the right words. “OK? How would you deal with that? If you were sitting … in these seats. …Yeah, just tell me a little about, you know, because we have to deal with that regularly. How would you deal with that if that subject came up.”
“Well, for one, I would remain calm because that’s what we need,” Hardeman said. “Two, I would, to me personally, I would relate my personal experience here. I’ve been here for over five-plus years, I never had an issue.”
Hardeman said that “people here have been genuine, kind, salt-of-the-earth kind of people, people that give you the shirt off their back.”
And then came what I guess was meant as an aside to the commissioners, coming across either like a wink-and-nod to partisanship, or a sense-of-superiority-over-Democrats bonding exercise.
“So, to me, relating my experience is saying … that was a long time ago, one person that you can really relate it to was a Democrat,” Hardeman said laughing. “So you know it’s not that this is not an issue. That is something that’s trumped up by those who have an issue with us.”
Commissioner Wes Nakagiri began his interviewing of Hardeman by saying that he was “very appreciative” of him.
“I know he has a grasp of history because he correctly stated that Bob Miles was a Democrat, so he knows history,” Nakagiri said.
But the problem is Hardeman and Nakagiri aren’t correct. They are flat-out and smugly wrong.
The fact of the matter — and facts DO matter — is that Miles was NOT a Democrat. He was a Republican before becoming a member of the American Independent Party, and then supporting the racist George Wallace (who WAS a Democrat). But Miles was never, ever a Democrat.
And if any of the “historians” on the Livingston County Board would have actually studied the history they shared at Monday’s special meeting, they would have known that not only was Miles a member of the Livingston County Republican Party, he was also its treasurer.
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Hardeman went on to answer other questions, including this one from Commissioner Jay Gross: “This board has been and is 100% conservative. And along with that we’re 100% pro-life. I’m wondering what your thoughts are in respect to Right to Life.”
Hardeman responded that he is “absolutely on board with that.”
“I am 100% pro life. I am 100% Second Amendment. I am 100% fiscal responsibility. I’m basically a conservative Republican all the way through and through. So, I stand for all the principles that conservatism stands for.”
Let’s hope that another of those “principles” is double-checking “facts.”
You can watch the special meeting and all the interviews below:
