Do we need a propaganda (communications) department?
The question that needs to be asked. What does a communications department do for the residents of Ottawa County? Is spewing out even more political jargon and self congratulatory media an appropriate use of public tax dollars? (As an example see the administrator’s and board chair’s greetings in the June 7th newsletter.)
During the public comment portion of the June 13th Commissioners Meeting, a resident of Ottawa County delivered a well researched rebuttal to Administrator John Gibbs request for yet more personnel.
What is the real purpose?
Administrator John Gibbs claimed to a reporter that organizations of the size of Ottawa County have Communication Departments. He intimated this is just bringing poor backward Ottawa County up to speed. As researched in the above video, this is simply not true. So what other purposes has motivated all nine Ottawa Impact commissioners to vote for the considerable expense of setting up a communications department?
Control
All public communications from county departments will now have to be reviewed by John Gibbs’ office with just a couple of exceptions. While they say this is not about censorship, of course, it is. In particular the Department of Public Health was told to retract a press statement in February regarding their role in a sex education week at Grand Valley State University.
The far right’s hair on fire reaction to anything sexual or that can be construed as sexual, is well known. Their conflict with the health department during the pandemic and now is also well known. While Gibbs claims a communications department is needed for more transparency, the fear is that what we will receive is a homogenized message of partisan propaganda.
Extreme Partisan Propaganda
In the Ottawa Impact Story documentation featured on the Ottawa Impact website, they speak of truthful media and the fake news media in West Michigan. They rail against the local media for labeling them extreme and proclaim their victimization during the last election. It is also stated that Ottawa Impact will create their own news source, which of course, will deliver only truthful news.
What better way for Ottawa Impact, who has control of Ottawa County through the Ottawa Impact commissioners and the far right administrator John Gibbs, to get their propaganda out than to let the tax payers of Ottawa County pay to create and distribute it?
Violation of Public Trust
We cannot accuse the Ottawa Impact commissioners for something they have not yet done, nor can we afford to be gullible. Through their actions, the Ottawa Impact commissioners have already violated the public trust enough that suspicion of their motives is warranted. It is time to watch their actions closely. They have announced their agenda on the Ottawa Impact website. It would be foolish to believe they are not going to enact it at the expense of Ottawa County residents.
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