What is a Constitutional County?
Do not be misled. There is no real governmental unit or structure called a constitutional county. It is a myth, a construct of extremist ideologs who would pretend county officials can or should have the authority to declare what is and what is not constitutional.
Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) contend county sheriffs and police are the highest authority within their county and have the duty to defy or disregard laws they regard as unconstitutional.
This is blatantly false. It is the judicial branch endowed with the authority to review and declare laws or executive orders unconstitutional. A law or executive order is constitutional unless taken to court and ruled otherwise. It is not within the authority of the county board of commissioners, the sheriff or the county prosecutor to decide what is and what is not constitutional.
Ottawa County approves Constitutional County Resolution Requiring Illegal Actions
Why then would the Board of Commissioners vote to approve a resolution (read the Constitutional County Resolution under FAQ) that is illegal and requires illegal actions by others under threat of being defunded? As reported by the Religious News Service: “The resolution, which is largely symbolic, is influenced by the writings of a Wisconsin pastor (Matthew Trewhella) who promotes the idea of resistance to civil authority. The commissioners who voted for the resolution, all Christian, are committed to the idea that God has blessed America.”
“Understand, the wicked tyrants always count on the blithe compliance of the lesser authorities in order to get their evil down in the fabric of society,” Trewhella said at an Ottawa County GOP fundraiser on May 10th. He is behind the political website County Over Country espousing the government is after you and we are at war. “Tyrants cannot be appeased – they must be defeated.”
“They are about this far-right agenda of ‘We’re going to do things their way,’ and by the way, ‘we’re going to use Scripture to get there,’” Commissioner Bergman has commented publicly.
When God and religion are dragged into the cesspool of partisan politics. It all just stinks.
The Myth of Unconstitutional Pandemic Mandates
The state and federal governments have the right and the obligation to address matters of public health and safety. Retribution for county health officials, the county administrator or county commissioners for doing their job in enforcing federal and state mandates is an adolescent temper tantrum.
Arm chair criticizing after the fact is fun but not productive. Republicans seem to advocate that nothing should have been done during the pandemic. Yet I am confident, that too, would have been criticized if exercised. I don’t know what would have happened if vaccines were not used, masks worn and distancing mandated, and neither do you.
It is ironic that everyone had to wear masks, distance, and close businesses where groups might gather. It wasn’t just churches that closed, Christian schools who were mandated to wear masks. NO ONE LIKED IT! Yet religious zealots seem to be the only ones still whining about it. Most residents of Ottawa County got their vaccinations (with the help of the health department), wore their masks and distanced for their protection and to protect their neighbors. Good for you. You are the real patriots here!
Common Sense Commissioners
Let us be clear. This is not about freedom, religious or otherwise. The Ottawa Impact commissioners have dragged Ottawa County into their manufactured antigovernmental war under the guise of Christianity and patriotism. Do not allow yourself to be manipulated by this divisive partisan agenda.
Don’t like the county having a DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) department? Fine. Personally, I don’t know enough about what they were doing to know if I do or not. I do know there are proper transparent procedures for getting rid of it, for hiring administrators and the head of the health department. Ottawa Impact commissioners have followed none of them.
Regardless of findings of Attorney General Dana Nessel, the open meetings act of 1976 states “(3) All deliberations of a public body constituting a quorum of its members must take place at a meeting open to the public except as provided in this section and sections 7 and 8.” Sections 7 & 8 do not apply and I find no special provision that says conspiring and deciding actions in secret to be taken in a meeting is okay as long as you are not sworn in yet. Our judicial system has been reluctant to take on the violations of political officials. We have seen the result of this reluctance.
As the lone no vote on the illogical and ultimately illegal Constitutional County Resolution, I proclaim Doug Zylstra to be the only common sense commissioner in Ottawa County. “There is lack of clarity in the resolution’s text which states it will protect the individual freedoms of the people outlined in the U.S. Constitution including parental and second amendment rights. That’s, for me, the basic issue is we don’t have that right to be judges of the constitution. Say this law is constitutional, that law is not constitutional. That’s not one of the powers granted to us and that made me uneasy and that’s one of the reasons why I voted no,” said Commissioner Zylstra.
We need more common sense commissioners, regardless of what party they belong to. The nine commissioners who voted for the constitutional county resolution and now need to be replaced are:
- Joe Moss, Chairperson
- Sylvia Rhodea, Vice-Chairperson
- Gretchen Cosby
- Lucy Ebel
- Jacob Bonnema
- Kyle J. Terpstra
- Rebekah Curran
- Roger Belknap
- Allison Miedema
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