Week in Review: a Time for Tar
"it’s good to smell the tar. . . to see a few feathers”
Week in Review
County Commissioners, Tuesday, May 13
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Board of Commissioners—led by the now-infamous trio of Mark Wiley, Lil’ Bert Leininger, and Kevin Collins—granted LifeWays an $18 million bond against overwhelming public opposition.
Public Comment
At the meeting, ordinary families opposed the bond while credentialed members of the LifeWays network—whose paychecks are likely to see a nice bump from the new facility—showed up in support. Those opposed sought to encourage basic financial restraint and protect the family from the state-mandated therapeutic Blob; those in favor hysterically claimed that people will commit suicide if LifeWays isn’t permitted to build its expansive new mental “health” factory with both public money and public credit.
George Allen: “It is an insult and an embarrassment that yet another vote on the subject is being held. If you do this, you will have committed a flagrant act of irresponsibility.”
Joseph Hendee: “I rise today to oppose the $15.5 million bond request for LifeWays. . . which operates under an estimated $120 million budget.”
Christina Bruns: “It’s hard to even stand up here right now and make a public comment knowing it will have no effect on your vote. You’ve turned these meetings into a joke. Why not add ‘removing public comment from Commissioners’ meeting’ to your agenda since you don’t care what we the people have to say anyways?. . . LifeWays quietly removed their LGBTQ+ propaganda from their website. I find it funny that LifeWays is listening to your constituents more than you are.”
Brian Philson, CEO of a “Human Service Nonprofit,” on His Democracy: “I am here in support of the bond for LifeWays. Contrary to public opinion, elected officials are not here to vote the way the public would ask you to vote.”1
Doug Corona: “Do you think that this many people speaking up over this issue—do you think they’re all wrong?”
Elias McConnell: “I think it’s incumbent upon you that this should be voted down, and not move forward. LifeWays has the opportunity to get a normal loan through a bank, but they want to burden the tax base in Hillsdale County with the cheaper, borrowed money. In my business. . . I’ve never been given the opportunity to borrow cheaper money from the taxpayers.”
Lawrence Peters: “I rise today to join with the other members of our community who have expressed their opposition to this bond guarantee. I most strongly oppose the potential support and good faith and credit of our County for this $15.5 million LifeWays expansion. . . Somehow or another it seems like you’re trying to railroad this through. . . I don’t think of Hillsdale County as being a place where shady deals are done in the dark. . . and then I find out that this is happening. I’ve got tell you: I’m appalled.”
Kathy Fitch, compassionately weaponizing her disabled son (seated conspicuously in perfect awkward alignment with the public comment camera): “Twelve years ago I would have strongly opposed also. . . and then we adopted this four-year-old boy. . . and our life turned upside down. . . This boy cannot dress himself; he cannot feed himself; he’s in diapers. . . Without LifeWays, we would never have even got a diagnosis.”2
Jim Fitch, Staunch Conservative: “I stand before you alongside Kathy as concerned parents of an autistic teenager. . . We bring an important message. . . We are a typical conservative family.”3
Dominick Sansone, in response: “The man who was here before—talking about adopting the four-year-old boy. . . As he was leaving he was making some comments about lack of compassion. . . That is not right. It is not right to say that anybody who is against this is unsympathetic, uncompassionate, that this is a question of whether you are a good person or not. . . That’s really a vicious and vile thing to insinuate about somebody—that they are against people getting care if they are not in favor of the County issuing a bond.”
Josiah Lippincott: “My main complaint against LifeWays is that the organization has a massive budget compared to the other entities of the County. . . I think further integration of LifeWays into the County government through this bond issuance—there are issues here. We need a higher level of control over the government entities or quasi-private entities that spend our money. . . They believe fundamentally that they can cure every single person who comes to them through. . . therapy.”
Sara Mareno, Segue employee, who is paid through LifeWays: “I’m here today to comment in support of the LifeWays bond request for a new building. . . Strengthening mental health support isn’t about expanding government.” Except when it is?
Steve Lanius: “A No vote on this will not stop LifeWays from moving forward. They’re going to go forward with this, whether we vote No or Yes.”
Mary Meints: “I have a lot of questions left as to how you’re doing this legally. . . How can the County issue a bond to build on land that’s owned by the [mental health] Authority?”
Jacob Bruns: “Mr Wiley: Did you lie in your response to your emails two weeks ago, or do you not know how bonds work? In either case, should you be chair of this Board, since you would lack either honesty on the one hand, or competence on the other? Mr. Collins: You committed in writing to voting No if the County would be liable. If you reverse that today, you’ll have openly lied to the people. If you vote in favor of this, you should explain in the clearest possible terms why, and then consider submitting a letter of resignation.”
Kelly Mapes: “Nowhere does [the law] state or mention that it’s our obligation to build them buildings.”
Katrina Bowen, Director the infamous Hillsdale Drop-In Center, who is paid through LifeWays: “One in five adults in the U.S. faces mental health challenge each year. . . I was one of those people who received services from LifeWays.” Did we notice a pentagram tattoo on Bowen’s hand?
Alexis, Assistant Director of the Drop-In Center, who is paid through LifeWays: “By preventing this, the problem is just going to continue to get worse.”
James Edward Thomas: “[LifeWays] doesn’t have my full faith and credit.”
Emily Morrison, who is paid by LifeWays, on the New Jackson: “I am an employee of LifeWays. . . I see the difference in what is offered in Jackson versus what is offered in Hillsdale. And when people need access to services in a more immediate way, that does not happen in Hillsdale.”
Jean Heise: “I am encouraging you to vote against this.”
Dennis Wainscott: “I’m asking you to vote No on LifeWays.”
Matthew Bentley: “The LifeWays bond resolution is not only an 80-20 issue, but of that 80 percent that are against, a huge number of citizens have organized and sacrificed to express their strong opposition to mortgaging the financial future of Hillsdale County. The disconnect between this board—doing the bidding of a $125 million NGO while holding the people in contempt—can only be understood as corruption.”
Amber Blanton, Jackson County resident and CEO of the Drop-In Center, paid through LifeWays: “I want to encourage you guys to vote Yes on the bond. . . We’re helping build strong communities with LifeWays, and we hope you support that in return.”
Bob Eichler, on the man behind the grift: “After talking to Kevin [Collins] last night —it was like trying to dig out of him how he got put in this position—and he finally had commented that it was you, Mark Wiley.”
Lil’ Bert Leininger read several letters in support.
Lance Lashaway, cutting Bert to pieces: “Now that we’re entering the email correspondence, can we enter the other hundred or so that got sent from everybody else?”
2024 Clerk’s Report
Abe Dane rose from his corner and loomed ominously over the Commission, delivering nearly the same presentation that he offered at the City Council meeting earlier this year.
LifeWays Bond Discussion
As the Board shells out state therapy cash, 700 arrest warrants go unserved and criminals and drug addicts are funneled into the County’s vast network of therapy centers related to the LifeWays complex. This system—designed obsolescence applied to the human person—is intentional: the word of the credentialed therapist is law here in our overwhelmingly Republican county, and the Leininger-led Party has offered it’s endorsement. Whither Representative Wortz at a time such as this?
Attorney, on repayment in the case of a LifeWays default: “The County must, if it needs to, pay from General Fund.” This was presented by the bond’s backers as good news. What it means is nothing less than the possible financial annihilation of the County, and the need to leverage a new tax for the basic functions of the government currently covered by the General Fund. The sophistry is without limits.
Benzing: “Is it necessary that the County of Hillsdale owns the property?”
Attorney: “I think the best route would be that the County own the property, since it’s financing. . . But I believe that while the bonds are outstanding there’d have to be some mechanism by which the County owned the asset it was financing.”
Ingles: “Here’s a sample of one of the 120+ emails I’ve received: Dear County Commissioners, please vote No. . . It is financially irresponsible and perhaps even reckless.”
Fighting against the mental health combine: “The annual payment is upwards of a million dollars. . . If the payments were to come back to the County General Fund, it would be devastating to our County.”
Benzing, on the measures to be taken by a free people: “One of the things that I’ve learned. . . is to take the temperature of a township. . . I think that’s it’s always good that we as elected officials—we remember that they used to tar and feather politicians they didn’t like. So it’s good to smell the tar, and it’s good for us to see a few feathers float by every once in a while.”
On the general character of the public present: “Today, we had a number of people—a little bit more than two-to-one, not quite three-to-one—they came out, took time out of their day to speak on this. but the one thing I noticed in the people who spoke in favor of the County going on the financial hook. . . They were paid by an agency that is paid by LifeWays.”
The motion passed, 3-2: Combover Wiley, Lil’ Bert, and Collins in favor. Why would our elite human specimens do such a thing? you might ask. We must return for a moment to the words of Sheriff Scott Hodshire at a February 25th Commissioners’ meeting:
“LifeWays is [at the jail], and I’m going to brag on them a little bit: they’re doing a great job for us.”
Thus spoke Scotty Boy, preparing the ground for one of the most corrupt County deals in recent memory (albeit in the diction of a childless LifeWays cat lady). We are, of course, not accusing Scotty of having this idea himself. Someone put him up to it, and who may have wanted this deal? It’s neither a secret nor a theory. Scotty was joined by his oligarch brother, Jeremiah “Mask Up!” Hodshire, in braggin’ on LifeWays. And the duo appears to have acted in concert with the three lady judges of Hillsdale County—Lizsnyai, Bianchi, and Stiverson—the first of whom in particular signed a (copied-and-pasted) public letter supporting the organization’s use of County credit to finance the expansion of its. . . Programming—
This is the vision of the Decent & Decorous, the Civil and Respectable leaders of your County. They find the above to be not only “comprehensive,” but also “culturally competent.” Our (sad excuse for) elites aren’t just tolerating LifeWays and its Programming; they like it, and they want more of it for you and your children. They said so in writing. It pads their pocketbooks, and will pad them all the more the larger LifeWays grows and you empty yours. How long can we be expected to suspend our disbelief, to continue to accept their self-description as Staunch Conservatives? To Commissioner Benzing’s point, perhaps it’s time to recall the past. Freedom isn’t always Decorous business.
External Links
“The bond authorization also comes as House Republicans are considering new restrictions on Medicaid funding. LifeWays receives the bulk of its funding from Medicaid.” Hillsdalian.
“I reached out to LifeWays for comment, but did not hear back from them in time for our broadcast.” FOX 47.
“The Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to send an additional $15,000 to the Park Commission, which plans to use the money to cover a budget shortfall and upkeep at Lewis Emery Park.” Hillsdalian.
“Mackie added he didn’t fully understand the ‘negativity’ Gier cited in his letter.” Corey Murray.4
“At a Tuesday morning meeting, the City of Hillsdale’s Tax Increment Finance Authority (TIFA) voted to extend CL Red’s Keefer House Hotel deadline to complete its work to 30 September.” Hillsdalian.
“We’re excited to identify a management partner who shares our passion for the arts, understands the value of community-centered events, and has the operational expertise to unlock the theater’s full potential.” Alan Beeker.5
“The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will not move forward next month with a controversial plan to round up flocks of Canada geese and gas them to death.” MLive.
“The good news is that a younger population is starting to see you go to college, you sit in a cubicle all day, it doesn’t feel all that rewarding.” Mike Rogers.
Well if that isn’t clarity regarding the plight of the citizens of Hillsdale County, we don’t know what is. Our elected officials and their credentialed C-suite partners don’t even feel the need to manufacture our consent.
Are we really expected to believe there was some difficulty in acquiring a diagnosis? As usual, they ask too much of the imagination.
If LifeWays limited itself to the diagnosis of and care for severe cases of autism, not even the staunchest conservative would object to its use of public money.
And yet Mr. Mackie predicted “more resignations” following the departure of the city engineer in early April, and suggested that there was a “pattern” of targeted and hostile criticism directed against city staff. You’d think Mr. Murray would want to get to the bottom of it. At the very least he might FOIA “negative culture” or ask Mr. Stuchell why he called for Mr. Paladino’s resignation.
Mr. Murray published virtually the same article last month.
Equating being fiscally responsible with not caring about people is both insulting, selfish, and entitled.
If the county is crippled financially by a bond payment default, it will negatively impact all residents of the county.
On the other hand, if Lifeways was "forced*" to obtain non-bond, marginally higher-cost financing, it would, at worst, only impact the cost of delivering services to those that use them.
So which group, the fiscally responsible or the fiscally reckless, is acting in the best interest of the residents en masse?
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* "Forced," like the financing families and small businesses must use.
Wiley, Leinger and Collins are all about expanding government. For more programs that don’t work and that money goes to administration costs.