Joe Moss is fond of battle imagery. His Ottawa Impact candidates are “courageous,” his group is in the “vanguard” of a national movement, and Ottawa County is the “tip of the Spear.”

Well, his spear got blunted in the Aug. 6 primary election. Ottawa Impact’s majority on the Ottawa County commission has been eradicated. Come January, they will find themselves — at best — on the short end of a 7-4 split. The results put the lie to OI’s claim that they’d received a “mandate” by the people of Ottawa County in the 2022 election.

Alarmed by OI’s actions, attitude and aggressive incompetence, the voters of Ottawa County woke up to the danger Ottawa Impact poses and worked tirelessly to effect this change. Not only did the vote reveal a lack of a “mandate,” but the tally in most cases was not even close.

Unfortunately, a few Ottawa Impact candidates did win. Fortunately, we have one more election to go. No predictions on the outcome, but a promise that we’ll continue to work tirelessly to prevent even more of those OI radicals from getting a second term in November’s election.

I encourage all citizens of Ottawa County who are interested in restoring good governing practices to join the effort remove the remnants of OI from the county board and to prevent OI and their sympathizers from winning important offices on school, library, township, and village boards in the November election.

You can do that by taking part in one of the action committees working in all 11 of the county’s districts. If you’re not already a member of your district’s action committee, contact Organize Ottawa organizeottawa.com to see how you can become a part of the movement.

James Dana

Grand Haven

Sentinel Leach is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.