OTTAWA COUNTY — With the August primary less than a week away, some office-seekers in Ottawa County are saying the campaign trail is getting a bit dirty.

The current political climate is supercharged in Ottawa County after far-right fundamentalist group Ottawa Impact formed in 2021 over frustrations with the county and state over COVID-19 mitigation measures.

The group won a controlling majority on the county board of commissioners in 2022 and now is supporting its incumbents as well as countywide candidates for prosecutor, sheriff and treasurer through the OI-dominated county GOP.

That, in turn, inspired non-OI conservatives to vie for public office, resulting in a stunning number of candidates. For the county board of commissioners alone, an unprecedented 33 people are running for 11 seats.

As those races have shaped up, divisions within the local county party have deepened, with cross-endorsement conventions prior to the Aug. 6 primary and assertions that each group is the true local Republican party.

Now, with the finish line in sight, several non-OI candidates have expressed frustrations about their opponents’ tactics on the campaign trail.

Lack of access

In District 11, Sara Bajema is challenging OI Republican incumbent Commissioner Allison Miedema.

She’s found pushback in unexpected ways. When a campaign staffer tried to share information with local Facebook informed groups about upcoming events, she was met with hostility and derision.

When trying to share a post about fundraising, Bajema’s staffer received a rejection from the “Coopersville Informed” Facebook page with the message: “Fuck you.”

In a post to inform voters about absentee ballots in the “Spring Lake Informed” Facebook group, a rejection was met with the message: “This is an anti-Christian post.”

Bajema said it’s unfortunate that the scales of fairness are being tipped by Facebook administrators who don’t value equal access for all.

“I am a firm believer that you need to win on your own merit,” she said. “Winning by making up lies or talking bad about somebody doesn't prove anything about you. It doesn't talk about how you are going to do the job. It doesn't talk about your integrity. In fact, I think it talks to the fact that there's a lack of integrity that you have, there's a lack of morals that you have.”

She said preventing her campaign from contributing to the community conversation ultimately stops citizens from getting all the information to which they’re entitled.

“I find it quite ironic that you have a group of people that are running on this preface that, ‘Hey, you know, we're good Christian people. Oh, but wait, we actually don't show Christian values,’” she said. “It's one thing to say, ‘Here's why I want to win, here's what my passions are, what I'm doing,’ but to just demoralize somebody when it's not true is wrong. And that's, that's where I draw the line. That's too far.”

Personal attacks

In District 7, OI-backed commissioner candidate Rachel Atwood is facing off against non-OI Republican John Teeples.

At an Ottawa County Patriots candidate forum on June 18, Teeples accused Atwood and her supporters of lodging personal attacks against his family and community supporters.

“I'd like to begin and make myself perfectly clear and dispel right now the untruths that are being said about me in writing and face to face throughout my community by my opponent and her team to defame my otherwise unblemished reputation, including the confrontational boycotting attacks against my business supporters and personal attacks against me while they door to door canvas,” Teeples said at the event.

“Frankly, I do not care about me, but the unsavory actions of my opponent and her supporters are hurting our community, and these divisive and dishonest tactics must end. From the very beginning of my campaign, I have personally pledged and repeatedly implored everyone throughout the community to be more civil and respectful. However, Rachel Atwood, you seem to have missed or ignored my message, but know this and know it well: My family is off limits. Stop bad-mouthing, especially in public, my wife, my children and my church community.”

On July 30, Atwood responded to a request for comment, saying: “I’ve never publicly attacked John’s wife, family or church, and if there was evidence that I had, I would highly encourage you to share it.”

Misinformation

Meanwhile, in the race for county prosecutor, OI-backed private attorney Greg Todd’s campaign sent out a text to voters on July 18, claiming crime “skyrocketed” in Ottawa County in 2021 under the current tenure of Prosecutor Lee Fisher and Chief Assistant Prosecutor Sarah Matwiejczyk, who is the non-OI Republican candidate for the role this year.

Greg Todd Text48.2KB ∙ PDF fileDownloadText sent to voters on July 18 from the Greg Todd campaign.Download

“When Lee & Sarah came to power in 2021, crime skyrocketed,” Todd said in the text, claiming sex offenses were up 38%, robberies were up 37% and weapons crimes were up 47%.

“On their watch, homicides have increased every year, we now have a 99.5% plea bargaining rate (which would make [George] Soros prosecutors blush), and 28% of crime victims never get any justice — with no transparency as to why,” Todd said.

Matwiejczyk said the stats sent in Todd’s text skewed the facts.

“In response to my opponent’s texts that said since Lee and I came into power in 2021 crime has increased, people need to understand what happened in 2020 and what he's comparing those statistics to,” she said. “In 2020, we had COVID. Arrests and prosecutions were significantly lowered. People were home. They weren't out, going to bars. They weren't committing crimes going into people's homes. In 2021, everything opened back up again. People started going out into the community, and crime started to pick back up again, with an increase in arrests and an increase in prosecutions. It is obvious that you would expect to see those statistics significantly increase when compared from 2020 to 2021.”

Matwiejczyk also said crime rates have remained reletively steady for several years — thanks to consistent and robust processes in policing and prosecution.

“What my opponent fails to tell people is what then happens in 2022 and 2023 and all the years prior to 2020, crime statistics got right back where they have always been, there was not some strange unaccounted for increase of crime, where Lee Fisher and I were out bringing crime to Ottawa County, where we are raising our families,” she said.

She also explained that when warrants are denied, memos are shared with police agencies explaining any and all decisions — which oftentimes are applicable to traffic offenses or domestic violence offenses when officers chose not to make arrests.

“The fact that this text was sent out just shows his lack of experience and knowledge of how the prosecutor office works,” Matwiejczyk said. “I have had stickers removed from my signs and some signs damaged, and I am extremely disappointed in how politics are in Ottawa County.

I'm ready for good government with experienced, passionate candidates to be elected on Aug. 6 so we can get back to the Ottawa County we all know and love and can raise our families in.”

Fisher said the Todd text clearly showed the attorney’s lack of experience in matters of prosecution.

“Todd clearly demonstrated just how little he understands about prosecution and criminal law in general when he stated, ‘We now have a 99.5% plea bargaining rate.’ This statement is misleading and simply is not true,” Fisher said in a recent op-ed.

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

“Perhaps, if Todd had any meaningful experience in prosecution or criminal law in general, he would not be making such ignorant assertions. This statement makes it very apparent that Todd does not understand what the term ‘plea bargain’ actually means. There is a difference between a defendant entering a ‘plea as charged’ and a defendant who pleads guilty pursuant to a plea bargain,” Fisher wrote.

The primary election is Aug. 6.

— Contact Sarah Leach at SentinelLeach@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @SentinelLeach. Subscribe to her content at sentinelleach.substack.com.