What happened in Ottawa County on Aug. 6 was historic.

After nearly two years of oppressive, chaotic, costly governance under extremist county commissioners backed by Ottawa Impact (OI), ordinary citizens were successful in mounting a historic initiative that erased OI’s majority on the county commission and eliminated their quest for the critical sheriff, prosecutor, and treasurer’s seats.

Seven of 11 Ottawa Impact-endorsed candidates lost their races.

As Rick Czuba, Lansing-based pollster opined, “Good governance Republicans, Independents and Democrats coalesced around the anti-Ottawa Impact candidates. They are now down to just four seats on the Ottawa County board; all the other Ottawa Impact members were thrown out. We really do need to see there are patterns emerging with far-right governance and how the opposition is moving to defeat it and this is a template now in Michigan.”

It truly was a multi-partisan groundswell — longtime political operatives and ordinary citizens across the county set aside their political differences and worked together to achieve a common goal: ending partisan extremism in our county governance.

Citizen-led organizations were at the center of that movement.

After several attempts to form a county-wide response failed to gain traction, Organize Ottawa co-founders realized that district-level organizing would be critical in defeating Ottawa Impact.

“Early on, it became clear that a top-down, everybody-on-the-same-message approach wasn’t working, despite some really strong attempts to pull that together,” said Kathy O’Brien. “I think, in part, because this kind of collaboration required a new model, without a legacy connection to any particular party or persuasion. And in part because people were activated and inspired to work for change, not just hand over funding. The energy was palpable and we wanted to capitalize on it.”

Following a model established by the Zeeland Area Action Committee (District 4) and replicated by District 10’s ONTRAC committee, the three formed Organize Ottawa, and worked to build intentionally multi-partisan organizations in the remaining nine county commissioner districts.

“Our goal was not to elect Democrats or Republicans. Our goal was to eliminate the Ottawa-Impact majority on the county commission and to protect the sheriff, prosecutor, and clerk’s races from falling to extremists,” O’Brien added. That would require creating unprecedented alliances.

With the help of a volunteer software developer, they created a centralized database to gather concerned voters and connect them with their district organizations. They lined up the resources and expertise districts needed to be effective agents for change. And they met bi-weekly with district organizers over the last year to provide a forum for sharing ideas, inspiration, resources, strategy and needs.

Thanks to an outpouring of local funding, Organize Ottawa funded messaging campaigns across the county created by local marketing gurus Yellow Lime Creative. The coordinated campaign spread the word on why and how to vote out OI in the primary election via mailings, social media, traditional media, Google ads, texting, and billboards across the county.

“Our funding was hyper-local; 92 percent came from Ottawa County voters, many of whom donated to a political cause for the first time. Concerned citizens in neighboring West Michigan counties provided an additional 8 percent of the total funds. And less than one percent came from people out of state with friends and family in Ottawa County. This was truly a community-based movement for change, an effort that transcended so many issues that could have divided us, and went to the core of our shared ideas about who we are and what we value. We’re extremely proud of our community,” said Organize Ottawa treasurer and co-founder Christina Toppen.

The results could not be more clear. Ottawa County roundly defeated OI commissioners in seven of the county’s 11 districts, as well as OI-affiliated extremists running for the critical sheriff’s, prosecutor’s, and clerk’s offices.

“We were not alone in this effort. We worked in parallel with countless individuals and organizations from all sides of the political spectrum, each speaking to its own community about the dangers of extremism and the damage Ottawa Impact is doing to our communities,” said co-founder Heather Toppen.

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Ottawa County’s success in pushing back on extremism is a model for what can happen when ordinary citizens band together, set aside partisan differences, and work together for change. It’s a historic outcome and a roadmap for other similarly affected communities.

With four Ottawa Impact-backed candidates remaining on the November ballot, and OI’s continued focus on taking over local school boards and township boards, the organization intends to continue its focus on rooting out extremism through the power of local, multi-partisan, citizen-led organization for change.

— Organize Ottawa is a political action committee that aims to restore good governance, competent leadership and fiscal responsibility in Ottawa County. Learn more at organizeottawa.com.