On Tuesday September 12, 2023, the Ottawa County Elections Commission held hearings on three recall petitions. Anna Hendricks, Vice-President of Allendale School Board, survived a fifth attempt at recall. Recall petitions against Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Roger Bergman and Doug Zylstra were approved, and will proceed forward.
The petition against Roger Bergman was the first to be heard. The petition read, “On 6/27/2023, Roger A. Bergman voted no on Resolution B/C 23-120, also known as the Resolution to Protect Childhood Innocence.” The petition against Doug Zylstra was nearly identical. It read, “On 6/27/2023, Douglas Zylstra voted no on Resolution B/C 23-120, also known as the Resolution to Protect Childhood Innocence.”
Commissioner Doug Zylstra spoke on behalf of himself. He explained why he voted against the resolution stating that the resolution had “structural shortcomings.” Mr. Bradford W. Springer, from Scholten Fant, spoke on Roger Bergman’s behalf. He stated that he was concerned about the clarity of the petition, and that adding the phrase, “also known as the Resolution to Protect Childhood Innocence,” made the petition confusing to the public. He argued that the resolution could not be accurately summarized with a short title and would be misleading to the public, despite the fact that the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Meeting Agenda from June 27, 2023, referred to the resolution as “Resolution to Protect Childhood Innocence.” Judge Feyen also noted this title had been used to refer to the resolution. Springer then argued that the agenda was not an official county document and was misleading. He said the title “added spin” and was an “unfair mischaracterization.”
The minutes from the June 27, 2023 meeting refer to the resolution by its number B/C 23-120.
The complete resolution was provided to the public on page 11 of the meeting packet and has been included below.
David Lee Moran spoke on behalf of the Bergman and Zylstra petitioners. He stated that the petitions are accurate and factual. He referred to the language written on the June 27, 2023, Ottawa County Board of Commissioner Agenda, and explained that numbers are not assigned to resolutions and actions of meetings until the meeting minutes are created. He also noted that the phrase “innocence of children” was used in the actual resolution three separate times.
The three-member Elections Commission which includes Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck, Ottawa County Probate Court Judge Mark Feyen, and Ottawa County Treasurer Amanda Price all agreed that the phrase, “also known as the Resolution to Protect Childhood Innocence,” facilitated understanding and was appropriate. They all voted to approve the petition language moving both recalls into the signature collection phase.
The recall petition against Anna Hendricks was considered last. The petition stated, “During an Allendale Public School (APS) Board meeting on January 9, 2023, APS board of education member Anna Hendricks voted to withdraw membership from the Michigan Association of School Boards and replace it with the National School Board Leadership Council. During the meeting Ms. Hendricks stated, “I though that this would be a great change for our community and our district.” Ms. Hendricks also voted no on a motion to table this decision until the next regular board meeting.”
The petitioner, Jeanine Gasper, did not attend the recall hearing. Anna Hendricks spoke for herself. “Here we are again with a fifth frivolous allegation made by Ms. Jeanine Gasper. Our taxpaying dollars are once more being expended carelessly as we undergo the assertion of pure upset from Ms. Gasper on my yes or no vote. This petition language clearly shows my duty to vote as an elected Allendale School Board member. I vote on motions, just like the remaining six board members. When I vote on a motion, I’m voting from my own personal principles, which are to protect our students and keep us safe, to give parents their natural right of making decisions for their children, to uphold our Constitution, to protect our student’s education from indoctrination, to establish great education that supports our students equally, and to give a voice to my community, teachers, parents, and students. Ms. Gasper clearly does not like my principles, or how I vote, as you have found since my first recall hearing in May.
However, I’m abiding by district policy. In my duty to vote in the electoral process, I vote yes or no on every motion, just like all Allendale School Board members. If this is the standard for recall, which is to recall a board member upon the basis of doing the duty that is required of them, then every single board member in the State of Michigan should be undergoing recall right now. If petition language like we’ve seen here were to be approved, this would set a new standard; a standard that encroaches upon every school board member’s right to vote. It causes one to vote from a place of fear [] instead of voting from their heart, in God-given freedom for what they think is best for their district. This is a step toward Communism.
Now I would like to point out that Ms. Gasper failed to complete the required petition header. As you can see, the header is missing the city, township, or village. [].”
The Elections Commission discussed whether or not the header was required to be completed as per a revised version of the law, and concluded that it was not required to be completed. Judge Feyen then noted the phrase, “I though that this,” because it did not make sense. The Elections Commission concluded that the phrase, “I though that this,” was likely a typo, but that this typo made the petition unclear. Therefore, the Hendricks recall petition was denied due to lack of clarity.
In a previous hearing, Judge Feyen explained that the duty of the Elections Commission was not to determine if an act was worthy of recall, but rather to determine if the reason was clear and factual. It is up to the public to determine if the reason is truthful and worthy of recall.