“Corruption is a cancer; A cancer that gnaws at citizens’ faith in democracy…”

—Joe Biden, 47th US President

Hello Lower River,

No, we don’t know the election result yet, so let’s move on.

• In Gibraltar, Staff Writer Jackie Martin watched the stunning firing of Police Chief Rick Tanguay, effective at midnight on Halloween, Oct. 14.

On October 23, the former mayor filed a lawsuit against the four city council members who fired him, alleging violations of his civil rights.

“According to the lawsuit, Tanguay was notified of his termination after ‘blowing the whistle’ on corrupt and fraudulent payment practices within the city Fire Department,” Jackie wrote last week.

Additionally, the lawsuit states that Tanguay has asked the Michigan Attorney General’s Office to investigate allegations of fraud involving the city’s fire chief, William Cain, and a type of “illegal” construction project initiated by an unnamed council member.

According to nearly everyone Jackie spoke to, Tanguay’s sudden firing by a vote of 4 to 3 was a complete surprise.

The four people who ousted Tanguay were Mayor Pro Tem Dorothy Wood and council members Rob Molnar, Rick Cox and Art McNabb.

Opposing the impeachment were Mayor Garrett Shumate, Councilman Patrick Valentine and Councilwoman Marsha Kozmor.

The odd part about all this is that Tanguay’s firing is not listed in the council meeting minutes released on October 14.

Instead, a move was made by the same four to “appoint one of the Sergeants”. Tim Trush or Lt. Det. Bruce Bullard will be appointed as the City of Gibraltar’s next Director of Public Safety, effective 31 October 2024.”

They later set a date for October 21 to interview the two men, but did not actually fire the sitting police chief.

Even better, two other police officers, Trush and Bullard, also withdrew their names from consideration.

Despite this, the City Council met on October 21, but went into closed session, walked out again, and adjourned the meeting.

Then, at the next meeting on 28 October, the council briefly went into another closed session, this time “to discuss written confidential legal opinion in the case of Richard Tanguay v. City of Gibraltar”.

Again, no action was taken.

But here’s the thing: On October 14, four members of the City Council immediately moved—without any warning, according to respondents—to fire the police chief and voted accordingly.

(Again, the minutes don’t say this.)

However, I’m pretty sure this wouldn’t have happened if these four hadn’t violated Michigan’s Open Meetings Act, which prohibits quorum gathering outside of public hearings.

There’s no way these four could pull off this obvious nonsense without secretly meeting outside the council chambers; in person or by phone, email or text message – which is a violation of the law, regardless of the method of communication.

In fact, the law indirectly addresses this issue: “This law does not apply to an assembly that is a social or incidental meeting or conference that is not designed to avoid such action.”

Something aimed at “avoiding this action”?

Meeting outside of work for coffee, sending individual emails, making back-to-back phone calls?

Yes, you are trying to “avoid this action”.

Consider this: It’s clear that the four reached a decision before the City Council meeting on October 14; No one reported any discussion at the meeting, so it was predetermined and four members of the seven-member Gibraltar City Council constitute a quorum.

This means that even if the final vote is public, such a decision hidden from the public is, in my view, a violation of the spirit, if not the letter, of the law.

No, the four didn’t vote before the October 14 meeting, but they knew how to vote because they had discussed it beforehand.

Oh, and the penalty for breaking the law (a misdemeanor): a fine of no more than $1,000.

I don’t know where this is going; It looks like the courts will take care of this from here.

But I question the process that brought everyone here because as of today there is no full-time police chief in Gibraltar.

And to make matters even weirder, Mayor Shumate refused to tell Jackie whether she was authorized, citing the old position that “we do not comment on ongoing litigation.”

Other than that, there is no case as to whether anyone is sitting in the president’s office.

This is a yes or no question; Unless we’re discussing Schrödinger’s cat…

Let’s also not forget that Tanguay’s Oct. 23 lawsuit stated that he was fired for being a whistleblower on allegations of corruption and fraudulent payment practices within the fire department and for some sort of bizarre construction project involving an unnamed city councilman.

Can’t wait to see where this goes, right?

• Unfortunately, the weirdness doesn’t end on the shores of Gibraltar.

Last month, former Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars was sentenced to almost six years in federal prison for awarding city contracts to a businessman (who was also convicted) who renovated the mayor’s home with new hardwood floors, among other things. , garage door and stainless steel kitchen appliances.

But that’s not the best part: Before handing down the sentence, Sollars asked the presiding judge to imprison him in his RENOVATED HOUSE.

No, I couldn’t make up for it.

Fortunately, the madness didn’t extend to federal court, where U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith ordered Sollars to serve his sentence in prison.

But you have to wonder why Todd Flood, one of Sollars’ attorneys, told the Detroit News: “It’s a sad day; A sad day for everyone involved. There are no winners here.”

Mr. Flood, I disagree – The people won.

Now I’m wondering if this beautifully appointed $371,000 house would be a good source of compensation.

They have beautiful grounds

• Finally, although the elections are over — other than the counting — I thought it was valuable to revisit one of the concerns surrounding this presidential year: the rise of fascism.

But our generation is not unique in this fear: There is a movie script written largely to remind Americans why we fought in World War II; Why Americans fought and died in distant lands.

In a prescient warning that is relevant in today’s political climate, in a particular scene in the 1949 movie “Battleground” (about the famous “Battle of the Bulge” that took place just five years earlier), a movie priest asks “the $64 question…”

“Was this trip necessary?”

He says: “In the final showdown, there was nothing left to do but fight to extinguish the fire before it spread.”

So “my answer to the $64 question is yes, this trip was necessary.”

“And never let anyone tell you that you’re a fool in the war against fascism.”

There it is: the fear of fascism.

How fascinating that there was pushback against those who accused our military men and women of being “suckers” in the 1940s.

Of course, we know who said it today: Donald Trump, draft dodger extraordinaire, called those in uniform “suckers and losers.”

(I’m not.)

We also know he is a wannabe fascist (he said that), so we remain concerned as ballots continue to be counted.

Finally, take solace in the fact that we are not alone in our nation’s fight against fascism: our grandfathers, grandmothers, and great-uncles have fought against the same thing before.

I can’t speak for you, but I come from a proud line of veterans who knew why they were fighting back then.

And why I’m fighting now.

• Pleasant dreams this week.

Craig Farrand is the former managing editor of The News-Herald Newspapers. He can be reached at [email protected].