I’ve never before supported recalling an official, but…

ACHTUNG: This is not a “fair and balanced” article. It is an editorial by the editor.

“You know, I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll make an exception.” — Groucho Marx

You know, I’ve never supported the recall of any public official, but in this case, I’ll make an exception. I speak of Dorr Township Trustee John Tuinstra, who has a “rap sheet” of bad boardsmanship that’s as long as the Covid-19 pandemic.

With apologies to Rod Serling, submitted for your approval:

Tuinstra, Rios try to sneak changes into employee handbook

This is the most recent of Tuinstra’s “crimes against good government.” He and former Trustee Terri Rios tried to make a couple of changes in the Dorr Township employees’ handbook that wouldn’t be appreciated by those affected. The “crime” was that they didn’t call attention to the changes they proposed.

Township Supervisor Jeff Miling, normally a mild-mannered, affable official, lost his temper in a public meeting after discovering the failed attempt at subterfuge.

Tuinstra and Rios tried to sneak past the Township board rules that reduced vacation days permitted after a certain number of years worked and eliminated four hours off on Good Friday and eight hours on Christmas Eve.

Miling looked straight at Tuinstra and asked, “Who changed this? With just the stroke of a pen these changes (on holidays and vacations) were made.”

Tuinstra did not answer. But Rios later in the meeting said the two didn’t make the changes just to anger the supervisor.

Tuinstra doesn’t live by term limits rules he champions

Mr. Tuinstra many times has expressed his deeply held belief in term limits for public figures. He has spoken out and voted against renewing the terms of longtime local servants Bob Wagner, chairman of the Planning Commission; Robert Traxler, vice chairman of the Planning Commission; Larry Dolegowski, a member of the Planning Commission for more than 20 years, and veteran Zoning Board of Appeals member Ethel Visser, now retired.

I have suspected the real reason is his dislike of and opposition to the people under consideration.

Voters in the State of Michigan agreed in 1992 to limit legislators to three, two-year terms and senators, governor, attorney general and secretary of state to two four-year terms.

Though it’s not illegal, Mr. Tuinstra earlier this year sought election to his third, four-year term on the Township Board, out of step with the guidelines set for state officials. Classic hypocrisy.

Covid masking regulations don’t apply to Tuinstra

In the April meeting of the Dorr Township Board, Mr. Tuinstra refused to mask up for safety and declared his opposition to public worries about COVID-19, insisting that only old people and those with other health issues are at risk of dying. Therefore, the people should resume their normal lives and get back to work because more than 90 percent will pull through.

He has not masked up in a public meeting since.

Tuinstra often boasts about his commitment to the Pro-Life cause, apparently willing to go to the mat for unborn fetuses, but not for the sick and elderly, whom he seems to believe are expendable. Again, classic hypocrisy.

The infamous ‘eavesdropping’ charge

Tuinstra absorbed criticism from Planning Commission members who maintained he may have violated state “eavesdropping” laws. Tuinstra attended a Plan Commission meeting and a tape recorder was found by Township Treasurer Jim Martin after the session had ended. The device, marked as belonging to Tuinstra, was located on a thermostat in the meeting room at the township hall.

Planning Commission Chairman Robert Wagner confirmed the account that the tape recorded a private conversation between him and Commissioner Larry Dolegowski. Wagner said the meeting had adjourned, so the two men were not engaged in public discourse.

Attorney Renee C. Walsh, on a web site, defined eavesdropping as “the overhearing or recording of the private discourse of others.”

Leading the charge against the library

The Dorr Township Library Board made it very clear its unhappiness with Tuinstra during a failed millage election.

Two representatives from the Library Board told the Township Board that Tuinstra overstepped his freedom of speech rights before a primary by having his flyers opposing the millage placed improperly on residents’ mailboxes, in violation of federal law.

Library Board President Rachel Vote agreed Tuinstra had every right to tell citizens about his opposition to the request for a one-mill levy for 10 years, but his flyers were discovered to be hanging on mailbox flags.

Tuinstra leads the league in micro-managing

Tuinstra and former Trustee Patty Senneker both insisted on taking an active role in hiring an assistant maintenance worker. Not long before, they intruded themselves into the selection of fire department officials.

In both cases, they brushed aside the customary duties of department managers charged with selecting their personnel.

Tuinstra goes it alone to stop board decision

Tuinstra really outdid himself in micro-managing in 2013 when he single-handedly halted a Township Board decision to raze the house and barn at the Graczyk property at the expanding park by physically stopping the bulldozer from doing the job. All he really did was delay the inevitable because of his personal dream of a farm petting zoo.

Tuinstra told voters publicly which trustee to oppose

The late Dorr Township Library Board President Peg Otto excoriated Tuinstra for circulating a flyer recommending voters turn away incumbents Josh Otto and Dan Weber. It’s not illegal, but it’s nothing less than unethical.

Leading the charge for recall, opposing sewer project

Tuinstra and some of his friends tried to stonewall the Dorr Township sewer project a decade ago with a recall election, then as a member of the board since then.

“This township was held hostage over the sewer issue and there’s no one else to blame but you and your carnival bunch,” Mrs. Otto told Tuinstra.

He goes it alone to stop raising chickens

He put on a one-man show against permitting Dorr Township to raise chickens by ordinance,

Be it resolved…

My sense is that Mr. Tuinstra has built a rap sheet of considerable length in his crimes against local government, in his poorly disguised attempts to rule the township like a dictator.

Therefore, I wouldn’t lift a finger in protest if some brave soul summoned the courage to file petitions calling for his ouster.