After distancing himself from the far-right leaning Pac group Ottawa Impact in March, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners is planning on censuring Jacob Bonnema at Tuesday’s meeting. WGVU’s Daniel Boothe reports.
There is only one Democrat currently on the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners, the rest are Republicans, the majority of which are newly elected and backed by the GOP Pac Group known as “Ottawa Impact.” The group maintains hard line conservative values, such as anti-COVID-19 mandates and “2nd Amendment freedoms” and was created by Joe Moss, who also serves as the new Ottawa County Board of Commissioners Chair.
Commissioner Jacob Bonnema had been endorsed by Ottawa Impact before getting elected to represent the 4th District. However, Bonnema soon began questioning a number of controversial decisions that the board has made since being sworn-in, including the firing of public health officer, Adeline Hambley. Bonnema then cut ties with Ottawa Impact in March.
That did not sit right with Ottawa’s GOP, nor the board, as Bonnema seemingly began attacking the group that got him elected. Last week, the party censured Bonnema for “violating Republican values,” as chair Joe Moss says, he plans to censure Bonnema Tuesday as well.
Censuring does not mean removal from office, it is more of public declaration of disapproval that often comes with disciplinary consequences—the GOP stripped Moss of voting in the next six meetings while the censure Tuesday could mean removal from any committees for the next six months.
WGVU reached out to Bonnema for comment, at the time of this report, he is not speaking with the media until after Tuesday’s meeting.
