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26
Jun 2009
The absence of leadership
Posted by Scott Spielman
at 10:56 AM | Comments (1)
I had high hopes heading into the reinstatement hearing in Van Buren Township Tuesday night.
Here was an issue—the firing of Gerry Champagne—that had clearly divided the community. Rumors were flying, people were sniping at each other; it was the perfect time for everyone to air their grievances and for someone to step forward and try to pull everything together. You know, a leader.
Unfortunately, I didn’t see that.
There was leadership there, but it didn’t come from Supervisor Paul White, who put this whole process in motion when he fired Champagne.
It came from Trustee Phil Hart, who did his best to point out the gravity of the situation and the apparent injustices involved. It came from Trustee Jeffery Jahr who, as he tried to deal with this situation, also looked down the road to talk about putting policies in place to avoid them in the future.
Those that were there, or who watched it on television, probably saw the same things I did. I’m not sure how much the cameras moved around, though, so here is a snap shot. I think it speaks to the character of those who voted against reinstating the director of public safety.
I saw White adhering to his reasons for his termination of Champagne, despite evidence that refuted it. He scowled continually and often glared into the audience.
I saw Trustee Denise Partridge staring vacantly off into space while people tried to support Champagne, or explain that an allegedly botched purchase order wasn’t botched at all, and that the township had never been without the ‘jaws of life’ for any long period of time, as White claimed, or that nobody would have sent firefighters who hadn’t fully achieved their certification out on duty crews—another claim of White’s.
I know it was late, but elected officials at the very, very, very least, owe it to residents to pay attention.
Near the end of the meeting, I saw Clerk Leon Wright be more concerned that a speaker address him as ‘Clerk Wright, like it says on the sign,’ rather than Mr. Wright, than with what the resident was saying. Come on. Are you serious?
And I saw Trustee Al Ostrowski, who for all anyone knows cast the deciding vote on this, not tell anyone why and leave the meeting without talking to anyone. (I tried to catch him, but there were police officers in my way).
People have since accused me of buying into the theatrics, so let me tell you what else I saw that I know the cameras didn’t. I saw police officers—many of them with long records of service, some with a military background, too—choked up over the thought of losing their leader and having any progress the department has made during the past four or five years put in jeopardy. These were people who still loved their jobs, despite the circumstances.
That wasn’t theatrics—or if it was, the budding film industry here in Michigan has plenty of Oscar-worthy thespians to choose from. But it wasn’t theatrics, it was passion. It was people looking to their elected officials to show a little common sense and leadership and to do the right thing.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough of that.
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