MI: Ottawa Co. panel passes 'constitutional county' resolution following hours of public debate [View all]

Just a day after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law another package of gun safety reforms, the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners declared itself a “constitutional county” and “strongly” encouraged its sheriff and prosecutor not to enforce laws “contrary to the rights protected by the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Michigan.”

While the resolution, which was passed the GOP-controlled body by a 9-1 vote, does not specify what laws would fall into that definition, it resolves to protect individual freedoms, including “freedom of speech, religion, and assembly, the right to keep and bear arms, and the right to due process,” further saying it will not authorize funds or resources for “enforcing any statute, law, rule, order or regulation” that restricts those rights.

The largely symbolic resolution was led by Board Chair Joe Moss and the far-right Ottawa Impact movement, which took control of the West Michigan board in January after successfully ousting seven GOP incumbents they criticized for not being sufficiently right-wing.

It also follows a similarly worded resolution passed last month by the Livingston County Board of Commissioners.

The vote came in the early morning hours Wednesday after more than five hours of public comment as nearly 100 of those in attendance took to the podium to express their views. So many turned out that officials had to utilize an overflow room to handle the crowd.



https://michiganadvance.com/2023/05/24/ottawa-co-panel-passes-constitutional-county-resolution-following-hours-of-public-debate/