Vance was here in West Michigan at a trucking company for a 'rally.' Reminded me of Giuliani's rally in front Four Seasons Total Landscaping LOL Crowd wasn't very big.[1]
BTW Byron Center is a conservative enclave just south of Grand Rapids (which is a Democratic stronghold).
Byron Center if home to John Gibbs-In 2017, he was appointed to serve in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development under then-Secretary Ben Carson. Gibbs had no experience in the field at the time of his appointment. In 2020, Trump chose Gibbs to head the Office of Personnel Management
Gibbs went on to run against Michigan's 3rd Congressional district incumbent GOP representative Peter Meijer (a member of the Meijer grocery store chain). As a MAGA, Gibbs handily beat Meijer who had voted to impeach Trump. Gibbs then lost to Democrat Hillary Scholten in November.
Gibbs was then hired as the executive for neighboring Ottawa County commission which had just been taken over by a rightwing cabal called Ottawa Impact. Between their mismanagement and culture war approach to governance and Gibbs' inexperience in the role, he ended up qutting or getting fired and suing. The recent primary saw several Ottawa Impact incumbents beat in the primary so that even if Republicans win their seats they will be normal Republicans and the OI group loses its control of the county.
Byron Center became a symbol of hate for me when the local wingnuts found out the school's beloved music teacher Jerry Crane had had a 'commitment' ceremony with his partner in 1995 (before the SCOTUS ruling made gay marriage legal).[2] The wingnuts hounded him out of work. He sued and got a huge settlement but died in December of 1996 of a heart attack likely due to the stress. The school system then had the temerity to cease paying he monthly settlement! When his partner sued, the school argued the settlement was contingent on Crane continuing to look for work and now that he was dead he was no longer looking for work. I kid you not!
My wife and I donated to Christine Yared so she could work on writing the book about this titles " Private Love, Public School: Gay Teacher Under Fire" We have our names in the forward.
[1]
https://x.com/_joshberry/status/1823759919658754202/photo/2
[2]
