For Abortion Ban Skulduggery, Council On Notice: Shape Up Or Get Shipped Out

NOTE: This was in the context of an abortion ban that the Hillsdale Right To Life group, with some nepotism and underhandedness, attempted to sneak past the community through the city council. But rumors fly in this town, word got out about what was going on and why a self-identified “youth pastor” from Texas was staying at a city councilmember’s house, and the turnout for the city council meeting at which this ban was being introduced was massive.

You can read more about what happened at the meeting here.

Here is the full text that I read from during the Hillsdale City Council meeting on Monday, August 2nd.  The public comment time limit was cut from 5 minutes to 3 in order to accommodate the overwhelming number of people who showed up, so I had to rush and adjust on the fly.  The meat of what I had to say remained the same.

My name is Josh Colletta.  I am a city resident.  I’ll have to rush since the time limit was shortened.

Tonight, you’re going to hear a proposed ordinance that would SUPPOSEDLY outlaw abortion in the City of Hillsdale.  The ordinance is entirely unconstitutional, unenforceable, and will ONLY waste the city’s money in time and resources to defend it, in lawsuits that the city will unquestionably lose.

Now, I could go into all the reasons WHY it’s unconstitutional; the inherent right of all people to body autonomy, and why this proposal’s description of life or, more accurately, personhood beginning at conception is both scientifically and legally incorrect, and the fact that we are not a theocracy.  But I’m not going to do that.  Instead, I’m going to turn the focus to YOU.

Firstly, I want to address Tony Vear and anyone else who is backing this proposal… which I presume includes Greg Stuchell, since his wife Heather Tritchka is the vice-president of the county’s Right To Life chapter; and the person who was flown in from Texas to orchestrate this charade proudly shared a photograph of himself, Tritchka, and Bud Vear, who is the president of that organization’s local chapter.

To them, I say this: you are a disgrace to this city, your cause, and your associations.  You intentionally rushed this proposal to the council, sight unseen, because you knew that it would be opposed by the majority of city residents, and you are attempting to subvert the will of the people.

You are wasting the time and resources of this city, and by extension, you are wasting MY time and resources as a city resident.  But worse than that, you are attempting to pit neighbor against neighbor and drive out anyone who opposes your extremist, authoritarian agenda, which does not stop at THIS topic.  This entire city’s population should be standing with me right now and demanding your resignation from this council.  You don’t deserve a seat at the table.  You have forfeited that privilege.

Secondly, to this entire council: you have abdicated your responsibilities in this and several other recent matters.  You have refused to hold city officials accountable for their actions, such as Greg Stuchell attacking a member of the public for sharing their opinion at a TIFA board meeting… or Lance Lashaway for attacking voters who made a choice he didn’t like — and, on a side note, I applaud City Manager David Mackie for attempting to do his rightful job in that situation.

You have refused to remove the city officials who betrayed this country by engaging in the conspiracy to commit sedition on January 6th, including Greg Stuchell, Robert Socha, and Lance Lashaway; the last of whom is likely to face federal criminal charges for circumstances surrounding his participation in that crime.

On top of all of that, you have generally ignored a global pandemic which hit this county harder than any other county in the entire State of Michigan in the first six months, and the coronavirus CONTINUES to run rampant here in no small part because of YOUR failures in leadership.  You have shown yourselves to be weak, spineless, and entirely unwilling to do what’s morally and legally right, quite often choosing to do what’s morally and legally wrong, instead.

Thirdly, and bringing it back to this ordinance, this is not the job of city government.  This is a federal matter.  The organization behind the effort KNOWS this fact.  They WANT this city to be sued so that they can take the case to the Supreme Court, and make no mistake about it, City Hall WILL be tied up in the effort when it SHOULD be focusing on issues it actually has authority over.

I was cut off at the time limit.  The proposal was sent to a committee to die.  I continued during the second public comment.

Now that I have the time, I’ll finish what I started saying at the beginning of the meeting, because it’s important.  Allow me to reset a bit.

Recently — and Councilmember Sharp touched on this earlier — this council put Robert Socha in his place for presenting a convoluted resolution that would have declared the city’s opposition to Governor Whitmer’s emergency orders, the Equality Act, and a whole slew of non-existent boogeymen that the fear-mongering, right-wing authoritarians have been using to energize what precious few among their base are still alive.

Each and every “whereas” in that resolution addressed matters of state or federal government, not municipal, township, or even county government.  Despite some of you erroneously agreeing with Socha’s ideology, this council CORRECTLY told him that it was not the job of city government to pass such resolutions, and nothing further came of it.

Thankfully, tonight seems to continue that pattern, and I thank you for at least not taking any action on it tonight.  I have my concerns about keeping any portion of it, but we can address those when we actually have an APPROPRIATE public hearing and the time to discuss it all.

The people who are here tonight to oppose the proposed ordinance, aren’t really here to oppose the proposed ordinance.  That’s not to say that we don’t care about this issue.  We very obviously do, and for good reasons.  But as several others said earlier, this is a broader issue.  At the root of it, they and I are here to oppose YOUR behavior.  We’re fed up with your attempts to do — or NOT do — whatever you want, either regardless of the will of the voters who elected you… or by attempting to sneak things past us.  We’re sick and tired of your excuses.  We’ve had enough of your red herrings and obfuscations.  We’re done with your lies and your attempts to reject consequences.  You WILL be held accountable for your actions.

Look, I don’t like the idea of abortion any more than the people who support the ordinance.  But this is not up to government.  Government does not have the authority to tell anyone, pregnant women included, that they have to do something with their own body that they don’t want to do.  You cannot consider a woman’s autonomy to end at pregnancy.  That’s logically, morally, and ideologically disingenuous.

This could have been about any number of topics; it didn’t have to be abortion.  It could have been anything.  It just so happens that, this time, two or three councilmembers attempted to violate the right of body autonomy as quickly and quietly as they possibly could.

And that’s nothing new.  This has long been the tactic of those who want to do wrong in this city and county.  It’s the same way they’ve attempted to pass a number of resolutions and ordinances that THEY KNEW would not succeed if the public were informed and had the time to make their opinions known.  Sometimes it’s been stopped, but many times they’ve gotten away with it.

THAT cannot and will not be tolerated any longer.

As I left the podium that second time, I could hear someone say “Well, HE didn’t make any friends.” And they were right. I wasn’t there to make friends. I was there to call out the corrupt and tell them they’re not going to get away with it. The people of Hillsdale — which it is (Hillsdaliens will get that) — are not happy about our city being turned into a circus sideshow act. Those in the wrong had better learn the lesson fast, because they will soon be out of power if they don’t.