OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — Two years ago voters in Ottawa County dramatically changed the makeup of the Board of Commissioners, with a majority of the seats going to candidates back by the group named Ottawa Impact. Since 2023, the board has taken a number of actions that have drawn criticism from inside and outside the county. Now voters will decide who can run for four-year terms on the Board of Commissioners. With more than 30 people in the running, many sitting commissioners face challengers in the August 2024 primary election.
We are conducting profiles of each candidate based on the seat they are running for. FOX 17 reached out to the candidates months before Election Day to set up time to ask them a series of the same questions. You can read their answers and watch the full interviews with the candidates in the article below.
District 6 represents a large portion of Georgetown Township. Kendra Wenzel (R) is the district's current commissioner and a member of Ottawa Impact. She was selected by the board when the elected commissioner stepped away from the role. Shawn Haff (R) is looking to unseat her. Michelle Dieleman (D) is running unopposed. Dieleman will automatically move on to the general election.
(R) Incumbent Kendra Wenzel
Denied our request for an interview.
(R) Shawn Haff
Why are you running?
I'm running because, you know, originally, I was very excited when Ottawa Impact took over the board. They talked a game that I really enjoyed: faith, family, freedom. Like a lot of conservative Republicans in this district, I was not overly happy with the lockdowns at the time and how things were handled by the state and local government as well at the time. So I was pretty excited when they took over, but I just kept paying attention. There's just some things that weren't sitting well with me. I thought maybe eventually that they would maybe kind of grow into their positions. … So, I just said, "Enough." It's time for somebody to get in there, get things back on the right track and kind of hire competent people and start making rational arguments for our positions instead of a lot of the what I call "bumper sticker logic" that you hear a lot of Ottawa Impact people talk about, which is, you know, faith, family, freedom, which... that's great, but unless you're an atheist, most people, even if they're liberal Democrats, agree with that type of stuff. So that's why I decided to run. It has nothing to do with being on a vengeance tour, like one of the OI supporters said, or upset about not getting the job in December.
What are your priorities?
I'm definitely a conservative Republican. I noticed some of the Ottawa Impact people were initially talking RINO. Now those of us running against him have fallen into the liberal Democrat candidate side of things, apparently, and I haven't noticed that the Ottawa County Patriots are being called Democrats by these people. ... I always believe in listening to people to understand first instead of bashing people over the head and just using what they say against them right away. So, I believe I have the best ability to listen and hear people out and make very competent, intelligent arguments for what I believe, and the first thing we have to do is get competent people within the government. It just appears to me to be very clear that we have a lot of cronyism going on here in the county.
Tell me about you personally?
Me and my wife love to travel. I'm a big sports fan of Michigan [and the] Detroit Lions. I went to one of the playoff games last year. It was just absolutely fantastic. … I do like fishing at our county parks. I've been a native here for 40 years in West Michigan roughly. … My family is pretty much all here. Most of them are in Ottawa County. … I had been with Homeschool for a couple of years. Homeschooling was a great experience for me.
Why should people vote for you?
I think I'm the best and most qualified candidate for the values that we have in Georgetown Township. What I'm really concerned about is I see a lot of people when they make arguments for conservative Republican values. It's just the bumper sticker logic. … I know the history about issues when it comes to abortion. I know the language of the courts, and I can use that. … I'm definitely a conservative Republican. I'm not running as a Democrat trying to ambush people. … I would just encourage when you're running against a sitting commissioner, what I noticed is they have a record to run on. … Why are these people attacking the people running against them instead of talking about their great conservative record that they claimed to have it? I think it's... it's very telling that I don't think a lot of people are buying and very happy with that.
What are your thoughts for the past year and a half to two years when it comes to how the Ottawa County government has been run?
At the time, I was excited about the Kallman hire because I knew them from criminal law. I knew stuff that they'd done as far as appeal work, and they did great work. That's why I was excited to defend them at the time. I didn't realize at the time that they had no municipality work at the time. It just floored me that they just went in there and hired people based on trust. I hear that all the time. But the word I'm looking for is trust and competence. There's plenty of other conservative municipalities lawyers that could have hired for the job instead of just somebody that they trust.
(D) Michelle Dieleman
Why are you running?
I am running because somebody asked me to run. I did not even consider it, honestly; even though I've been following the Ottawa County Commission politics and been really frustrated with it all, truthfully, I never considered running. Then I got a phone call and somebody asked me to run. Kind of belief I have is when you're asked to do service, you at least are willing. In fact, I have a little thing I say: when you're asked to do service, just be willing, and God will do the rest. … I'm running because I am really, really concerned about the direction that our county has taken under this last leadership with OI. … I thought, 'Oh, you're gonna complain about it; do something about it.' So here I am.
What are your priorities?
My priorities are to stay within the purview of the county commission. You know, let's take care of county business. I think that's been lacking. We have a lot of money on the table that we're not using, because we're busy doing things that I think are not in our purview as a commission. Affordable housing, of course, water, of course. There's things that as a county, we do business, and those things are really important. I want to get back to doing those things. Instead of passing resolutions that are really out of our purview, we spend a lot of time doing things that don't impact the citizens of Ottawa County. They're just a political agenda kind of thing.
Tell me about you personally?
I love my job professionally. So, I love working with people. Every job I've had, I've always worked with people and I really love that. Hobbies, I love to garden. I'm a homebody, kind of by nature; I love being home. My husband and I go out to Colorado and hike a lot. We have a home out there, a vacation home. So we spend a lot of time hiking together. I love my family; I have grandkids and kids, four kids. I'm kinda... I feel like I'm like a typical Ottawa County gal. I've just been a business owner for 40 years.
Why should people vote for you?
I think people should vote for me because I really value unity. I really value. I think that this really right, conservative, ultra-conservative faction has this really big voice right now. I think that there are a lot more moderate voters, moderate citizens, centrist people who just want to work together to get things done. I am that voice.
What are your thoughts for the past year and a half to two years when it comes to how the Ottawa County government has been run?
When I decided to throw my hat in the ring for this job, I started watching the county commission meetings. I started being more engaged, which again, admittedly, as citizens, I think we should be more engaged before this happens. What I really noticed, and it's kind of heartbreaking, is the weaponizing of meeting structure. … I watched the chair… just be so, like, talk down to people who don't agree with him, don't listen to people who don't agree with him, dismiss things that he finds not important. And that, to me, is the opposite of democracy. … I really would like to be a part of bringing unity back to that, that job or that structure. It's been hard to watch.
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