The Delinquent Dave DeGroot

By Jeff Simpson 

The current Village President of Mount Pleasant is not very pleasant at all.

At a recent Village meeting, during the public comment section of the meeting, Mr. Degroot decided that he did not want local resident Kelly Gallaher to speak.

When Ms. Gallaher stepped up for her 3 minutes of speaking time, Mr. Degroot went into a rage, accusing her out of the blue, of swearing at a prior meeting after she spoke.    Ms. Gallaher, was taken by surprise because it is something she actually did not do.   

It's humiliating because it was untrue,” Gallaher tells CBS 58.

Mr. DeGroot became so unhinged that he spent more than her three minutes dressing her down, and threatening another board member with removal who correctly stated that  Degroot was out of order.

 Trustee Jon Hansen jumped in saying, “ Point of order. That’s enough.

Hansen raised points of order several times while DeGroot spoke, leading to tense exchanges.
“This is enough,” Hansen said.
“You're out of order,” DeGroot told Hansen.
“You're out of order,” Hansen replied.
“You're out of order,” DeGroot said. “Once more and you're gone.”

I think Robert was cheering on Trustee Hansen for defending his rules.    

Degroot even admitted that there was no there there, but decided to use the time and his platform to let everyone know who was boss and that he did not like the fact that Ms. Gallaher is actively involved in the community and a liberal.  

DeGroot says the cursing happened as Gallaher walked back to her seat and he didn't hear it but says others did.

DeGroot, who must have felt very powerful publicly degrading a liberal woman, obviously was not listening to his own garble of a speech:

 “Speakers are expected to conduct themselves with civility, dignity and respect,” Village President Dave DeGroot told Gallaher at the meeting.
“Ms. Gallaher you're very fortunate I did not hear your outburst because I would have thrown you out of here on your can,” DeGroot said during the meeting.

As Shakespeare would say - " Hypocrisy thy name is DeGroot! "

Then, DeGroot, with the massive power of the Village Presidency running through his veins, let Ms. Gallaher know that he was the all powerful OZ and only when she did his bidding would she be allowed to participate in the public commons again:

“So having said that, you will not be speaking in these chambers again until I have heard an oral apology that’s suitable to me and the rest of this board,” DeGroot said. “Number two, I’m not going to hear an oral apology from you until I read a written one that has been delivered to me five business days before this board meets so I can check the credibility of it because you have had a long history of issues with the truth. Go back and sit down.”

Ms. Gallaher has filed a formal complaint and hopefully the rest of the board does the right thing and at the very least censures him for this incredible bit of misconduct and his thought that he can rewrite Robert's rules.   

Then, because DeGroot has not studied Abe Lincoln enough or heard of his quote: 

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.— ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

DeGroot had to keep speaking:

“If I’m going to be challenged at every meeting going forward, then I guess I’m going to have to get used to throwing people out,” DeGroot said. “At the end of the day, this is a business meeting and we debate and vote on stuff in front of the board, and I just can’t have the distraction of people shooting their mouth off.”

All doubt has been removed.   

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