OPINION
After years of using the county to advance public health power and activism, Marcia Mansaray has thrown her hat into the political square
Published April 9, 2024
Written by Henry
Photography by Simply American
ON MARCH 27, 2024, OTTAWA COUNTY DEPUTY HEALTH DIRECTOR MARCIA MANSARAY ADDED HER NAME TO THE LIST OF CANDIDATES.
Mansaray has filed to run as a Democrat for State Representative in the 85th District.
Ottawa County August 6, 2024 Primary Election Candidate Filings as of March 27, 2024.
Mansaray’s political activism didn’t start with filing to run for State Representative. On March 1, 2023, the Zeeland Area Action Committee (ZAAC), of which Mansaray is a founding member, sent out the following letter to Zeeland residents to counteract the Ottawa Impact commissioners who were elected to oversee her job:
Zeeland Area Action Committee letter, March 1, 2023.
MANSARAY ISN’T SHY ABOUT HOW MUCH SHE WANTS TO CONTROL THE CITIZENS SHE’S BEEN EMPLOYED TO HELP.
According to an article published by Simply American on December 1, 2023, “Mansaray was involved with a 21-day exclusion order in 2018, prohibiting healthy unvaccinated children from attending Jenison Public Schools due to recent chicken pox cases in the school. Mansaray also was involved in issuing the mask mandate on August 20, 2021, for children to attend school during Covid-19.”
The same article reported that Mansaray traveled to Tacoma, Washington for a conference on August 3, 2023, where she spoke at length about how she “Used the Law and the Law Won” to “defend public health power” against the newly elected commissioners. On March 18, 2024, Mansaray was again scheduled to deliver a webinar titled, “We Used the Law and the Law Won: Using Law to Advocate and Defend Public Health Power,” but was replaced as a speaker for the event on an advertisement three days prior.
NALBOH March 18, 2024 webinar.
Additionally, under Mansaray’s leadership as Deputy Health Director, the Department of Public Health advanced Democrat aligned positions on sexuality. The Department assisted in the creation and support of Grand Valley State University’s Sex Ed week, as covered by Simply American on April 18, 2023. The Department further advanced pro-abortion resources, created a radical guide on child and infant sexuality, and provided a booth at Grand Haven Pride in June of 2023. Details of DPH political activism on sexuality issues were outlined in the Pro-Life Protection Assessment issued by Ottawa Impact in 2022.
Most recently, Mansaray was involved with Health Officer Adeline Hambley’s lawsuit against the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners. It’s been relatively unknown how she became involved in Hambley’s lawsuit, when she hired Democrat attorney Sarah Howard, if the County paid Mansaray for the time she spent in court with Howard and Hambley, and who paid for her court costs.
Keeping herself very much in the limelight, Mansaray will now run for political office. She is running as a Democrat against Republican incumbent Bradley Slagh.
In 2022, Slagh won the seat with 70.1% of the vote.
Mansaray is known for asserting her power and authority over the citizens of Ottawa County. Now she will see what they truly think when they vote.
The opinions expressed within this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the positions and beliefs of Simply American or its affiliates.
