OPINION
Power trip
Published December 1, 2023
Written by Henry
Photography by Simply American
After writing Letters to the Editor and giving public comment, Marcia Mansaray traveled across the country to inform public health professionals about how she used her position to push back against elected county commissioners who oversee the Health Department.
I Used The Law And The Law Won
On August 2, 2023, Ottawa County Deputy Health Director Marcia Mansaray took to the stage in Tacoma, Washington. She was there for the 2023 National Association of Local Boards of Health (NALBOH) Annual Conference.
Along with Denise Chrysler from the Ingham County Board of Health, Mansaray led a breakout session entitled, I used the Law and the Law Won: Using Law to Advocate and Defend Public Health Power.
The description for the session reads as follows:
The presentation will focus on Ottawa County, Michigan, and public health officials’ courageous actions to use the law to fight back, protecting public health against members of the newly elected governing body that sought to weaken public health power and to replace a professional public health official with a politician who aligns with their agenda. We will cover public health’s successful defense against lawsuits to limit public health authority, a lawsuit filed by the Health Officer to enjoin actions to undermine her authority and implementation of public health laws, a Local Public Health Administrator’s exercise of her personal rights to express herself as a private citizen to expose a political agenda to dismantle health department powers and clinical services, and the role of the state health department in overseeing the local public health system. We will also cover the local media and grassroots advocacy, which have been key in exposing violations of the open meetings act and other laws to advance an anti-public health agenda.
Should Ottawa County residents be concerned about the abundant use of the words “public health power” and “authority” in the description of Mansaray’s presentation?
This was certainly not Mansaray’s first venture into expressing the power and authority of the Health Department. 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.
Political Presentation
At the NALBOH Conference, Mansaray presented session attendees with an 8-slide presentation which included some factual data, some twisted data, and a lot of opinion. One of the slides from the presentation continues the false narrative of our local activist media about voter turnout and how many people voted.
While it is correct that 66% of registered voters didn’t vote, the slide fails to show that the number of voters who did vote represented the largest midterm primary turnout for Ottawa County in the online record data. The slide also depicts that only 15% of people voted for Ottawa Impact (OI) candidates, again a false narrative. Did Mansaray cherry-pick numbers to create a good story?
In truth, of those who voted for a county commissioner in a record midterm primary turnout, 40.11% voted for an OI commissioner, although OI commissioner candidates ran in only 8 of 11 commissioner districts.
Mansaray sits on the board of the National Association of Local Health Department Data Collectors, whose mission includes reducing “the cost for data collection for all members” and creating “a free library of local health department measurements.”
Mansaray’s bio as a board member reads, “Marcia has learned by experience that the right data with the right story can change minds and win hearts.” Looking at the data she shared at the conference, perhaps Mansaray actually means “selected” or “incomplete” data with the right story can change minds and win hearts.
With a position opposed to the current Board of Commissioners, can we trust that Mansaray collects and processes Ottawa County data appropriately? One has to wonder what she’s doing with the data of Ottawa County residents—what is being shared, with whom, and to what purpose?
Not Alone
As mentioned, Mansaray took the stage at the NALBOH conference with Denise Chrysler. Chrysler serves as a Senior Advisor at The Network for Public Health Law and has a significant background in public health law—with expertise regarding data collection and sharing.
“She served as the state health department’s public health legal director, privacy officer, freedom of information coordinator, regulatory affairs officer, and member of the Institutional Review Board. She also represented the health department as an assistant attorney general.”
“Currently, Denise serves on the Ingham County Michigan board of health, Michigan’s Governor’s Public Health Advisory Council, and the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics.”
An interesting side note, Interim Health Director Adeline Hambley tagged the Network for Public Health Law in one of her tweets against the Board of Commissioners during the budget season.
Is it a coincidence that our Interim Health Director and Deputy Health Director are so closely associated with Chrysler, who has extensive background in helping health departments assess and exercise their power and authority?
The Voice Of The People
In August 2022, a record turnout of Ottawa County voters used their votes for change. After years of watching the Public Health Department wield “power” and “authority” over Ottawa County, the voters said, “No more!”
The Ottawa County Department of Health lists as one of their Organizational Values: “Respect the rule of the majority and the voted choice of the people; to support the decisions of duly elected officials.”
Yet, when Mansaray traveled across the country and spoke against the commissioners, she spoke against the voice of the people. By encouraging lawfare from within the Health Department, she is attempting to suppress the voice of many Ottawa County voters.
Marcia Mansaray has not been silent on where she stands. She continues to push for “power” and “authority” over the daily lives of those who voted for change.
If only voters would comply.
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.