Gaslighting A Town

In 2022, the Merriam-Webster dictionary named "gaslighting" as its word of the year. The dictionary defined the word as "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage."

The word came from a 1938 play and movie called "Gas Light" whose plot involves a man trying to make his wife believe she is going insane. He regularly dims the gas lights in their home but insists to his wife that the lights are not dimming, and she can't trust what she is seeing.

There has been some definite "gaslighting" going on in Harbor Springs. In the last few weeks, The Harbor Light has done the hard work of digging into some of the activities we have been told are “normal” and “fine” when we can all see they are plainly not.

There is an old Texas saying about journalism. If one person says it’s raining, and another says it’s not raining then it’s the journalist’s job to look out the window and report the truth.

In today's Harbor Light, the truth is reported. I urge you to grab a paper and take a look. What the reporting bears out is…we are not seeing things. The lights are, in fact, being dimmed. We are not wrong to be concerned about the Mayor and City Council member sitting down with a witness in a lawsuit against the city to talk about potentially rehiring the guy who is the plaintiff in that lawsuit.

The paper adds lots of new details. For instance, Councilmember Reeve said she didn't know the former City Manager was a witness in the lawsuit. The paper indicates clearly that she did know he was a witness when she invited him to the meeting in late October. Further it was revealed that Councilmember Reeve is friends with the fired employee. Was that relationship disclosed before taking part in closed sessions about the lawsuit with the City Attorney?

We've been told, by some, that all of this is much to do about nothing. We are being told this is all just sour grapes after losing last year’s repeal vote. We are being told that we are the divisive ones for disagreeing with this kind of behavior. That is textbook gaslighting.

Yes, there has been a community reaction to the actions of the Mayor and Councilmember Reeve. A lot of people have come to meetings to voice their concern. But it is the underlying actions that are the problem not the reaction. We have a few choices ahead of us. We can be conned into thinking there is nothing wrong with this kind of behavior from public servants. Or we can believe what we are seeing with our own eyes and know we should demand more from those who represent us.

Remember, the same handful of folks who now are claiming there is nothing to see here, are the ones who have been loudly (and rightly) demanding transparency and accountability on the zoning code. And while the Planning Commission has raised the bar for an open and thoughtful process—when it comes to the actions of the Mayor and Councilmember Reeve we are told to stop asking questions and move on. That is also gaslighting.

Friends, grab a copy of the Harbor Light. Come to your own conclusions. Disagree with me if you see it differently. But please don't be gas lit into thinking any of this is normal. It is not.