Cronyism is the practice of awarding jobs and other advantages to friends and trusted colleagues as in appointing “cronies” to positions of authority regardless of their qualifications.

In other words, it’s not what you know, but who you know. The majority of us have either experienced or at least heard of this practice in sports, employment, promotions, etc. Cronyism is used to establish a power base and once this base is established it helps to increase the magnitude of said base.

There are a myriad of examples I could cite, but the ones that are near and dear to my heart are right here in Ottawa County. Yup, you got it. The Republican, “there is a gay person behind every bush with a pair of scissors and comb” Ottawa Impact-backed commissioners and John Gibbs.

This unfortunate incident of cronyism and subsequent power grab started immediately after the aforementioned commissioners assumed power. Actually, it probably happened behind closed doors before the Six Pack was even sworn in. John Shay was fired and John Gibbs was hired. We know John Shay was qualified by virtue of thefact that he was hired, within months of being fired by our enlightened commissioners, as the city manager for Wyoming, Michigan.

John Gibbs proved he was unqualified by virtue of the fact that shortly after taking office, he felt the job he had was like “drinking from a fire hose.” Hence not qualified. It should have stopped there. Tell John “nice try,” here’s your severance package and there’s the door, but nope. Gibbs goes out and hires Jordan Epperson as his assistant/“body man.” The other applicant for the job was Ryan Kimball, whose qualifications by comparison make Epperson look like the least qualified person on the planet. A blatant example of cronyism but an excellent example increasing your power within the county government.

Next, we have Adeline Hambley vs. Nathaniel Kelly for Ottawa County health officer. I’m not going to go into detail on this because it has been covered extensively by The Sentinel and local news stations. I will say that every commissioner and Gibbs knowsHambley is the best qualified person for the job, but to increase their power and their misdirected political agenda they need to hire Kelly for the job. Cronyism and power.

The last example has not happened yet. Wait … what? In a previous article, I wrote about Vice Chair Slyvia Rhodea suggesting adding a full-time director for veteran affairs. Veteran Counselor Loren Snippe seemed to think his team is providing a viable service to our veteran community now although certainly wouldn’t turn down any money coming his way.

Commissioner Bonnema agreed and did a great video about this issue. I guess the position and money was approved and added to the budget because Nov. 3 is the last day to apply for the job. The big question is who gets hired? Let’s just see if the pattern continues. My guess is that it does.

— Bill Fey is a resident of Holland.

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: My Take: OI is all about cronyism and power