Disruptive Nightingale/Save Shelby Mob Attacks Our Township To Push and Promote Their “Alternate Universe” View of Democracy

Upon reading our “BOBLEMAN BUNCH” post and seeing how the Nightingale/Save Shelby gang conducts themselves at Board of Trustees meetings, an Inside Out reader sent an e-mail agreeing with the premise that this group is living in an alternate universe!

Hey Truth Guys...... absolutely LOVE the picture of BOBLEMAN and his puppets!  These people attacking our Township must be inhabitants of some alternate universe where words have no meaning.  Consider this:
Parallel Reality or Alternate Universe - a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one’s own.  A universe where the very laws of nature are different. Inhabitants of this alternate universe believe wrong is right; evil is good; loud and obnoxious is quiet and reserved; saving tax money is bad and bankrupting the township is good; rumors are facts; insults are compliments; childish behavior is professional conduct; and malicious lies are truth.  

- Could this explain the erratic and irrational behavior of the Nightingales?

- Could this be why this small group of people sees our township differently than most taxpayers do, and why a majority of residents vehemently oppose this mob’s bitter agenda?

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Undoubtedly, the small and disorderly group causing an uproar at Board of Trustees meetings have become a public disgrace.  Their moronic behavior underscores how out-of-touch the Nightingale/Save Shelby mob is with reality.

Phil Nye condemns the conduct of the Nightingale mob.

As this atrocious mob intensifies their mindless behavior against our community, this group’s misconduct is getting attention.  As word of this group’s activities spreads, Shelby Township residents have become increasingly turned off by this group’s code of stupidity.

Phil Nye, host and anchor of Shelby This Week, summarized the recent disruptions at Board of Trustees meetings on his January 20th cable telecast.  Much to his credit, Mr. Nye also called out Trustee Lisa Manzella, Shelby’s “Great Obstructor”, by name for her stubborn refusal to compromise with the majority of Trustees to fill the vacancy in the clerk’s position.

Trustee Manzella has made it clear, as pointed out by Mr. Nye, that she will not support any candidate for clerk that she does not nominate.  Manzella has a personal interest in not appointing a candidate, and thus forcing an unnecessary special election. Obviously she wants to be clerk so bad that she wants to force a $30,000 election so she can run for the position.  That is a pure conflict, and shows how Mrs. Manzella, once again, is putting her personal goals and objectives ahead of the common good of Shelby taxpayers.

Here is what Phil Nye sad about the hatred spewing from the mouths of the Nightingales and their Save Shelby/Team Leman mob:
“I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on recent Board meetings, especially the most recent.  Someone described it as near chaotic.  That’s being kind.  In this reporter’s opinion it was planned chaos.  This Board of Trustees has been more than generous permitting comments from the floor on all issues.  They were elected to make decisions.  They realize there will be dissent and Trustees have patiently listened and, I’m certain, considered differing opinions.  But now a small contingent of rabel-rousers, with an axe to grind, are turning routine meetings into a cacophony of cat-calls, outbursts, name-calling, personal attacks.  All totally lacking any civility.  The Trustees, in fact the township, would be better served if this small group stayed home and yelled at their television sets, permitting township business to be conducted in a proper manner with respect.  Respect is a two-way street.  It is coming from the Board, but not from the floor.”

Below is the actual Shelby This Week telecast in which Mr. Nye condemns the rude and disruptive behavior of the Nightingale/Save Shelby mob:

Shelby This week 1/20/12 from Shelby TV on Vimeo.

After Shelby This Week described this“planned chaos”, one of our readers sent an e-mail predicting that the next person this mob will attack would probably be Phil Nye himself.  Sure enough, just to show how psychic Inside Out readers are (or how stupidly predictable the Nightingale mob is) take a look at this January 23, 2012 comment posted on the Shelby-Utica Patch:

The Nightingale/Save Shelby/Team Leman mob thinks the best way to promote their “alternate universe” agenda is to attack, disrupt and degrade others.  If it comes down to a decision between who we should believe —  a respected journalist like Phil Nye or John Nightingale — who would you believe?

When you observe this mob remember that their misconduct did not just suddenly start overnight.  There has been a growing pattern of disrespect toward the Board, and our township, for some time.  This mob started attacking the Board, and especially Supervisor Rick Stathakis, during discussion about competitive bids for towing.  The Nightingale/Save Shelby mob did not want the Board to get bids for towing services, and did their best to try and stop it.

When it was clear that they could not stop progress, the mob made a conscious and calculated decision to attack and destroy:
• First, the Nightingales came to Board of Trustees meetings in 2009 attacking the Board when the township wanted to get bids for towing work.  Their comments have crossed the line from legitimate free speech to illegitimate personal attacks.  That plan didn’t work and the township got bids anyway.
• Next, the Nightingales organized a group which (falsely) called itself Save Shelby.  Then they launched recall after recall after recall to try and get rid of people who supported competitive towing bids.  That didn’t work.  Since their recall was based on a foundation of fraud, their scheme backfired.
• Then, the Save Shelby mob announced, due to their failed recalls, that they would run a slate of candidates for the 2012 township elections.  This group, the “BOBLEMAN BUNCH”, wants to take Shelby back to the days when special interests ran the township, unions got every demand they wanted, township officials could hire their relatives to work, and big-spending politicians drained our treasury.
• Then, the Save Shelby gang, led by Trustee Lisa Manzella, went on Facebook to belittle and smear the Board.  Comments posted on Facebook, and documented in several previous Inside Out posts, prove that this small group loves pushing people around to try and get their way.  Trustee Manzella obviously takes great pride in trash-talking not only her fellow Trustees, but also Shelby residents.
• Now, this mob has taken the next step by disrupting township meetings.  They have called on their family, friends and financial allies for this “planned chaos.”  Their goal is to upset normal business, and then blame the Supervisor for not properly controlling the crowds.  How do you control malcontents who, by design, are deliberately uncontrollable?  Their scheme, once again, is backfiring.

Democracy By “Minority Rule”?

The Nightingale/Save Shelby/Team Leman gang seems to have a divergent view of democracy.  When resident John Holeton took the podium at the January 17th Board meeting to speak, this interpretation of “democracy” came shining through.  Mr. Holeton (deliberately?) misspoke when he said “this Board” has wasted taxpayer money on the court and new police station.  Holeton is mistaken.  Actually, “this Board”, led by Supervisor Rick Stathakis, has saved millions — REPEAT MILLIONS —  of dollars by not building Maccarone’s “campus.”  Holeton is confused about who spent/wasted the money (the Maccarone Board) and who is saving the money (the Stathakis Board).

Shelby Twp. resident John “suck it up”
Holeton takes the bizarre position that 
in a democracy the majority should 
bow to the demands of the minority.

Then, referencing the amended ordinance concerning Board vacancies, changing from unanimous to majority vote, Holeton lectured the Board about his view of majority vs. minority rule.  Here is what he said:
“Why can’t you [the Board] just suck it up for two months?  Just suck it on up.  Everybody pitch in together, run the township just like you are doing now, for two more months?  Mrs. Manzella went ahead and gave two choices [for candidates for Clerk].  You guys gave a couple choices.  There should have been at least one good person, they’re all good candidates from what everybody said.  You could have gone ahead and given Mrs. Manzella a second, because you know she is dead heart against the other two.  You guys just can’t stop wasting the taxpayers’ money.  You should have sucked it on up, voted one person on in, and saved the money.”

Mr. Holeton ridiculed the majority of Trustees for not working together.  The majority not working together????  In OUR reality when you get a majority to support a decision, that clearly indicates working together.

The Board of Trustees wants to appoint someone as temporary clerk to save the $30,000 on an unnecessary election.  Mrs. Manzella is the problem — the Great Obstructor.  In a strange explanation of democracy, Holeton said the majority should have “sucked it on up”, supported the minority (one person) and voted Manzella’s way?  John Holeton, who brags about being a “patriot” and a believer in the Constitution (where majority rules) wants the minority to rule? 

FACT CHECK:  Manzella voted NO on two candidates supported by every other Board member.  As Phil Nye said, Manzella has made it clear that she will not support any candidate whom she does not nominate.  Since when did being in the majority become bad for democracy? 

Responding to Mr. Holeton, Trustee Paula Filar voiced her opinion about majority vs. minority rule:

“So much has been said, again, about the vote that we had in 2003 after the untimely death of Mr. Kirby Holmes where we put Mr. [Dub] Hearon in office.  I know that some Shelby Township residents will remember that Mr. Viar and I were a minority on the Board when it came to Mr. Hearon’s appointment.  Mr. Hearon was a good friend of Mr. Maccarone’s, who was Supervisor at the time.  He was also a staunch supporter of Mr. Maccarone’s.  There is no doubt that Mr. Maccarone and the other Board members that were in the majority wanted Mr. Hearon because they wanted their person.

“While Mr. Viar and I really didn’t want Mr. Hearon on the Board, we put our personal feelings aside and made the decision that since the majority had come together on one person, we would support the majority of the Board.  I think that was the right thing to do.

“Today, we have the situation sort of switched.  We have the majority of the Board flexible enough for two people. And I know the supporters who are speaking tonight are supporters of Lisa Manzella and the new slate that I hear is going to run.  Now the majority of the Board is supposed to go along with Mrs. Manzella?  I don’t understand.  I was in the minority, Mr. Viar and I were in the minority [in 2003], we changed our vote because we felt it was the right thing to do because of this ordinance that wasn’t a good ordinance.  Lisa Manzella is the one that should be ‘sucking it up’ [using Mr. Holeton’s analysis].  So I have an issue with the sucking up comment.”

Mrs. Filar went on to describe the intense criticism she and other Board members have received from the Nightingale/Team Leman mob for being proud conservatives:

“I also want to talk about the conservative nature of this Board and how happy I am that we had a conservative Board finally in November of 2008.  I sat on this Board between 2000 and 2004, and I sat on this Board from 2004 to 2008.  And I can tell you that during good times, this township was spending more money than it was taking in.  Now Mr. Stathakis talked about the fact that we have a reserve fund of $6 million, but I can tell you that fund [in 2000] was well above $6 million.  We were spending money and the reason was ‘we had it we may as well spend it.’  We were not a conservative majority.  It wasn’t until a conservative majority in November of 2008 that we were able to really make some progress — reduce spending, cut costs, change government.   If I’m not elected in August of 2012 because I’m a conservative and I want a conservative Board because that’s important to me, let the residents have their say.”

So what is wrong with changing an ordinance [making it like every other township and city in Michigan] to a “majority vote” for approving vacant elected positions on the Board of Trustees? Nothing!  Consider what the Macomb Daily wrote in its January 24, 2012 editorial. The Macomb Daily analyzed this ordinance and decided it is proper, legal and ethical to remove the roadblock of a unanimous vote — where one Trustee can play political games — and do what every other township and city in Michigan does:  fill vacancies in elected positions with a majority vote.

Here is one section of the aforementioned Macomb Daily editorial:

It appears to us that the Nightingale/Save Shelby/Team Leman mob rejects the notion of majority rule.  They want one Trustee — in this case their friend Lisa Manzella — to run the show.  Minority rule may be the ideal form of “democracy” in their “alternate universe”, but here the real world, where a majority of Shelby taxpayers live and work, this makes no sense.

Itching to get her rants plastered on Facebook, Lisa Manzella couldn’t wait to log-on and lash out against Trustee Filar and Supervisor Stathakis.  Here is what Lisa Manzella and her son, Joe Jr., posted on Facebook about the meeting:

This exchange illustrates that Joe Manzella (who lives in Lansing) either didn’t watch the Board meeting, is relying on his mom’s cliff notes rendering, or also resides in an alternate universe.  Hey Joe, since you asked the question, how would Lansing City Council President Brian Jeffries react if a small band of malcontents were as rude, disorderly, discourteous and downright nasty as the Nightingale/Team Leman/Manzella mob?

You will note that Manzella did not criticize John Holeton for telling the Board majority to “suck it up” and vote with a one-person minority.  Could there be a political connection here?

Attack of Shelby’s “SHE-HULK”

When Manzella gets angry, no one is safe!

The REAL STORY of the night, however, was how Trustee Lisa Manzella acted - or rather overreacted - during the debate on revising the appointment process for Board vacancies.  Manzella was again the lone obstructor as the Board considered, and rejected, candidates to fill the vacant clerk position.  Manzella voted against every candidate nominated and seconded.  As Phil Nye pointed out earlier, Manzella has made it clear that she will not support any candidate for clerk that she doe not nominate.

It was at that moment when the real Lisa Manzella emerged.  Just like the She-Hulk, Manzella got angry — but thankfully (for us) she didn’t turn green.

Lisa Manzella blew her top.  Why?  Because a resident was sitting quietly in the audience holding a piece of paper on his lap that was critical of her.  When she saw the paper that lit her fuse and it didn’t take very long for her to explode.

“You know he is very distracting,” Manzella screamed into the microphone as the Nightingales joined the ruckus from their seats in the Board room.  “If you won’t remove him from the room.  Get him out of the room!  It is very distracting to me sir!!!”  

Supervisor Stathakis respectfully asked those in the room to settle down.  He then gave Mrs. Manzella the floor so she could continue her comments.  But she couldn’t.  She FREAKED OUT.  She just can’t take it when someone criticizes her actions or decisions.

Lisa Manzella thinks it is appropriate for her to swat her microphone, throw a hissy-fit, stand up and abandon her post during a Board meeting.  Then, in a vivid display of intimidation, she stormed up to the resident sitting in the audience and whispered into his ear.  What did Manzella say?  Was it a threat?  Just because a resident — someone Manzella has already personally smeared on Facebook — dared attend a Board meeting and quietly hold a sign critical of her, Manzella turned into Shelby’s SHE-HULK?

Below is the link to this outburst which forced Supervisor Stathakis to take a recess in order to get the crowd under control.  Take special note of who is creating the chaos.

When you watch the video you will see how the Nightingale mob and Trustee Manzella are verbally assaulting both the Board of Trustees and other residents.  When the microphones are cut off during the recess, you can still hear John Nightingale, Marsha Nightingale and Nick “the loudmouth” Nightingale screaming at the Board.

Eager to reinterpret events to the liking of her Nightingale/Save Shelby supporters, here is what Manzella later posted on Facebook about the ruckus that she and her group caused at the meeting:

Take special note of that last post.  Calling a taxpayer “Fat Matt” and writing  “I could have taken him out.”  Taken him out?  Does this mean what we think it means?

Trustee Manzella and her Nightingale/Save Shelby/Team Leman collective thinks they have the right to say anything - including shouting, threatening and swearing - because of “free speech.”  Manzella has contempt for free speech — unless that speech happens to support the position of the Nightingale/Save Shelby/Manzella/Team Leman cabal.

As will become very obvious in the weeks ahead, the “BOBLEMAN BUNCH” is poisonous to our democracy and our township’s future.  If this is the way they conduct themselves now — disrespecting taxpayers, detracting from Shelby’s accomplishments, and dismissing reality for their much-preferred “alternate universe” — what will they do to our township, and to Shelby residents, if they get their hand-picked candidate, BOBLEMAN, elected Supervisor?

The 2012 elections are a choice between maintaining the conservative and highly successful leadership of Supervisor Rick Stathakis and the current Board or, in the words of resident Stanley Kramer, having “something different” — like what you would get with the Nightingales, the big-spending politicians, special interests, and the “Save Shelby, Status Quo, Liberal Spending Liars Society.”

Until next time...