Straight Outta Canton And Into Plymouth Township

So I was perusing one of my favorite Facebook pages the other day, when I happened upon a post about the botched McClumpha Park, parking lot expansion. This was on the “WWC-Political Views” Facebook page. It stands for Western Wayne County Political Views, and there is discussion mostly on local politics. The person posting, was talking about the fact that this roughly $700,000 parking lot expansion is gonna cost the taxpayers somewhere between six and seven thousand dollars per parking spot, and it was just rammed through, by the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees, without any real notice to taxpayers, and obviously not enough homework done on the project, as there are now environmental concerns that are being looked at by some Wayne County agency or another, as well as a large chunk of it that had to be dug up, and re-poured, because of some other problem.

This was no surprise to me, as it always seems to happen with this Board of Trustees. They tend to approach large projects like a bull shops for dinner ware. They tend to spend taxpayer money like a sailor on his first night in port. You get my drift.

The thing that piqued my interest though, was one of the comments left on this post. It was from Nancy Williams. She was apparently trying to correct another poster. I wondered why she would post on a Plymouth Township taxpayer issue? I know for a fact that she lives in Canton Township, as her husband Pat Williams is a Canton Township Trustee. I thought to myself, maybe her and Pat are planning to pull a Shannon Price carpetbag, and move to Plymouth Township, but then I remembered that Mr. Pat has big political plans. He plans on being the next Canton Township Supervisor. So I don’t think he’ll be moving anytime soon, but back to Nancy.

Why would Canton resident Nancy Williams be posting on a Plymouth Township issue? Alas, it hit me! Very soon after Shannon did his dirty little deal with Plymouth Township’s resident lunatic, Big Ron Edwards, and got appointed Plymouth Township Supervisor, he rather quickly hired Ms. Nancy to be his “Executive Secretary.” This fact actually got lost in the fallout of Shannon creating a $60,000 + bennies job for his long time friend and political operative, Mike Mitchell, who is now Plymouth Township’s Park Ranger. So here’s the deal. Shannon is systematically hiring all of his friends to work in our township. They don’t live in the township, and never have, they just collect their paychecks in the township, paid for of course, by our taxpayers.

So you may be asking, how do I know that Nancy Williams is a friend of Shannon? I can answer that question. I found this out during a charity event that I not only advertised here at Patch, as a favor to Pat Williams, but also attended. I couldn’t actually stay for the event, as I had just broken a couple of ribs a few days prior, but I did however, very heroically make it there, pay my $20 for a sloppy joe, and wish everybody luck with their charity. Everything was all good, peachy keen, smiles all around. And then Pat decided to challenge me about a series of blogs I had written. Not a good idea.

He asked me why I was “picking on his friend Shannon.” He was talking about a blog where I had predicted that Shannon had made a dirty deal with Treasurer Ron Edwards to move into our township, and apply for the Supervisor job, vacated by Richard Reaume, when he finally resigned under a threat of recall.

I simply indicated to Trustee Williams that I had done my homework, and that I actually knew something was up way back in July of 2014. It wasn’t until one of my friends caught Price, Mitchell, and Edwards having a late night rendezvous at the Plymouth Pub, that I was totally able to connect all the dots. Well, Pat told me I had it all wrong, and that Shannon Price had absolutely no intention of applying to be Plymouth Township Supervisor. He even doubled down on his statement by telling me, and I quote, “Shannon is just effing with Kurt Heise’s head.” He used the actual word, but I can’t use that word at Patch. You get the point. It is no secret that Mr. Heise has plans to run for Plymouth Township Supervisor, as he has had countless people in the township asking him to run, and restore some sanity to the dysfunctional Plymouth Township Board of Trustees for quite some time. Again, I digress.

Anyway, I told Mr. Williams that I was very sure of my facts, and that he either doesn’t know Shannon very well, and doesn’t have a clue what Shannon is going to do, or he is lying to me. I laughed when I used the word lying, but I was serious. I’ve been lied to by more politicians than I can count, and I am always very aware of that when conversing with elected officials.

So Mr. Williams, in a weird effort to finally convince me, called his wife Nancy over. He asked her point blank, right in front of me, “Is Shannon applying for the Supervisor position?” At first she just said no. Then she looked a tad puzzled by the question, and added, “Not that I have heard.” Then she left before I could ask any questions, or say anything else. He asked her like she would be the bottom line expert on what the Price’s may or may not do. So I had to assume that they are good friends.

Bottom line? Nancy is a bad poker player. Probably a bad Euchre player as well. I, on the other hand, am a very good poker player, and part of being a good poker player, is being able to spot tells. Being able to identify when someone is bluffing/lying, and I was pretty sure that Nancy was telling a little white one. It didn’t matter to me, I knew what I knew, and Pat & Nancy were wasting their time trying to convince me otherwise.

I left it at that, and soon left the event. I left though, feeling a little uneasy about what I thought had been a pretty solid, if new, relationship with Pat Williams. I had never gone into Canton, and written a bad thing about the township, or their Board of Trustees. I had even gone there a couple times to announce, and then cover Republican events for a guy, at the behest of Pat Williams. I’m a good Republican, and am always happy to help out when I can, so when Pat contacted me about stuff, I usually obliged. I’ve never once asked for anything in return either. That is important to remember here. I have never once asked for anything in return for anything I have done for Pat, or anyone else in Canton. I live in Plymouth Township, and I generally stay out of their business unless they ask me for something.

So long story short, my predictions about Shannon Price all came true, even though he denied them to the bitter end. Shannon and Edwards cut their little deal, then Shannon sold his house in Canton, and bought a house in Plymouth Township, and 30 days or so later, he got appointed to the top job in Plymouth Township. He became Plymouth Township Supervisor, after 30 days living here. Greatest carpetbag ever! Even Hillary Clinton lived in New York longer than Shannon, before she pulled her U.S. Senate carpetbag. Shannon would make Hilly proud. They’re actually cut from the same pantsuit in many ways. They always get others to do their dirty work for them.

Wanna hear an interesting side note? Guess who did the deals on the sale of Shannon’s house, and the one he bought? None other than Erin Williams McKenzie. Daughter of Pat & Nancy Williams. Now this is neither here nor there, other than to reinforce the fact that Pat & Nancy are pretty darn good friends with Shannon and his wife. The Williams family is pretty tight with the Price family. Even then, there is nothing wrong with that. Well, there is nothing wrong with it as long as you don’t use that friendship for personal and political gain. There is nothing wrong with being friends as long as you don’t continually use other people’s money to hire them. Other people’s money being Plymouth Township taxpayer money.

So here is how the story ends. On the day that the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees were meeting to make a decision on who gets the Supervisor job, Pat Williams calls me on the phone, and asks when I think the meeting will end. I asked him why he would want to know that? He replied that he and Nancy were going to dinner, and were going to stop by the meeting after their dinner.

This really bugged me, because of all 10 candidates, Shannon was the only one who brought in political cronies from all over the place to jam the hall. It was Plymouth Township business, and yet we had people from Livonia, Northville, Canton Township, and even Ann Arbor showing up. Not one other candidate brought anybody in to support them. Shannon turned it into a circus. I wrote about this, and I know Pat Williams read it too, so I asked why he felt he had to come. That’s when he started with the political doublespeak, and all the respect that I once had for him quickly drained away. I finally just asked him, and asked him nicely to please not come. His last words to me were “No worries, I have to go eat dinner now.” And then he gave me the old gotta go, bye routine.

Well, as predicted here, Shannon was named that night to be Supervisor. His acolyte, Mike Mitchell, in his moment of glory, tried to start a fight with me, and literally started chest bumping me when I was trying to leave the meeting room, until a cop intervened. When I was finally able to free myself from Mitchell, I walked into the lobby, only to see Pat & Nancy Williams walking in to kiss Shannon’s shiny new ring. It’s very coincidental that for two people who supposedly didn’t even know that Shannon was applying for the position, they just happened to know exactly what time to show up for big moment. Unfortunately, I’ll never be able to believe another word that comes out of Pat or Nancy William’s mouth, and that’s a shame, because I really liked the guy.

I had been taking pictures of all of the outsiders at our meetings. Those who were not only there to support Shannon, but also intimidate Plymouth Township residents who may have opposed his hiring. So regretfully, I took a picture of Pat. I planned to post it to my story, along with the rest, but for some reason I never did. I’m friends with a lot of people that he is friends with, and I knew it would bother them. Heck, it bothered me. I wasn’t so much mad at Pat, as I was disappointed. Here was a guy I had a lot of respect for, and he not only lied to my face, but he showed up and rubbed a healthy amount of salt into the wound as well. He had no business there, and was the only member of the Canton Township Board of Trustees to be there. The others had the good sense not to interject themselves into what was a very controversial, and heated atmosphere. They had the respect, not to show up and gloat, and make no mistake, Plymouth Township residents looked upon the their presence as gloating.

I actually asked Pat Williams during that phone conversation how he would feel if the shoe were on the other foot. If someone moved into Canton, and was appointed Supervisor of his Board of Trustees after only 30 days of living there. You know what he said to me? He said, “I would be sad.” He said that to me, and a couple hours later, he showed up to congratulate a man who had done just that. Then his wife took a job a few weeks later. That my friends is hypocrisy in it’s truest form.

I take no joy in writing this Mr. Williams, in fact, to use your own phrase, it makes me sad. But it’s the absolute truth, and you know it.

Looking back on it all, it makes perfect sense though. They chose to lie to me to protect their friend Shannon. Heck, Erin Williams probably made a lot of money on the house deals, Nancy Williams is now collecting a paycheck answering Shannon’s phone, and trolling the internet for him, and Pat will most likely be coordinating campaign efforts with his former neighbor and good friend Shannon in 2016. That’s how some politicians are. They keep all the money, and all the power in their family, and small circle of friends.

Did I mention trolling the internet? Yes I did! I forgot! This is how I got started on this story to begin with. The Facebook page!

You see, Nancy has taken on the role of schooling us less than informed, Plymouth Township residents and taxpayers on Facebook when she sees that our thinking is not quite up to her standards. It’s really kind of funny to see actually, because I’m pretty sure she thought she was flying under the radar as Shannon’s receptionist, until someone outed her. She made a comment on a post, and then a Plymouth Township resident pointed out that she should actually be working, instead of trolling Facebook. Then lo and behold, Poof! She deleted her comment! She got caught, and she deleted her comment. I always get suspicious when people delete their comments. Especially public servants, or their employees.

This was all brought to my attention, so I looked, and you can clearly see the guy calling her out, but I pointed out that I had heard that Nancy only answers the phones part time, and maybe she wasn’t at work today. Well, there’s only one way to find out, and that is to put in a call to the People’s Hall.

I called Shannon’s office, and sure as poop, Canton Nancy answered the phone. I stated my name, and asked if I could speak to the supervisor. As I expected, she said he was out of the office. I then asked if he could call me back on an issue. She took my phone number, and then asked what it was that I wanted to speak with him about? I said it was about township employees commenting on social media. There was an uncomfortable five second pause, and then she got her senses back, and said that she would give Shannon the message. Again, she is a terrible poker player, even on the phone. Of course, our Plymouth Township Supervisor did not return the call. He only returns calls of his supporters, which is the same habit of former Township Supervisor Reaume. I’m actually beginning to think Shannon doesn’t like me. It’s a good thing I don’t have feelings, because they would be hurt.

Getting back to Nancy’s trolling of political websites on the internet. She shouldn’t be doing that, especially on taxpayer time. Heck, it may now be a violation of Subsection B, Paragraph #8, and quite possibly #2 of the new Plymouth Township Ethics Ordinance, if she keeps trolling the internet on political sites, on taxpayer time.

Bottom line is that irregardless of whether it is in violation of the Ethics Ordinance or not, it just looks bad. It looks like you are the new Propaganda Minister for Shannon Price’s Plymouth Township. We’re smart people Nancy. We don’t need you to tell us what to think about Plymouth Township issues. Quite frankly, we know far more about Plymouth Township business than you’ll ever know, so do us all a favor, earn your paycheck, and stick to the phones.

In the end, the hiring of Receptionist, Nancy Williams, as well as the hiring of Park Ranger, Mike Mitchell, are the first two examples of Supervisor Shannon Price’s habit of insulating himself with people who will protect him. People who will fight Shannon’s fights for him. Shannon likes to fight, make no mistake about that, he just doesn’t like to actually do it himself. He is either very cowardly, or he simply does not like to get blood on his perfectly manicured hands. In either case, he hires people to fight his fights, and he pays them with other people’s money. In this case, our tax dollars.

So basically, the Nancy Williams hiring was perfect for him. The Williams family are great friends of the Price family, they have had a financially beneficial relationship, and Nancy will not only screen his calls, but apparently, she will also troll the internet for him. Win/Win for Shannon, a paycheck, courtesy of the Plymouth Township taxpayers for the Williams family, and more of the same old crap for the taxpayers of Plymouth Township who are stuck with the tab for both of them.

I wonder what happened to the previous person who answered the phone for the Supervisor? I wonder if Nancy wonders that same thing? I wonder if she spent one minute thinking about the person she replaced? Unlike Park Ranger Mitchell, whose $60,000 spot at the public trough was created for him, someone had to go, in order for Nancy to have her spot.

What I wonder most, is why does Supervisor Price always feel the need to go outside our township to fill key positions? He brought in a friend from Northville to be on the sham of a hiring committee that recommended the hiring of his friend Mitchell, who is from Livonia, and he hires his friend, the receptionist, from Canton as well. Are there not qualified people in Plymouth Township to fill these positions?

Maybe it’s because he has no friends in Plymouth Township. That is the only answer that makes sense. Heck, he only lived here 30 days before Treasurer Edwards appointed him to the top job, and I guess that just wasn’t enough time to make any friends, and if you want to work for Price, you have got to be his friend, you have got to be willing to fight for him, you don’t really need to have the exact qualifications for the job, but you have got to be able to help him politically. That my friends, is how Shameless Shannon rolls.

I got news for you Mr.Price, you are not making any friends in the township. Maybe that is why you felt it necessary to try to create your annoying little Malicious Communications Ordinance. Well, that crap may work in Canton, but the good folks here in Plymouth Township are having none of it. It’s unconstitutional, it’s unenforceable, and it’s a joke. The ACLU said so, Channel 7 News said so, and more importantly, the Plymouth Township taxpayers said so.

Shannon Price, and Nancy Williams came Straight Outta Canton, but I have a feeling that the voters will send them right back to Canton in 2016...