Public Officials Fivecap FiveCAP Director

[XLFD]

Never trust an official who makes or enforces unjust laws.

St. Thomas Aquinas used the Latin phrase "Lex iniusta non est lex" (An unjust law is no law at all), which was later adopted and improved upon by the Rev. Martin Luther King writing in a squalid Birmingham jail. "An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law... an unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law.”

Over the last five weeks, the federal government has established several guidelines to help mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. These federal guidelines have not been codified or enforced at the federal level, yet they have been utilized by governors of states in setting policy and validate their issuing of executive orders that have not always respected the rights of individuals granted to them by the federal and their state Constitutions.

As of Monday, six states, all with Republican governors, have ignored official coercion and have not issued stay at home orders, preferring to rely on the common sense of their constituents in heeding the advice of professionals. It seems to be working as only 100 COVID-19 deaths have occurred in those states while 16 times that many have happened in Michigan, with arguably the toughest and most bizarre executive orders in the nation.

People do not respect unjust laws or orders, especially ones that have little rationale behind them. Rather than acknowledge that human trait, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently doubled down on her earlier executive orders on review and made several irrational orders out of harmony with natural and eternal law, trampling rights in the process and giving no good reasons why.

On Monday April 8th, the Torch revealed in the article FiveCAP Kneecapped a troubling narrative originating from a troubling source, Rob Alway, from a Mason County Press article. Rob is a Scottville City Commissioner reporting on the actions of the Scottville police chief, Matt Murphy, and it should be fairly evident that this professional relationship could make reporting objectively difficult, regardless of how you feel of the MCP editor's abilities.

FiveCAP is a non-profit agency that provides services for the poor in a four county area. The director, Mary Trucks, assured MCP that they were doing their best to follow guidelines:

“Employees are following the social distancing instructions in all person-to-person interactions. Staff have been issued masks, gloves, sanitizers, and personal thermometers. We are complying with new instructions as they are released. Employees are not required to work. They have been advised to take their personal needs and concerns into account and decide if they can work. All employees are paid during this emergency stay whether they work or not. They have been given information on unemployment in case they choose this option.”

That and more statements sounded reasonable, however, Chief Murphy somehow got the county prosecutor, Paul Spaniola, to write a cease and desist letter to the director saying that she was not following the governor's orders. On Good Friday, the doors to FiveCAP showed they were closed indefinitely.

This may have been done in large part due to the state's Attorney General, Dana Nessel, getting wind of Spaniola's letter and adding one of her own on Thursday. Faced with the new daunting adversary, closure was probably in FiveCAP's best immediate interest.

On one hand, there is a private group serving a noble cause saying that they are operating within the law, the MCP makes no observations themselves whether that's the case or not. On the other hand, there are three levels of officials used to enforcing and prosecuting laws saying that they needed to shut this business down because, horror-of-horrors, the employees are not wearing masks, getting too close to each other, and some are not doing 'essential' tasks as defined by the governor.

At first glance, it seems tyrannical even when considering the reputation of Director Mary Trucks, who withstood a previous storm of lawsuits dealing with Equal Employment Opportunity, and the Teamsters. Yet, whether she is tough to work for or not, she must be doing enough right by her board of directors to have retained the position for three decades. With the labor disputes in her background and enough former employee anecdotes going against her, one may figure there may have been a concerted effort in bringing her down.

The police incident report I received from Chief Murphy showed that was the case, but it showed even more.  Here's a summary of some things we learn from this report:  

1) Multiple employees, all wishing to remain anonymous for fear of losing their job, contact Chief Murphy saying they are doing 'non-essential' work and being regularly put in danger by Director Trucks.  

2) While waiting to speak with Trucks, Murphy sees nobody with masks on, sees no obvious 'social distancing' among employees, and only observes paperwork.  

3) Murphy sees 5 or 6 people coming from Truck's none-too-large office, Trucks reportedly is averse to answering questions, Murphy says his intent is not to shut FiveCAP down-- before telling her he was going to the prosecutor to shut the operation down.

4) Prosecutor makes the decision based on what Murphy tells him that the non-profit is not practicing social distancing or operating with essential employees, writes a cease-and-desist letter that is delivered by Deputy Baum and Murphy.

5) The next day, multiple anonymous Fivecap employees contact Murphy regarding working conditions.  Murphy contacts a county commissioner who he knows is on the Board of FiveCAP.

6) Commissioner Anderson talks with Trucks, who tells her (like she did the newspaper) that she was in compliance.  She warns that Murphy will have a fight on his hands as Trucks is vindictive.

7) That afternoon, Murphy and Deputy Sunday check on the business.  Murphy notes prior violations still taking place.

8) Trucks answers several questions before stopping after deciding that Murphy was picking on her.  As he leaves, he notes several employees thanking him and asking him to help them.

9) An anonymous employee contacts Murphy afterwards, they contradict Trucks' statements to the MCP about policy.

10) FiveCAP appears to be fully staffed the next day, Murphy contacts prosecutor, who notes that the case has been given to Asst. Prosecutor Kreinbrink.  The next day (Thursday), Murphy is informed the Attorney General has also drafted a letter .

11) Alison Furtaw, from the AGO, states that unless Trucks' employees are passing out food, they are not to be at work.  

12) Murphy arrives with Trooper Crutchfield to serve the AG's letter, Trucks advises she will take the matter up with the state and gives no indication she would comply, which is what Murphy relates to Furtaw.  

13) FiveCAP offices are closed the next day, the following Monday, Murphy learns from a state employee that they are working on keeping FiveCAP's essential services available.

ANALYSIS:

Some may read the report and be content that local and state officials shut an unsafe business down, but there are several issues in the report that should make you consider that maybe what happened here instead was several rushes to judgment, oversights, and abuses of authority by the city, county, and state officers who shut this 'critical infrastructure' business down using anonymous tips and subjective impressions.

1) Confidential sources:  Murphy refers to multiple anonymous sources for initial tips but only recognizes one person and chats with that source only after his second visit.  Murphy should have included all witnesses, should have documented their original complaints, and had them sign a form that explained they wanted their name kept confidential.  Confidential sources are poor material to make a case out of, creating multiple sources that can't be verified makes the investigation look suspicious and targeted.

2) Motivation for confidentiality:  Murphy claims the multiple informants didn't want to lose their jobs for reporting violations, but they actively snitched in anonymity so that if their claims were verified, they would... lose their jobs, at least temporarily. 

3) For safety?!:  These multiple informants also claim they could not operate in safety at their job, but this is not adequately explained.  The World Health Organization (WHO) advises social distancing distances of 1 meter (39.5 inches), so 10 workers at the sizable building could surely make that.  Even had Trucks not supplied them (which she says she did), fearful employees could not use their wages to buy hand sanitizer, masks, and other PPE or just refuse to work?  There is no evidence other than a confidential source saying that Trucks refused any of this, there is only Trucks saying she offered those alternatives in the MCP article before this source's interview with the SPD Chief.

4) Office work not permitted?:  All critical infrastructure (CI) jobs have their share of paperwork which cannot be ignored.  Each involved official doing CI work wrote reports or letters dealing with the situation.  It is poor police work to believe that seeing a worker on a computer or filing papers is not doing CI work in some form.  It is shocking that the AG Alison Furtaw would suggest that the only activity permitted to FiveCAP is passing out food, when that is beyond the scope of the executive order.  

5) No documented evidence of wrongdoing:  In today's world, it is easy to take a picture, record a video, or tape a conversation.  None of that is done here, we (including all of the attorneys writing letters) are to assume that Chief Murphy's account of the matter is truth.  The violations are highly subjective, easily disputed or controversial, and yet the prosecutor and AG rolls with their orders to cease knowing they will likely not have judicial oversight-- at least for the near future.

6) Chief violates social distancing:  Murphy visits FiveCAP in-person three times with Deputies Baum and Sunday along with a state trooper to serve letters to the director or to otherwise intimidate them into closing.  The chief notes in various places in the report that the offices and common areas are small and unconducive to distancing, yet he brings in a second party three times to do work that he could have done alone-- or even remotely.  None of these assisting officers supplement his report with claims of lawbreaking by FiveCAP.

7) FiveCAP's changes to operations well-documented:   A March 22 article in the Manistee News Advocate expressly tells how the agency is changing its protocols to adapt to the governor's orders, including:  "A limit of three clients are allowed in the reception area at one time with 6 feet distance when in person contact." and "To avoid face-to-face contact, applications... will be taken by phone, with required documentation dropped off and signatures obtained later." and "staff will sanitize hands often, avoid physical contact of less than six feet with clients/persons." etc.  This corroborates with Trucks' statements on the MCP in her defense, and other than the chief's report, there is nothing saying they were violating these rules that aligned with the executive order.

8) A lot of public resources aligned against a charitable non-profit doing essential work:  Besides Murphy and his three assistants, prosecutors Spaniola and Kreinbrink, and AG personnel Furtaw and Nessel, we also find out that the state police is investigating issues involving FiveCAP in other jurisdictions and that the chief sent multiple anonymous sources to them complaining about 'working conditions'.   I don't see any of these official providing food and services to the area's ever-growing supply of poor folks, I see them trying to shut such efforts down on the 'strength' of confidential sources and subjective observations. 

9) Attorney General's office contradicts itself in letter:  The AG letter explicitly says that FiveCAP cannot have workers on site to file, answer phones, or do other clerical duties, but they include the above excerpt from the EO that allows them to have staff in to conduct minimum basic operations.  If the business is mostly 'analog' much of the basic operations will require in-person staff to perform on site.  Unilaterally declaring they can't is an obvious abuse of authority.

10) The "R' word:  You may have noticed that not only has Mary Trucks been singled out by the local and state government in doing her group's altruistic work, but also that she is black.  One could easily find other open businesses in the area without the same documented protocols as FiveCAP had, and ones where violations of the law regularly exist.  In any store, the 6 foot rule has to be relaxed in every aisle for people to pass by.   The staff at the new liquor store are not providing any sort of 'essential' service by any stretch of the imagination.  But who gets singled out and threatened by white people in uniforms and suits in a small town with less than 1% black population? 

And for what?  A police chief's subjective ruling on social distancing, errantly assuming masks are required, who comes in shoulder-to-shoulder with other law officers, and offers multiple confidential sources (some admittedly outside of Scottville's branch) and his inconclusive observations as his only evidence?  FiveCAP's services may be curtailed in our area for the foreseeable future, when they perhaps could be of most use.  Thank the prosecutors and police for that.

This is tyranny coming from the City of Scottville, this is tyranny coming from the Mason County Prosecutor, this is tyranny coming from the Michigan Attorney General's Office, and it's all directed at one person.  A black woman in a leadership role, trying to perform the goals of her charitable group, while arrogant, anonymous, perhaps-racist, employees aid in the government's lynching of her.  This incident is appalling on many levels.

[Willy]

I'm having a hard time understanding what Fivecap is. If they are private why are they funded with tax dollars? At what point do they become a private entity and if they are private is not the board  responsible for what takes place at the Fivecap office. Why is Trucks under fire instead of the board? After all isn't she just a manager of a private company, taking orders from her bosses?

This entire situation seems to originate from employees who are not happy with how Whitmer's policy is being implemented and you can't blame them because  Whitmer and the left have put the fear of God and fear of Covid19 into them. But then why would they fear being fired if Trucks said they don't have to come to work if they choose. Also didn't Trucks mention the staff would be paid even if they stayed home. So what are the employees bitching about. Someone is lying about this situation.

Nothing pleases lefties more than taking money from tax payers and giving it away to others and this organization seems to fit that definition so why is Fivecap being singled out by the ultimate lefties, Whitmer and her sidekick the Attorney General? And then local official snoops get involved. What is really going on here? Honestly X I don't know how you are able to sift thru all this backstabbing politics and write such a concise article. I'm completely dumbfounded over how this Fivecap situation has unfolded.

[XLFD]

Earlier today, David Bossick had an article "Report details how letters to FiveCAP transpired" that seems to continue the harassment of Mary Trucks, I hadn't seen this until tonight and it's not the complete article, but I can tell from its intro that it won't do the facts justice.

Neither the Board of Directors or the employees violating social distance and other protocols are being targeted by Murphy and Spaniola, it's all on Trucks who has a visible policy and isn't observed violating any executive orders in her own behavior or direction.  That's why it has the appearance of racism, and I don't level the charge lightly.  Each of the ten points I analyzed actually pointed in one way or another that Trucks was being singled out and harassed indiscriminately, while anonymous sources who could have stayed home and collected a check (Murphy's 'multiple' confidential sources), but choose to work and seem to have an axe to grind.  Racism is very easy to perceive here.

These cowardly employees that should be fired for disloyalty and stupidity remind one of the nosy neighbors that would just love to report you for having family from across the county come visit you this Easter.  These wretched souls have plagued humanity during Nazi Germany, during the Spanish Inquisition, and forever.  Petty snitches deserve stitches.  

[stump]

To my understanding Five Cap is a non profit group that helps low income people , pretty much the black population in the 4 surrounding counties.  I think their group finds all the government handouts and uses them to their advantage . I recall home insulation for free. Should have done a black face for that one.Oh , that would be racist !!!!!.  XLFD , I wouldn't talk to highly of Mary Trucks , she wouldn't give you the time of day, you be the wrong color.

[XLFD]

Trucks' longevity at FiveCAP and FiveCAP's perseverance through hard times, proves to me that she is more than capable of handling her job and all the politics involved.  Her strong position and personality seems to rub some the wrong way, especially employees having to deal with it, whereas others see it as a positive.

The latest stats has Mason County with a 12% poverty rate and blacks only accounting for 1% of the population, so since over 90% of the poor in the county are non-black, your generalization is incorrect.  Even in Lake County, Home of Idlewild, where the poverty rate is 22%, blacks only account for 8.7% of the population, so even if 100% of blacks are living in poverty (which isn't the case) they wouldn't account for half of the cases.  

Whites in the four county region outnumber all other races by such large margins that they undoubtedly get the lion's share of assistance by FiveCAP.  I know some folks who have received such assistance and they never had a problem.