Stop the embarrassment! 


It seems little ole Fishers has gone from sleepy suburbia to national embarrassment in pretty short order  (Hamilton East library board member targeted for removal (indystar.com) and then quickly backtracked on that action.  The recently elected MAGA members to the HSE board wanted to remove a respected deputy prosecutor because he wouldn’t join with the MAGA appointees of the HamCo County Council to censor/ban books on the HEPL board.

This all started when the HamCo County Council appointed, behind some very dubious methods, controversial MAGA pastor Micah Beckwith. There was legitimate public concern he might go full “anti-woke”.  ( Hamilton East library board: Pastor brings conservative perspective (indystar.com) . He certainly has confirmed that fear and coupled with the 2nd CC appointee, Tiffanie Ditlevson, the two of them are bringing shame to our community with their actions on the HEPL board. HamCo school, library boards reexamine controversial book policies (indystar.com) Thankfully it appears cooler heads might prevail after a flurry of activity over the past weekend and the Noblesville School Board removed (on Wednesday) their appointee and replaced her with an actual educator. Fishers Democrats campaign on library, school board turmoil (indystar.com)

But the core problem remains. I am calling for the HamCo County council to follow the Noblesville School Board and admit they made a mistake (2 actually), and rescind these two appointees from the HEPL board ASAP. I realize this would be an extremely unusual action but these 2 have caused extremely unusual harm to our community. 

Lastly, the County Council is not on the upcoming ballot. However, there is a candidate on the upcoming ballot this November that is in the middle of this regretful calamity, Tiffanie Ditlevson, for City Council At Large. If you are embarrassed by the recent actions of the HEPL, then she surely does not deserve to be elected to our city government.

Bill Smythe

Managing Member Smythe Lobby Group