In light of a contentious green energy initiative associated with China, the entire local government of Green Charter Township, a municipality located in Michigan, has been removed from office. When the local government authorized Gotion High-tech Co., a Chinese battery company, to construct a multibillion-dollar electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in the area, the conflict ensued.
Residents of the municipality, concerned about the impact of the project on agricultural land and the company’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), reacted strongly against the decision.
The recently appointed supervisor of Green Charter Township, Jason Kruse, contributed significantly to this democratic transformation. The person in question led a grassroots effort to recall the entire seven-member board in response to their failure to address the concerns expressed by the local residents and their continued pursuit of the aforementioned endeavor.
Gotion, Inc. is a Chinese corporation that is dedicated to the investigation, progression, production, and sale of lithium-ion batteries and related products. China’s battery industry is experiencing substantial expansion, and the country has established itself as a market leader among other major Chinese battery manufacturers.
“Everybody out there across America needs to step back and understand that you have the power. It’s still there,” stated Kruse in a conversation with Fox News. “Government works and your vote matters — for sure at the local level — and it’s super important.”
“We really need to be reminded about that every so often, that public officials work for the public,” Kruse further noted. “It’s very nice to see that we can add to that understanding.”
“We were asking, ‘Please, listen to us, please,’ we’re begging them,” Kruse expressed. “But it was a moot point with them.”
“There was a lot of questions,” he said in the interview. “We wondered, ‘Well, are they bought and paid for by this company? Were they promised incentives somehow?’ We’ll never know that.”
To ascertain support for the Gotion initiative, Kruse implemented a campaign consisting of an independent survey and an informational drive. The results were indisputable: instead of opposing expansion, the community desired growth that did not necessitate collaboration with organizations they perceived as adversarial.
After the recall, the newly elected board of Green Charter Township has made it their first priority to examine the agreement with Gotion. “In this country, there is a struggle going on between well-established, affluent individuals in positions of authority and the grassroots people who desire for their country to stay under their control,” said Kruse.
“All these people that are in government should understand that the people want their voice to be heard. We want our country. We don’t want to surrender to other people or other entities out there.”