Lori Brock’s Letter to the Editor of the Pioneer December 31, 2023

You can view the original letter to the editor of the pioneer here: https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/letters-to-the-editor/article/big-rapids-michigan-letter-editor-not-define-18617989.php

This letter of Lori Brock’s is in response to Chuck Thelens letter to the editor of the Pioneer found here:https://www.bigrapidsnews.com/opinion/article/gotion-battery-plant-vp-chuck-thelen-submits-18572983.php

December 31, 2023

To Whom it May Concern:

Chuck Thelen’s recent soliloquy in the Pioneer newspaper regarding Gotion was another perfect example of just how tone deaf Thelen and the others who have attempted to push this project on a community who doesn’t want it have been since the very beginning. Mr. Thelen tells a colorful tale in which he is the hero, even to the point of losing his annual bonus because of his disagreement with Gotion management. He then admonishes us to come together and “love thy neighbor”. Loving your neighbor should start with being honest with them. Mr. Thelen, your pious rhetoric is quite ironic, considering you have been lying to the community from the very beginning.

Mr. Thelen tells a colorful tale in which he is the hero, even to the point of losing his annual bonus because of his disagreement with Gotion management. He then admonishes us to come together and “love thy neighbor”.

Loving your neighbor should start with being honest with them. Mr. Thelen, your pious rhetoric is quite ironic, considering you have been lying to the community from the very beginning. From the NDA’s signed by government officials attempting to conceal details about this project from the public, to the ever shrinking wages of the alleged jobs Gotion would bring, to your lies about the ownership structure being an international coalition when it’s really owned by a Chinese firm whose CEO is a Communist Party member (which you also have denied even though it’s in his own bio on the World Economic Forum website). Not to mention the lack of transparency on all the dangerous materials you plan to bring into our environment.

Then you have the audacity to claim that only a vocal minority are opposed to Gotion, when every measurable metric shows otherwise – from the supermajority results of the recent recall election in Green Charter Township, to all the surveys conducted by other local townships – every single metric shows clear opposition to this project

Contrary to what you claim to want for our community, this project has done nothing but tear us apart. And it’s not just here in Michigan, other communities are rejecting Gotion, like the folks in Manteno, IL, who are also organizing against you.

Mr. Thelen, you dismiss all the concerns about Gotion’s links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as “conspiracy theories” and claim that the language in the parent company’s articles of association pledging allegiance to the CCP, and to carry out party activities at the “grass roots of the company” are “boiler plate” words, and Gotion really doesn’t mean what they say in those documents. Sir, if you are naive enough to believe that, then you likely also believe the balloon China flew over our military bases was just a “weather balloon”. Pardon us for not trusting the CCP given their history, behavior, and the harm they regularly threaten against our country.

My heart truly bleeds for you that you didn’t get your holiday bonus. If you’d like to earn a few extra dollars to make up for it, I can always use an extra hand at my farm to shovel manure out of the horse stalls. You seem to have a gift when it comes to shoveling out manure.

Sincerely,
Lori Brock