Wallace Arrest Just One of Several Scandals for Holly ACTS Members, Including Local Officials
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 17, 2023)
Holly, MI – The recent arrest of Angela Wallace is the latest in a string of scandals and questionable behaviors involving members of political group Holly ACTS.
WALLACE EMBEZZLEMENT CHARGES
Angela Wallace is accused of closing out the bank account of the Holly Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) after being voted off as Treasurer. Holly Police say Wallace was removed as Treasurer by a vote of the PTO board due to suspicious banking activity. The removal took place at the PTO’s Oct. 2 meeting. The next day “the now former Treasurer went to the bank that held the account, presenting herself with authority and acting in her former capacity and advised the bank employee that she wished to close the account on behalf of the PTO Organization. The account was closed of all funds and a check issued to the former Treasurer in the amount of several thousand dollars,” according to police. She is facing charges on one count of Embezzlement by Agent or Trustee, a 5-year Felony and one alternate count of Larceny by Conversion, a 5-year Felony. She’s scheduled back in court on Monday.
This is not the first controversy for Wallace and her associates.
Wallace is part of a political group called Holly ACTS, where she and other members have gone to great lengths to create a distorted narrative and to silence or punish those they don’t like.
In a town that consistently ranks among the lowest in voter turnout in Oakland County, it hasn’t been hard for them to win elections by controlling conversations. Yet the more incidents are exposed, the more people come forward with their own experiences with Holly ACTS members.
WHAT IS HOLLY ACTS?
The group was created in 2020 to help local progressive candidates get elected. In addition to promoting local candidates, efforts of the group include a feminine hygiene drive, hosting a clean-up of Waterworks Park, and creating the Holly Pride event.
The group portrays itself as a community service organization, and has applied for permits as a nonprofit. However, according to a previous message from Kristin Watt, she had gotten a business DBA in order to accept checks. The group raises money for community causes, yet also raises money to promote local candidates, yet also is reportedly part of Watt’s personal business. This confusion alone is worth further investigation, although Watts did not respond to our request to comment about the group or any of the incidents included in this article.
Members of Holly ACTS include public officials as well as volunteers. Kristin Watt is the founder. She ran unsuccessfully for County Commissioner in 2022, and is an elected member of the Holly Township Library Board. April Brandon is President of the Library Board and was elected to Village Council in the 2022 election. Ryan Delaney was on Village Council and ran successfully for Village Council President in 2022. Sherylnn Everly ran unsuccessfully for Holly Township Supervisor and was also the Treasurer for Watt’s campaign. And volunteers like Wallace and Joanna Barnes are not elected officials, though Wallace is on the Village Planning Commission.
“OPEN” DISCUSSION
Holly ACTS grew by hosting events, as well as by taking on administration of the local Facebook Group Holly Open Discussion. The group claims to host open discussions, and Holly ACTS members often tout their commitment to transparency in the group. But it is, in fact, heavily censored. Many with opposing viewpoints are excluded from the conversation. Here, Holly ACTS members spread misinformation, with Brandon editing out comments that question their narrative, and banning citizens based on viewpoint discrimination.
Brandon is the admin of the group, where she regularly excludes residents from participating in discussions related to the library and the village, and denies access to information that is shared in that group. As public officials, Brandon and Watt have an obligation to conduct public discussion and business in a transparent and non-exclusionary manner.
Even if Brandon were acting solely as a private individual, and would have the right to control access to information, the public still has the right to know if they are being manipulated. That is especially true if that person is an official or running for office.
The way the group is managed has had a number of implications for the small town, including contentious public meetings, and harm that is caused to people who are on the receiving end of slander and harassment by the political group, and members who get angry based on the biased and incomplete perspectives they are able to see.
Oakland County Times became aware of the censorship in the Open Discussion group just prior to the 2022 election, when we were unexpectedly banned from the group, right at the height of election season.
At the time, we asked Brandon about the ban and offered to chat to discuss our differences in the interest of having a good professional relationship. Brandon’s response was unusually defensive, calling our intentions “vulgar and obvious.” This raised red flags which prompted us to look deeper at what was going on in the group, and in Brandon’s run for public office.
We learned that Brandon had been removing election-related posts from the group, both from Oakland County Times, and from others. She claimed Oakland County Times had violated the rules over 30 times in the month leading up to the ban, yet that simply is not true. People in other groups were posting about the censorship taking place in the group, and it was clear this was a problem impacting the community.
On top of it, Holly ACTS candidates were campaigning on the issue of transparency. For a candidate to ban local journalism and censor political discussion in advance of an election was concerning. But to also use censorship as a talking point, while actually doing it, is an even deeper violation of the public trust.
In one post Brandon wrote “It is our goal to always remain transparent with the public and we thank you for your patronage – Library Board President April Brandon.”
In another post, Watt commented “I do not believe any elected official or appointed official, or forum official, should be dictating what happens in a community group. We are a free society to be able to engage on community issues.”
In another post, Everly spoke against censorship, as if those people questioning her group’s censorship were actually the ones trying to stifle conversation. “So now the old white men in charge want to further censor what little stands for news in our town. There’s so much going on behind the public’s back. Threatening this site [the Open Discussion group] is bullying, and quite likely they are scared of Nov. when they have to listen to our votes.”
Oakland County Times submitted public comment to the Library board to document the concern over censorship, and how it reflects upon the Library to be promoting anti-censorship during banned books month, while their President is actively censoring others and banning journalism.
Brandon’s direct response to this public comment was threatening to file stalking charges against publisher Crystal Proxmire if she did not stop bringing up the issue.
When any citizen addresses a governmental body with a concern, they should be allowed to do so without government officials threatening them with potential incarceration. Reporters should not be threatened with jail simply for doing their jobs. Responding to a reporter by threatening them with slander and incarceration tends to demonstrate that there are indeed problems worth looking into.
The issue of censorship affects all residents, not just Oakland County Times. We published a story at the time about the censorship and the threat. Brandon has since shared that over 10,000 people were banned from the group. After that article, others began coming forward with their own stories of issues with Brandon and her associates, including others who have been banned with what they felt were little to no reasons.
Among them was another Village council candidate who was denied access to posting in the group, and whose comments were being deleted.
Brandon told the public “Every politician and candidate is permitted to post campaign material in this group once a week. We do not give any candidate for any position preference.”
Yet that was untrue. And when this other candidate wanted to post, Brandon responded by trying to bully them out of the race. “Let’s just assume, for this debate, that I’m not gonna get a seat. You tell me which to those people shouldn’t get a seat so that you can have one? And I see you so that you could have one instead of so you can serve in one, because you are not qualified to serve. If you truly do care about this community, you’ll get your name off the ballot so you don’t take votes away from those candidates,” she wrote in a message to the candidate.
Others submitted examples of manipulated conversations related to the election as well.
In another instance Brandon removed a resident because they had a conservative political meme on their personal Facebook page, then made a post in the group claiming that she wasn’t “doxxing” the man, although the post had exactly that effect. The harassment the man face prompted him to step back from volunteering. The group rules oppose doxing and personal attacks, yet the rules do not apply to her treatment of those she wants to harm.
Another person, a transit activist, called Brandon a “DINO,” (Democrat in name only) after she banned a number of transit activists from the group who wanted to share information about the transit millage, which she campaigned against. Brandon’s response was to tell him she would report them for cyber-bulling if he contacted her again to be mean.
We learned later that Brandon did file a police report against Oakland County Times publisher Crystal Proxmire. The report claims harassing messages, when in reality our contact was limited and professional in nature. Brandon was sent two form emails about the candidate interview series. This is an email sent to all candidates, and there was a brief exchange over which email contact to use moving forward. Then there was the email conversation about the group, during which only Brandon responded with personal attacks.
In her police report, Brandon claimed that “When she didn’t get her way, she [Proxmire] messaged the director at the library and made false allegations accusing me of breaking the open meetings act and prohibiting freedom of the press…Her accusations had no founding, and I don’t find this to be a true accusation against me as a board president, but a malicious act against me and an individual that is admin of a group that she wants to be in on Facebook.”
Brandon added “She may have a campaign against me. Individuals verbally attacked me in the Facebook group this week, that used to get along with me quite well, evidenced by our personal message history. I know this isn’t substantiated by legal evidence, I just want it on record.”
In spite of having no evidence of stalking, Brandon took to Facebook to say that she was being stalked, and that the story was made because of a personal dispute, that Proxmire was angry because she declined to do a candidate interview. She said she could go to the police any time and that she had a paper trail.
This is not the first time that Holly ACTS Members have made unsubstantiated accusations.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT ALLEGATION
Shortly after the story involving April Brandon was published, the public’s attention was diverted in the Open Discussion group by accusations of sexual harassment made by Joanna Barnes against then Councilperson Rick Powers. The accusations were vague, citing inappropriate emails, and anyone asking for details were chided for being too invasive or not believing the victim, or simply blocked from the group.
Powers has explained the situation stating Barnes had met Powers and they exchanged numbers to discuss volunteering. When she messaged him later, he did not remember who she was and asked her to send a picture. A review of the text messages by the Village attorney corroborates his story.
Barnes went to the Village Council President at the time stating this was sexual harassment. The President raised his voice at Barnes and told her to leave his office and then referred the matter to the village attorney.
The Village attorney investigated and found that no sexual harassment had occurred. Powers had apologized to Barnes for the misunderstanding, stating that he takes medicine for memory issues. His apology was then used against him in the Open Discussion group and brought up by Holly ACTS members in council as evidence of his guilt.
In a post questioning why Barnes would not release the evidence of the harassment, she responded “The councilman has already openly admitted wrongdoing and apologized to me in person and through our mutual friend Kristin Watt, as well as discussed this with several people in town. He admitted he was confused and has a cognitive decline. He admitted what he did was wrong. “
But yet he hadn’t admitted to sexual harassment, only to forgetfulness and the misunderstanding.
Holly ACTS members encouraged people to tune into the council meeting to hear the truth. One by one they spoke passionately about sexual harassment and believing women. They spoke over the council president and village attorney as they tried to share information about what had happened.
Delaney, who was on council at the time and privy to the Village Attorney’s determination and details of the situation, still posed on Facebook making sexual harassment and how women are treated a campaign issue. “I can’t believe I even need to say this, but residents should NEVER be belittled, shouted at, or evaded when they raise serious concerns like this,” he posted. “That is absolutely unacceptable from any elected official. Addressing these issues will be my number one priority come November.”
RECALL ELECTION
A similar scene unfolded at a Parks Board meeting where Holly ACTS members demanded that Holly Township Parks Board Member Patrick Feeney resign. At a regular meeting of April 17, Holly ACTS members made passionate complaints against Feeney, and a special meeting was held on April 21 where fellow board members voted to demote him from co-chair. He was not removed from his seat on the board.
According to myfenton.com, “Resident Angela Wallace told the board that Feeney verbally attacked her while was recently at a coffee shop in Battle Alley. She said it was unacceptable and that she filed a police report that morning.”
Watt told the board that Feeney had verbally attacked her and raised his voice, saying he was aggressive and loud. “He tries to physically intimidate,” she said.
The report adds that “Resident Joanna Barnes told the board that there is a pattern of behavior with Feeney. ‘He verbally accosted me,’ she said. She said elected officials are held to a higher standard. ‘Four women have gone through this. Resign,’” she said.
The fourth was April Brandon. According to the article, “She claimed he screamed and spat in her face. ‘He was behaving hysterically to ruin my reputation. He creates a hostile environment,’ she said. ‘I regret not filing a police report. Resign and get the help you need.”
In a statement sent to police by Brandon, she stated that Feeny approached the group following a council meeting and began yelling at her and grabbed her by the shoulder.
“I don’t want to mislead anyone or exaggerate by saying I was physically assaulted, although Mr. Feeney certainly did take liberty and overt familiarity by grabbing me. What I am saying is that Mr. Feeney behaved hysterically, and was emotionally violent. It seemed to be a politically motivated ruse, to try and damage my reputation,” Brandon wrote.
She said Feeney was upset about having been banned from her FB group, and went on to say that she had not removed Feeney, but that he had removed himself.
“The understanding that I came to is that Mr. Feeney jumps to conclusions based on apparent delusions, and he seems to want to appear aggressive and act intimidating when he is disappointed or doesn’t get his way.
“I don’t know what understanding he came to but he lied when he said he didn’t touch me, and he lied when he said he was banned from the Facebook group, or his memory is failing. I’m glad I was not at the coffee shop and didn’t have to experience this unstable man’s inability to emotionally regulate himself again.”
In the incident with Brandon, Feeney says he was trying to leave a council meeting when Brandon and others blocked his path and began to yell at him. He denies having grabbed anyone and notes that Brandon was asked if she wanted to file chargers, and she declined. Feeney says he would have preferred an investigation, as it would have cleared his name.
After the Parks Board meeting when Feeney refused to resign, Holly ACTS members attempted to have him removed from office with a recall petition.
The petition claimed Feeney called a citizen pig and asshole at Holly Township Parks meeting, shouted at constituents on public sidewalks and inside business, and grabbed constituents outside village council meeting. Feeney attempted to appeal the ballot language and says he was told that ballot language does not have to be verifiably true, only that it must be clear what the public is being asked to sign.
If they had gotten enough signatures, the matter would have been placed on the ballot at a cost of $8,000 – $10,000 to the taxpayers. Feeney’s term ends in 2024. The petitioners fell short of their goal, yet presenting the petition gave them the opportunity to tell others about their accusations, which they had declined to be investigated.
THE WHISTLEBLOWER
In another situation, Holly ACTS members turned their attention to a man who reported what he believed was an indecent activity to the Village council just before the Nov 2022 election.
During a Halloween party at the American Legion on Oct. 30, an employee of the American Legion at the time reportedly walked in on councilmember (now President) Delaney in the midst of a sexual act with a woman whose name was redacted from the commander’s complaint. The employee was concerned that anyone, let alone a public official, would do that in a gathering place where others could see, in a space that is sacred for Veterans.
The employee made a complaint to the Village Council, who held a special meeting to consider whether Delaney should be censured for his actions based on an ethics clause. The special meeting happened the Monday before the election. Holly ACTS members spoke at the meeting, criticizing the council for discussing the incident at a public meeting.
“Shame on you for dragging my family through the mud in this town,” said Delaney’s wife. “I believe you owe me an apology because you are dragging my family down and that is very unfair for a personal matter.”
Delaney did not discuss the incident, stating that “my person life is, quite simply, none of this council’s damn business.”
Council voted 4-1 in favor of censure.
Holly ACTS members not only blamed the council for making the complaint public, and for the timing being so close to the election, they also blamed the employee who had reported it. Comments and posts in the Open Discussion group pointed discontent towards the American Legion employee who had made the complaint.
Brandon called the man “an angry drunk,” and other allegations flew that the man was part of a political conspiracy. In text messages between Delaney and the man who reported him, Delaney apologized for the act. Yet publicly the group continued to harass and defame the man who made the report. The man, who is a veteran who was proud of being part of the Legion, was pressured out of the position that he loved, simply for reporting something that he saw that he felt was inappropriate for a Village Councilperson.
ETHICS COMMITTEE
After Delaney was elected Village Council President, and April Brandon and Amber Kier joined the Village Council, one of their first moves to revive a long-dormant Ethics Committee.
This meant that future issues of ethics would not be heard by the full council at regular council meetings, but in a separate meeting with just three officials making decisions.
They put April Brandon on the Committee, along with fellow ACTS associate Amber Kier and Richard Kinnamon who is not part of the group.
LIBRARY TRANSPARENCY ISSUES CONTINUE – UPDATED
The Holly Township Library continues on the path towards less transparency.
The library has failed to update it’s website with agendas and minutes since April. When Oakland County Times requested agendas and minutes earlier this year, which should be readily available to the public without charge, the Library Director charged over a $50 fee to obtain them.
The homepage lists a link to submit public comment and a link to view the current agenda, but at the time of publishing neither worked. The meeting minutes we paid to receive also leave out important public comments.
Board President Brandon continues to use the Open Discussion group as a venue for sharing and discussing Library and Village businesses while excluding others from access to the information and discussions.
Oakland County Times sent questions to the Library regarding their sponsorship of Holly Pride, a Holly ACTS event. Director Gregory Hayes did not respond to the questions initially, but Library Board President Brandon did make remarks on Facebook about some of the content of our inquiries, twisting them and ignoring the actual crux of our inquiry, but still showing that our messages were received. Oakland County Times sent a FOIA request which was ignored. We also sent a reminder before publishing this article. Following the article, Director Hayes continued to have unnecessary back and forth of why he felt that he was justified in ignoring our request. But finally on Dec 21 Hayes replied that no money had been spent on the library’s participation in Holly ACTS events. The library was included in promotions for the event, and it’s still unclear how their participation came about without discussion or vote.
WATTS CAMPAIGN FINANCES
While Holly ACTS aims to help candidates get elected, and their events have featured speeches by their candidates and calls for votes, they do not seem to be registered as a political action committee.
The Committee to Elect Kristin Watt’s campaign has been reported to the State Attorney General as a campaign that has “failed to file statements, reports and/or corrections as required by law.”
A review of campaign reports shows questionable payments made by the campaign to both Watts and to her Treasurer Sherlyn Everly. Payments made for mileage and meals were flagged by the County Clerk’s Election Division for clarification and documentation. And other items showed payments to Watts and Everly, in amounts of several hundred dollars, that were marked as “salary.” Since candidates are not supposed to use campaign funds for personal use, corrected reports were submitted that simply scribbled out the word “salary” and wrote in things like “accounting services” and “marketing, graphic design, social media, and event planning.”
Letters from the Clerk’s office ask for clarifications on the items. “The purpose of each expenditure must be described in terms which make it clear that the expenditure was related to your nomination or election.”
The questions of campaign finance now lie in the hands of the State Attorney General’s office.
WALLACE
In the meantime, as Wallace prepares for court on Monday, Holly ACTS members are rallying around their friend. Though Watts did not respond to our inquires, she has acted as a spokesperson for Wallace, telling ClickOnDetroit.com that the incident is “a misunderstanding” and that “Wallace has the money and wants to return it to the proper authority.”
Wallace’s next court date is 2pm on Dec. 18.
Delaney is also working to get the government of Holly changed, announcing recently that he’d like to start a committee to explore having the Village turned into a City, which would include establishing a city charter. Delaney would appoint members to the committee who could help shape the direction of Holly government moving forward. Delaney did not respond to our request to comment about this effort.
Oakland County Times is continuing to investigate multiple other allegations. If you have information that can help, please reach out to editor@oc115.com.
Pictured: April Brandon, Angela Wallace, Ryan Delaney, Kristin Watt