THE HILLSDALE CONSERVATIVES
Truth • Liberty • Local Stewardship
Hillsdale County, Michigan • Sept, 22nd, 2026 • 2¢

With Negativity’s Champion forced to resign after daring to ask questions of the hardworking employees of the City and the Valiant Good Guys elected to serve the Prestigious City of Hillsdale, the few who have not yet resigned due to the constant negativity from him and his allies took a huge, but apparently short-lived, sigh of relief.

Surely, they thought, with their leader disgraced and on the run, City Hall could finally get back to business as usual. The Road Diet needs passed and taxes need raised, perhaps a few spy cameras that aren’t “Flock” could quietly appear.

And with their leader defeated, his allies would no doubt return to the comfortable go-along-to-get-along attitude that has reigned for so long here in the Most Conservative County in Pure Michigan.

It started off well.

The No-Named Mystery Man’s latest brutal assault upon the Courageous Mayor once again failed to bring civilization crashing down around City Hall.

Spyin’ Scott Sessions survived.

The building remained standing.

Employees continued receiving paychecks.

Civilization endured.

And Spyin’ Scott Sessions could finally turn his attention toward the important work of restoring the proper chain of command by placing one particularly qualified citizen on the Board of Public Utilities:

Scott Sessions.

This is not even satire added after the fact, this stuff writes itself. The September 21 agenda actually contained, under Miscellaneous Reports:

“Appointment: BPU – Scott Sessions.”

Nothing says separation of responsibilities quite like looking around the room for the right man for the job and eventually discovering him in your own chair.

But then something happened that nobody could have possibly expected.

The Shoes Fit

Do Better Bentley, stepping into the massive negativity shoes Joshua Paladino had left behind, discovered that they fit remarkably well.

Perhaps a little too well.

Suddenly Bentley began asking questions.

Not ceremonial questions.

Not the approved variety where everyone already knows the answer, everyone congratulates everyone else, and the motion passes unanimously before anybody watching at home has figured out what they are voting on.

Actual questions.

The kind of questions that have historically produced an unusual atmospheric disturbance inside City Hall known scientifically as negativity.

And this particular outbreak became so severe that the go-along-to-get-along good ole times that so many had dreamed of returning to faded.

The Mayor’s appointment to the BPU was tabled.

Just like that, Hillsdale had suffered its first documented case of Paladino-style negativity without Paladino actually being in the room.

This creates something of a scientific problem.

For years, the theory seemed fairly straightforward:

Questions = Paladino.
Paladino = Negativity.
Remove Paladino = Remove Negativity.

Yet Paladino resigned as he prepared to leave Michigan for a job in Ohio.

Six days later, Paladino was gone.

The questions remained.

Apparently negativity is contagious.

A Terrible Discovery

This may force City Hall to confront an even more frightening possibility:

Maybe the problem was never one councilman.

Maybe when elected officials read documents, ask why something is being done, question whether government possesses the authority to do it, ask how money is being spent, or wonder whether putting the Mayor on another government board is a particularly brilliant idea, other people sometimes start asking questions too.

This would be catastrophic. Google could reign supreme over us all!

Because once that happens, removing one Negative Person doesn’t solve anything.

You would have to remove the questions themselves.

And Hillsdale already tried something remarkably close to that this summer.

For those who have forgotten, this is the same City Council that has spent a large part of 2026 debating whether citizens must identify themselves before speaking during public comment.

The City first interpreted its rule as requiring a name.

Then the Mayor acknowledged that interpretation had been wrong.

Then Council solved the problem in the traditional Hillsdale fashion:

They changed the rule.

So perhaps Mystery Man should receive some credit.

Despite months of practice, he has somehow continued committing acts of anonymous public comment right there in public.

And somehow the Republic survives.

Meanwhile, Back at the BPU

The BPU appointment was particularly well-timed because the September 21 agenda also contained the resignation of BPU board member Mike Prince.

A vacancy existed.

Council meeting was in two days.

The Mayor had a solution.

Conveniently, the Mayor also had a Mayor, and that Mayor can appoint a Mayor. The sheer Genius was fool proof!

No application was even required!

And this is occurring while the BPU’s administrative structure is already unusually intertwined with City Hall. City Manager David Mackie also serves as BPU Director.

So the proposed organizational chart was beginning to develop an admirable Hillsdale simplicity:

City Manager: BPU Director.

Mayor: Council presiding officer.

Mayor: Also proposed BPU board member.

Eventually, perhaps we can eliminate these boards altogether and simply have the city council itself actually run the City!

But the negative people interfered.

Again.

The Ghost of Paladino Haunts the Agenda

The evening’s agenda seemed written by a kids cartoon comedy writer.

Council first had to formally accept Paladino’s resignation.

Then it had to deal with the Mayor Pro-Tem vacancy created by Paladino’s departure.

Imagine that.

Hillsdale government discovering that sometimes the simplest solution is simply not appointing another person to another title unless necessary.

That dangerous philosophy apparently carried over into the BPU discussion.

But There Was Serious Governmenting To Do

Of course, not everything could be consumed by the return of the Great Negativity.

Council had a packed agenda.

There was 64 Spring Street, continuing its apparently immortal career as a municipal agenda item.

There were special-assessment installments being placed onto winter tax bills.

There were tax-incentive matters.

There was software support for the BPU.

There was a raffle-license request.

There was a wheel loader purchase.

There were multiple traffic-control orders.

And tucked neatly into the consent agenda were City and BPU claims totaling more than $2.5 million, plus payroll.

Nothing negative to see there.

Just move along.

Because apparently scrutinizing millions of dollars worth of claims and payroll, tax incentives, property matters, equipment purchases, utility governance, appointments, and governmental authority would create an unbearably hostile work environment.

The appropriate role of elected representatives is obviously to receive a packet weighing roughly the same as a small farm animal, nod thoughtfully, and say:

“Looks good to me.”

Anything more would risk democracy.

The Negativity Problem Gets Worse

There is another inconvenient detail.

Bentley’s questioning didn’t originate Monday night.

This isn’t exactly his first trip into forbidden territory.

So perhaps Paladino didn’t leave his negativity shoes behind at all.

Perhaps Bentley already owned a pair.

That may explain why they fit so well.

And if asking questions is the qualification, there may be more pairs sitting around City Hall than anyone realized.

We May Need a New Definition

For months, Hillsdale residents have repeatedly heard variations of the same complaint.

Too much fighting.

Too much questioning.

Too much negativity.

Too much criticism.

Too much conflict.

Government would work much better if everyone simply worked together.

Monday night provided a useful demonstration of what happens when that theory meets reality.

Paladino wasn’t there.

The controversial public commenter still showed up.

Bentley still asked questions.

Council still disagreed.

An appointment backed by the Mayor still didn’t sail through.

And government continued functioning.

Nobody burst into flames.

The City Manager remained employed.

The BPU continued producing electricity and water.

The wheel loader remained available for consideration.

Hillsdale survived.

Which leaves an uncomfortable possibility.

Maybe disagreement isn’t dysfunction.

Maybe asking questions isn’t an attack.

Maybe tabling an appointment because council members want more information isn’t chaos.

Maybe that is simply what a deliberative body looks like when people actually deliberate.

That would certainly be disappointing after all the effort spent identifying the source of Hillsdale’s negativity.

Because if Paladino was the problem, his resignation should have fixed it.

Instead, six days later, Council discovered something terrible.

Negativity won without him.

Goodbye, Josh

All jokes aside.

The Hillsdale Conservatives want to thank Joshua Paladino for the time, energy, and effort he gave to the City of Hillsdale.

Josh was never particularly interested in occupying a chair just for the privilege of occupying it. He asked questions. He challenged assumptions. He pushed issues that others might have preferred to leave alone. Sometimes people agreed with him. Sometimes they absolutely did not.

And, yes, occasionally it was probably a little negative.

But nobody can honestly say he failed to leave a mark on Hillsdale.

Public service does not require everyone to agree with you. Sometimes its value is found in forcing conversations that otherwise would never happen, asking the question everyone else was prepared to skip, and making government explain why it is doing what it is doing.

Josh did that.

His influence was probably demonstrated better than anyone could have planned at the very first meeting after he left, when the questioning continued without him.

So from all of us at the Hillsdale Conservatives, congratulations, Josh, on the next chapter.

Thank you for your service to Hillsdale, for your willingness to stand in the uncomfortable places, and for leaving a mark on this city that will not disappear simply because your chair is empty.

You did an amazing job.

The Torch of Negativity you sparked appears to be successfully passed. Hopefully you will stop by and give it a wave sometimes.

Good luck in Ohio, Josh.

You will be missed!


in liberty,
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