Look, I'm usually the last guy to devolve into name calling.  Those other political blogs on the opposite side of the issues have pretty much cornered the market on snark and playground insults.  So I'm not going to go there.  I'm not going to start tossing around silly names and juvenile put downs.  I swear.  So I'm telling you... stating as a matter of absolute and certain fact... that George Heartwell is a twit (or an idiot).  

Yesterday I was happy to tell you, as a lifelong resident of Grand Rapids, that City Manager Kurt Kimball had announced the promotion of a local cop, Captain Kevin Belk, to the position of Grand Rapids Chief of Police.  He beat out a large field of candidates and excelled in the final interview process.  Another local cop, Captain James Farris, was promoted to the department's number two position.  

Two local guys, guys who spent their entire careers here in the River City, now heading up the police force.  And no one has a nasty word to say about either of them.  It was, and should have been, one of those rare feel-good moments when the right guys got the right positions at the right place and time to move the department forward.  

Enter: The Twit.

George Heartwell doesn't like the decision.  He thinks it should have been the other way around.  Stop screaming "why?!" at your computer monitors... I'm getting there... see, Heartwell didn't have any dirt on Chief Belk.  There isn't any dirt.  He didn't know any deep dark secrets.  The City Manager delved deep into each of these guys' closets and couldn't find any.  Heartwell didn't have a problem with Belk's leadership style, his record of service or his acumen on the street or in the board room... Chief Belk excels in each of those fields.  

So what's the problem?  Well, all things being equal, and they are, it turns out Kevin Belk is white.

The Grand Rapids Press reports:

"Mr. Kimball had an equally qualified candidate in Capt. James Farris," said Heartwell, one of several commissioners who encouraged Kimball to promote Farris.

"In choosing Mr. Belk, the city manager missed an opportunity to place in this important office a person of color who would have by his presence and the force of his personality helped to restore racial harmony in our city," Heartwell said.

He added: "I believe Kevin Belk will be a fine chief of police for Grand Rapids. However, I respectfully and strongly disagree with the city manager's hiring decision."

What's wrong with the Twit's statements?  Let me count the ways.  In Heartwell's mind both men were equally qualified.  OK, so what's the problem?  Kimball went through a long process, a process for which Heartwell did not tag along.  Apparently Kimball thought there was something in Belk that made him a slightly better choice for Chief.  

Not good enough for Heartwell.  In the Twit's world ties go to the minority.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention (it doesn't seem important)... Deputy Chief Farris is black.  

The full-blown stupidity of those first two quoted paragraphs is numbing but that's not even the real problem with the statement.  What Heartwell did yesterday was take a swipe at permanently crippling both Kevin Belk and James Farris's ability of to lead effectively.  

As soon as he opened his mouth to let the idiocy loose he maliciously bruised not only the reputations of two of Grand Rapids finest but he injected racial tension into a debate that didn't exist.  Until I read his statement I didn't even know that James Farris was black.  And I've met Kevin Belk but never once did I look at the guy and go "hey, he's WHITE!"  What does any of that matter?  It shouldn't.

Racial politics have no place anywhere in America, let alone a job search for a new Chief of Police.  But there we have them, front and center.  Congratulations, Chief Belk.  You're that white cop who stole a job from the African American.  Congratulations, Deputy Chief Farris.  You're the black guy who got oppressed by the man.  

You've been labeled and you're stuck with those descriptions for a heck of a lot longer than one news cycle.  

So much for restoring "racial harmony."  Instead of congratulating both men on their promotions and keeping his yap shut, the Twit just took a giant wooden spoon out of the drawer, plopped it down into the middle of a bowl of unmixed, benign racial tension and started stirring.  

Kevin Belk and James Farris are men of the highest character and yesterday should have been their day.  It started that way.  As a day of celebration with their families, the Department they love and serve so selflessly and the City of Grand Rapids which saw two of her favorite sons outshine candidates from across the country.

Instead, thanks to George Heartwell, the day ended with the unwelcome and undeserved storm clouds of unadulterated and insidious racism descending on two of the City's finest men.  They deserved better than that.  We deserved better than that.  So yeah, the Mayor is a Twit.  I said it.  You heard it.  I meant it.  It's not an insult, it's a fact.