Weak men create hard times…
Once upon a time—not all that long ago—Scott Sessions was mayor of Hillsdale.
It was 2013. The economy was still finding its footing after the 2008 crash. City coffers were tight. Times were tough. Sessions, a candidate with energy and a military résumé, stepped in with promises of responsible governance and strong leadership. What we got, well, settle in.
Fast forward a decade, and Sessions is back. Sort of.
In a recent interview with The Hillsdalian, Sessions offered up a version of his past that was glossy on the surface but fuzzy on the details—like an old photo that’s been handled too many times. He pointed to his previous term with vague pride while distancing himself from the messes created during it, and after of it.
But here in 2025, Hillsdale doesn’t need throwback politics. It needs forward motion—grounded in principle and reality. Conservatives understand this. Nostalgia might be a sweet feeling—but it’s a poor substitute for leadership.
Let’s revisit some of Sessions’ greatest hits—and see how they’re still echoing through city hall today.
The Myth of the Good Old Days
Sessions’ proudest claim? He “hired good staff.” But look around—many of those hires are the very people responsible for today’s bureaucratic dysfunction. Under his watch, city roads decayed, transparency eroded, and his “good staff” helped birth costly schemes like special assessments and mismanaged redevelopment projects and more taxes, many more taxes.
If this is what “good hiring” looks like, Hillsdale might want to update its HR manual.
Conservatives value results—tangible, principled outcomes. Not résumés padded with “positions filled” and “hard times survived.”
The Homeless situation: Compassion Without Chaos
Sessions expressed concern over the 4,000 pounds of trash removed from homeless camps. But when asked for a solution, all he offered was the political equivalent of a shrug: (Actually confusing the issue with Camp Hope.) “You have to set a time limit.”
No. You have to uphold the law.
Governance doesn’t mean tolerating chaos in the name of empathy. It means offering humane, lawful paths forward. Compassion without accountability is just another form of neglect.
Broad Street and the Bike Lane Boondoggle
Sessions vaguely objected to the proposed Broad Street redesign, saying, “Not sure it’s safe.”
That’s it?
This plan is bureaucratic theater: use state money to clutter up downtown, slow traffic, and add bike lanes for people who don’t use them. If Sessions opposed it, he should say so. Instead, he gives us another “maybe.”
And let’s not forget: under his prior leadership, the city’s roads were a disaster—and the “good staff” he hired made them worse and costlier for taxpayers.
The Keefer House: A Cautionary Tale
When asked about the long-delayed Keefer House Hotel project, Sessions replied: “Not confident, but it needs to get done.” with a spin off “give them a final date.”
That’s not a plan. That’s a punt. Exactly status quo of the current fiasco.
The Keefer project was driven by people Sessions himself appointed to TIFA. It’s the product of his decisions—now conveniently left out of his story. Economic development should be rooted in private initiative and fiscal accountability, not backroom deals and taxpayer IOUs.
Let’s call it what it is: a failed experiment in cronyism dressed up as progress.
Library Leadership: Parents, Not Activists
Sessions cautiously noted that adult-themed content—including LGBT materials—shouldn’t be in the children’s section of the library.
A bold stance, given some of the people he’s allied with politically. But hey—credit where it’s due. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
However, “he would nominate the “best” and most qualified candidates for library board positions and would consider letting the Operations and Governance standing committee make a recommendation to council.”
The story of his “good staff” is still unfolding, not to mention, yet again punting his job as Mayor, “appointments” to a committee is not very encouraging if you’re attempting to pass yourself off as a strong leader, even weak leaders understand that fact.
Constitutional conservatives believe in parental authority, not activist curation. If Sessions truly wants to protect families, he should stop hedging and say so with clarity—and back it with action.
Special Assessments: Taxation Without Logic
Here’s where Sessions veers wildly off the conservative map.
He claimed that eliminating special assessments might be “discriminatory.”
That’s bureaucratic nonsense.
Assessing every road—regardless of use—just to avoid being “unfair” is like taxing the entire town for a bridge ten people use. Conservatives believe fairness is about need, usage, and fiscal restraint—not forced equity theater.
Let’s also not ignore the real story: Sessions empowered the very staff who created this broken system. Now he’s pretending it just happened on someone else’s watch. That’s not leadership—that’s selective amnesia.
The Airport That Time Forgot
Everyone likes the idea of a local airport. But Hillsdale’s doesn’t serve the public—it serves a few, well-connected elites. The rest of us pay for it.
Sessions says it “needs to be self-sufficient… someday.”
Someday? Why not during his first term, when he expanded city involvement? Another example of Sessions playing arsonist, then showing up later to point at the smoke.
Conservatives support infrastructure—when it serves the public and when it’s accountable. And even then, we fight over it.
The Culture He Created
Three staffers recently resigned, citing a toxic culture. Sessions says he finds it concerning—then admits, “I don’t know what the negative culture is.” {Insert laughing emoji here}
That’s rich, considering he’s spent more time at the public comment podium criticizing council members than some elected officials have in meetings.
Sessions isn’t just observing the toxic atmosphere—he helped build it, brick by brick.
His proposed solution? A “military-style chain of command.” Neat idea, if Hillsdale were a barracks. But city government isn’t a boot camp—it’s a representative institution. It thrives on transparency and accountability, not orders barked down a chain.
And maybe it’s no coincidence that many of his former appointees started resigning after constitutionally minded council members began holding them accountable. The barracks built and staffed by his loyal foot soldiers is crumbling. The only question left: Do we really want to give Sessions more bricks?
Bottom Line: Time to Turn the Page
Scott Sessions is offering Hillsdale a time machine. A return to the days when backroom committees ran unchecked, roads quietly crumbled, and government served insiders over taxpayers.
But that’s not the kind of nostalgia conservatives believe in.
We’re nostalgic for functioning government—limited, effective, and rooted in the Constitution. Government that respects taxpayers, protects families, and gets out of the way when it should.
If Sessions wants to come back to City Hall, he’ll need more than fond memories and hedged positions. He’ll need to take ownership of the past, show up for the present, and offer a real plan for the future.
He won’t. But it would certainly make things more interesting if he tried.
Until then, Hillsdale voters should ask themselves, who they want to give the bricks.
In Liberty,
The Hillsdale Conservatives
