Insulating Troy from Liability

According to today's Detroit Free Press, Troy Councilman Doug Tietz plans on sponsoring a resolution at tonight's City Council meeting that supports the Michigan Secretary of State's demand that Troy hold a February 2013 special election to seat a new mayor. For more background on this controversy, click here and here.

Councilman Tietz is certainly entitled to offer his resolution even though it appears to contradict the advice given by Troy City Attorney Lori Grigg Bluhm. Contrary to the rumors and insults being spread throughout our community, the decision-making on this issue is the job of our City Council. It's the City Attorney's job to provide her opinion to City Council - which the Council can follow or disregard.

Before Councilman Tietz and his fellow Councilmembers vote on his resolution tonight, I would encourage them to re-read a key part of Mrs. Bluhm's 11/30/12 letter* to Mr. Bandstra in the Michigan Attorney General's Office. Here it is...

Although the Director of Elections for the Secretary of State has sent us a letter extending the candidate filing deadline until 4 pm on December 4, 2012, we have not yet been provided with any authority that would insulate the City of Troy from liability if we followed this directive.

In my non-lawyer opinion, I believe the City of Troy needs a Court to mandate a settlement that holds the City harmless because we can't be certain that the December 4th filing deadline is legal.

I would also reiterate what I said in last week's blog post...

While some people are questioning the impartiality of Chris Thomas, I believe that he's acting solely on the basis of his interpretation of Michigan Election law. Based upon my past interactions with him (during my Michigan Chamber days), he's not the kind of guy who would write a letter to please the Secretary of State or any other politician. Now, I can't speak to the issue of how he got involved in this question. That's for others to determine.

I believe that the Michigan Attorney General and Secretary of State are acting based upon their staffs' interpretations of Michigan Election law. I just don't buy into all of the conspiracy theories (on both sides) that are being disseminated in cyberspace.

Frankly, the quality of policy-making in our community might improve if we had less fear-mongering and more civil discourse.

* Letter courtesy of Troy Patch.