Michigan transparency headlines from 2008
From Sunshine Review
This article is a list of transparency related news from Michigan in 2008. For the newest headlines, please see Michigan transparency headlines.
Clerk wants media to pay, file for packets
December 14, 2008: Hamburg Township Clerk Matt Skiba last week informed local media that he will require that state Freedom of Information Act requests be filed and fees be paid before reporters can have board meeting informational packets.
The township hasn't charged the media for packets in at least 12 years, said Joanna Hardesty, Skiba's predecessor.
Skiba said his policy answers a fairness issue. If the public has to pay for the packets — few were requested during Hardesty's 12 years in office — the media should have to pay as well, he said. Read the full article here.
Judge blocks the release of teachers' union emails
Three Michigan school districts put check registers online
Teachers’ union wins fight to halt e-mails; Howell case up for appeal
December 8, 2008: A Wayne County judge has sided with the Michigan Education Association to stop the Wayne-Westland Community Schools district from releasing union-related e-mails sought under the Freedom of Information Act.
A similar case recently decided in Livingston County is pending an appeal.
Representatives with Education Action Group, an organization seeking school spending reform, sought the e-mails of teachers' union President Nancy Strachan, which were written on a taxpayer-funded e-mail account. However, the MEA filed suit against the district to stop the release of the documents. Read the full article here.
Pets group sues Branch County
December 6, 2008: Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan has filed suit against Branch County because it said the county is withholding information it needs to do its job.
The Coldwater-based pet adoption organization filed the suit Oct. 30 in Branch County Circuit Court. It asks the county's Animal Control to release information on kennel licenses issued, including the names and addresses of kennel operators. It also asks for information on what happens to the animals that pass through the shelter.
Cathy Gray, RPSM president, said the county regularly gave this information to the group until January 2008, and then it was blacked out. After the county denied several Freedom of Information Act requests, RPSM decided to file suit. Read the full article here.
SOS wins lawsuit aimed at U-M's shoreline brochure
December 4, 2008: The University of Michigan must turn its mailing list over to Save Our Shoreline.
Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran issued the ruling in the lawsuit brought by the waterfront property-owners group seeking to obtain the mailing list used by the University of Michigan's Sea Grant program to send out information about shoreline ecology and beach-grooming regulations.
The brochure was created and funded in part by the state's Department of Environmental Quality. Read the full article here.
Top aide to Kilpatrick pleads guilty
RPSM files lawsuit against county, others
November 28, 2008: The continuing problems between Branch County and the Refurbished Pets of Southern Michigan, Inc. (RPSM) over the county animal shelter and dog kennels in the county led to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, filed last month, and an investigation by the Michigan State Police. Read the full article here.
Teachers' union appeals e-mail ruling
November 26, 2008: The Howell Public Schools teachers' union has filed appeal of an October court decision to allow an estimated 5,500 e-mails, written by union leaders on school computers, to become public record.
"We weren't surprised at all," said researcher Chetly Zarko, who used Michigan's Freedom of Information Act in an attempt to obtain the information.
"They took as much time as they could and waited ... and appealed," he added. Read the full article here.
Loopholes allow teacher incompetence, misconduct to go unreported
November 24, 2008: A Press investigation found 17 public school districts in Kent and Ottawa counties ousted 29 teachers in the past four years through buyouts or other deals. The bad behavior included sexually harassing students, viewing pornography on school computers, failing to keep classrooms under control and drinking on the job, according to superintendents.
In more than half of those cases, districts glossed over problems by shredding evidence, asking administrators not to speak about the reasons behind a departure or writing a positive letter of recommendation for the teacher, The Press found. Read the full article here.
Expelled: Terminated teachers cash out quietly
November 23, 2008: Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Press asked all 31 school districts in Kent and Ottawa counties for their resignation and termination agreements with individual teachers over the last four years, which is as far back as the law allows. All the documents reviewed -- more than 1,000 pages -- were subject to public disclosure.
The results show that 17 districts ousted 29 teachers, most of them with 10 or more years of experience. The districts paid $760,000 in salaries and benefits to get them to leave. None of the amounts includes legal fees or the cost of substitute teachers. Read the full article here.
Feds subpoena records from top political Kilpatrick advisers
'FOIA Abuse' Decried After Mass Release of E-Mails
November 10, 2008: Is there such a thing as "FOIA abuse"? A legal controversy over a Freedom of Information Act request in Michigan is fueling that question.
A school district honored two FOIA requests by local citizens that recently triggered the release of 12,000 e-mail addresses belonging to parents in the Bloomfield Hills School District, an area near Detroit.
The e-mail addresses wound up in the hands of two school board candidates who used them for campaign purposes, outraging the parents who believed that FOIA was misused and their privacy was invaded. Read the full article here.
Recall filed against two school board members after illegal teacher strike
November 8, 2008: Petitions to recall two Wayne-Westland School Board members have received language approval, reports the Detroit News. The individual identified as the organizer has a very sketchy voting history, according the Education Action Group, which hints that the MEA teachers union are the real force behind the recall. The Wayne Eagle, Nov. 6, 2008). In October Wayne-Westland employees went on strike for four days, primarily about whether health insurance would be purchased from an affiliate of MEA. Teacher strikes are prohibited by Michigan law.
This is the second time this year school board members who ran afoul of the union have found themselves targeted for recall. On Nov. 4, four members of the Reed City school district were recalled. That recall was announced three weeks before a vote to privatize food and custodial services, a move that is projected to save the district some $300,000 a year, or about $200 per student according to the Education Action Group.
Detroit council discussing text message FOIA suit
November 7, 2008: The City Council was holding a closed session Friday on what to do about a lingering and expensive Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking four years of text messages between former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-top aide.
Discussions on a possible resolution of the civil suit brought by the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News to force the city to release the text messages were being explored, said Royal Oak attorney William Liedel, who represents the city, and Free Press lawyer Herschel Fink. Read the full article here.
Lawsuit called campaign tactic
November 3, 2008: A lawsuit filed in Ingham County Circuit Court has been amended to include Mason County Sheriff Laude Hartrum and the Mason County Board of Commissioners, according the Deputy Sheriff's Association of Michigan.
The lawsuit alleges the sheriff's office and the county board have failed to respond or to fully respond to a Freedom of Information Act Request. Read the full article here.
District to protect parent e-mails
November 1, 2008: Officials in Bloomfield Hills Schools say they will no longer release the e-mail addresses of parents to people who request them under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
Superintendent Steve Gaynor made that promise in an e-mail to parents late Thursday afternoon, after a Free Press story Monday raised concerns about the district's release of the addresses twice in 2007.
Gaynor cited a Michigan Supreme Court decision in July, which ruled addresses and telephone numbers of school employees are not public information. Read the full article here.
Use public funds, expect public disclosure
October 31, 2008: A school dispute out of Howell shows again that far too many people in Michigan do not understand the reason for the Freedom of Information Act.
Put simply, the people are entitled to know what is done by their employees, with their equipment. Government employees who bid for secrecy - for special consideration - destroy the credibility of the very institutions they claim to serve. Read the full column here.
Schools' use of parents' e-mail addresses causes concern
October 27, 2008: Millions of parents in Michigan and nationwide are signed up to receive e-mail alerts from their schools. Most of the delivery systems were created in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks and were originally intended to quickly get word to parents about emergencies like lockdowns or evacuations.
But a controversy has erupted after about 12,000 parents in Bloomfield Hills schools received an e-mail earlier this month that was a campaign message for two school board candidates. Read the full article here.
Bloomfield Hills school closing panel opts to go public
October 14, 2008: The secret's out.
At a public meeting attended by more than 200 parents and others Monday night, Bloomfield Hills officials finally released the names of the 25 people chosen by administrators to recommend which two schools the district should close at the end of the academic year.
Until then, the district had refused to release the names, saying the members of the district's facilities master planning team needed to work on their charge in private. Read the full article here.
Memo shows city e-mails, texts were public records, lawyer testifies
September 26, 2008: A lawyer for the City of Detroit testified Thursday that she believed a memo signed by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick declaring e-mails and other electronic communications were public records was a valid policy, even though the memo was
The testimony could bolster the contention of the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News that text messages sent on city-issued pagers are public records -- a key point in the newspapers' efforts to obtain more records in their Freedom of Information lawsuit against the city. Read the full article here.
No need to reinvent wheel in considering FOIA policy
September 25, 2008: In the wake of criticism over the handling of a FOIA request by former supervisor candidate and current Plymouth-Canton schools Trustee Dianne Gonzalez, the township board is trying to implement a new policy designed to create one single, omniscient FOIA guru who would, in a perfect world, coordinate all such requests that come into the township, no matter which department is asked to handle them. Read the full column here.
Editorial: GT board stumbles again
September 24, 2008: Leave it to the Grand Traverse County Board of Commissioners to dream up a new way to stumble over laws designed to ensure good government.
The board continually struggles to comprehend -- and sometimes fails to comply with -- the backbone acronyms of honest and transparent government: the OMA (Open Meetings Act) and FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). Read the full editorial here.
Why the trouble with agendas?
September 10, 2008: I sometimes wonder at the apparent disconnect between members of the Wayne 20/20 Committee and the Wayne City Council.
The 20/20 Committee wanted something relatively simple: they wanted city council meeting agendas posted on the new city web site as soon as they were formalized.
Rather than acknowledge that it was a good idea and pass it along, the council members referred it to the administration to see how much it would cost and what it would take to implement it. Read the full column here.
Withhold nothing from the public
September 5, 2008: On Oct. 19, 2007, the Free Press submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for all documents in the police whistle-blower settlement that cost the City of Detroit $8.4 million. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and lawyers then schemed to hide the documents and cover up lies he told under oath in the lawsuit. But then things unraveled for the mayor: The Free Press published text messages that exposed his lies, County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged him with eight felonies, and courts ruled that the documents were, in fact, public. Read the full article here.
Beatty takes Fifth Amendment in records lawsuit
September 3, 2008: Christine Beatty, the former chief of staff to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, exercised her rights under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and refused to answer nearly all questions put to her at a sworn deposition Wednesday morning, a lawyer said. Read the full article here.
FBI probes Ecorse deal that outsourced public works
August 28, 2008: The FBI is investigating whether Ecorse's mayor, some City Council members and others violated federal law when the city's Public Works Department was effectively eliminated last year and replaced by a firm that employs the mayor's son and grandson as well as relatives and friends of some council members. Read the full article here.
Kilpatrick's aide: I shredded SkyTel file
August 27, 2008: In the span of 24 hours, one witness canceled sworn testimony on short notice, one walked out moments before she was to be questioned by lawyers, and a third one admitted shredding documents.
Tuesday was just another day in the continuing effort by lawyers for the Free Press and Detroit News to learn more details about last year's secret $8.4-million settlement of police whistle-blower lawsuits that spawned the text message scandal confronting Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Read the full article here.
FOIA denial called into question
August 25, 2008: Shiawassee County Sheriff Jon Wilson may have violated Michigan's Freedom of Information Act when he charged The Argus-Press $10 for a one-page FOIA request denial.
A Freedom of Information Act request can be made by anyone to obtain information from public agencies. Read the full article here.
State police still working on "time-consuming" Buena Vista Township finances investigation
August 25, 2008: State police officials say they hope to wrap up a criminal investigation into Buena Vista Township's finances soon.
The labor-intensive investigation, focusing on certain details of the township's bookkeeping, has had to compete with many other cases that have landed on the detectives' desks this year, said Detective Sgt. Al Ogg of the Third District headquarters in Saginaw. Read the full article here.
Judge tells city to produce texts sought in Greene case
August 25, 2008: The City of Detroit must turn over text messages from high-ranking officials around the time of the death of Tamara Greene, a stripper who purportedly danced at the long-rumored but never proven Manoogian Mansion party, a federal court has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen, in a ruling released Saturday, ordered the attorney representing Greene's family -- which has sued the city claiming it stalled the investigation into Greene's slaying -- to resubmit his request for the text messages and for the City of Detroit to produce them. Read the full article here.
Kilpatrick, Beatty to answer newspapers' questions in FOIA lawsuit
August 22, 2008: A lawyer for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick agreed today to allow the mayor to be deposed in a newspaper Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking documents in last years $8.4 million settlement of a police whistle-blower lawsuit.
The decision to produce the mayor was made in a hallway at Wayne County Circuit Court after weeks of conversations between lawyers to settle on a date of the deposition. Read the full article here.
How much? Confusion over DPS deficit, lay-offs, cuts
August 16, 2008: The Detroit Board of Education finance committee unanimously recommended the removal of the district's Chief Financial Officer, Joan McCray, as board treasurer at its meeting Aug. 7, saying she has not provided them with requested financial information.
Their vote, to be taken up at the full board meeting Aug. 14, raises questions about the necessity of at least 2,000 lay-offs, more school closures, elimination of school bus service for high school students, and other cutbacks the board approved June 30 under alleged threat of immediate shutdown or state takeover. Read the full article here.
Free Press files motion to force Kilpatrick to testify in FOIA suit
August 15, 2008: A lawyer for the Detroit Free Press today filed a motion asking that a judge force Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to give a deposition in the newspaper’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit sometime before Sept. 1.
Attorney Herschel Fink says in the motion that the mayor has evaded requests to give a deposition. Read the full article here.
Pols lay siege to FOIA, transparency
August 1, 2008: Michigan was a national leader in transparency when the Legislature enacted the Freedom of Information Act in 1976. Now, it seems, honoring and renewing that heritage will require voters to go the ballot petition route to move FOIA into the Michigan Constitution and make explicit its application to every branch, every office of state government. Read the full editorial here.
Greenville is being sued over water well
July 24, 2008: It's a case of he said, they said.
Wayne and Gloria Kelpien of Oakfield Township have filed a lawsuit against the city of Greenville, alleging that a city test water well is located on property they own at 6251 S. Fitzner Road and the city is therefore trespassing.
City Manager George Bosanic disagrees. Read the full article here.
Former official alleges 'miniature coups'
July 21, 2008: A former city planning commissioner launched a massive public records request to probe what he alleged were "miniature coups" by newly elected commissioners against members of city boards and commissions.
David Hoekje was not reappointed to the planning commission in January, a move he contends was orchestrated by city commissioners who were elected last November on the heels of outcry over a contentious public parking deck project. Read the full article here.
From the Daily: FOIA failing
July 21, 2008: Watchdogs and the oversight they provide are pillars of a successful society. But those dogs got a swift kick in the hindquarters last week when the Michigan Supreme Court delivered two pivotal decisions regarding the 1976 Freedom of Information Act, effectively broadening the definition of what may be withheld from those seeking information. This blow further leaches power from the already-diminished act, which is well-intended in its conception but, pragmatically, impotent. Read the full editorial here.
Reporters don't have to name texts source
July 17, 2008: A Wayne County judge today blocked an effort by lawyers for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty to find out who leaked scandalous text messages to the Free Press that resulted in perjury charges against the pair and an effort to remove the mayor from office.
“Everyone would like to know how the Free Press got the text messages, but it’s not relevant to this case,” Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. said this morning. Read the full article here.
Michigan Supreme Court rules in pair of FOIA cases
July 16, 2008: The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in two Freedom of Information Act disputes affecting state universities and when personal information can become public.
In one case, the court unanimously expanded what is exempt from public disclosure by redefining information "of a personal nature." Read the full article here.
State Supreme Court rules that home addresses, phone numbers for University of Michigan employees are private
July 16, 2008: The home phone numbers and addresses of University of Michigan employees are not public information, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled in a decision released Wednesday.
The court overturned the 2007 decision of an appeals court, which said the information was public barring "truly exceptional circumstances." Read the full story here.
VICTORY! Groups win DPS community audit
July 13, 2008: Groups demanding a community audit of the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) won a victory June 9 when Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Baxter ordered that DPS turn over complete financial documentation for the 2006 fiscal year to CPA Greg Frazier. Read the full article here.
Judge dismisses FOIA lawsuit in DHS case
July 4, 2008: A judge dismissed a local man's lawsuit over access to documents surrounding the termination of a Benzie County-based state Department of Human Services employee.
Beulah resident Eric VanDussen filed a state Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the state in January after DHS denied parts of his request for documents detailing the department's investigation of former employee Elaine Saffron, who was fired in February. Read the full story here.
County Refuses To Talk About Sexual Harassment Case
June 17, 2008: Earlier this year, 2 On Your Side reporter Scott Brown filed a Freedom Of Information request with the county, trying to find out just how much taxpayers paid to settle the suit, but the county refused our request.
We then went asked the control board, which has to approve any county spending over $50,000.
"The first we heard about this was when Channel 2 asked for the information under the Freedom Of Information act," said control board Chairman Anthony Baynes. Read the full story here.
