The City of the Village of Clarkston has posted a sample ballot for the upcoming November 5, 2019 election that I’ve linked here:
There are four people running for four openings on city council, a millage renewal for Oakland County Community College, and four proposed amendments to the Clarkston city charter. That’s it.
It doesn’t matter how you vote for city council – whether you like them or not, they are all going to win. The millage issue is just a renewal. The Charter amendments seem harmless and after all, they were recommended by some sort of a committee. It all seems kind of boring and not worth the effort to vote.
The temptation is going to be to sit this one out. It’s cold, you’re busy, and it seems like a pain to cast a ballot regarding things that don’t seem to be that big of a deal.
Don’t be fooled. Charter Proposal #1 is a big deal.
As noted in the October 16, 2019 edition of The Clarkston News (“4 Charter Changes Up For Vote, November 5”), the Clarkston Charter Committee is encouraging you to eliminate “resign to run” from the charter because the usual rationale – to avoid the potential to misuse legislative office resources or to neglect office duties while campaigning – is not applicable to us.
I actually agree with the Charter Committee on that point – but that’s not why they are asking you to eliminate the requirement.
As I explained in a letter that I sent to many in the city and that was published in the Clarkston News (posted below), without resign to run, our city officials can manipulate the timing of their resignations to increase the chances that they will run unopposed as well as to give them the opportunity to pick their own successor. Not only that, because the city council chooses committee and commission members, it will help them to continue the Clarkston “friends and family” system of government that has reduced the quality of life for many of us.
This is not a conspiracy theory – our current Mayor Haven ran a secret campaign that almost resulted in his sliding into the mayor’s office as an unopposed candidate, with his choice of successor for his council seat – David Marsh – running as an unopposed candidate as well. I explained exactly what they did and what happened in detail in my post titled “November 2018 Election.”
They want you to green light those in the know to allow them to game the system and have a hand in selecting their replacements. You will have not have a vote. And, since the hand-picked replacements will serve for only one year, you will not even be able to recall them from office.
Fellow voters, the Clarkston anti-transparency crowd would love for you to stay home.
Please don’t stay home.
Vote no on #1.