CARRE Has Legal Standing; Mason County Does Not

[XLFD]

"All officers, legislative, executive and judicial, before entering upon the duties of their respective offices, shall take and subscribe the following oath:..."

 

Thus begins Article Sixteen of the Michigan State Constitution.  All means all, shall means must.  Michigan citizens have no such oath to ask to, but when several gather together to prevent their life, liberty, rights, or pursuits of happiness from being stolen or circumvented, they should have the right to organize and have their positions judged in a court of law by an impartial arbiter.

 

"I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States..."

 

The local group of concerned Mason County residents named Citizen's Alliance for Responsible Renewable Energy (CARRE) went through a frustrating process of defending their, and their neighbors', lands against the incursion of 500 ft. tall wind turbines and what they perceived as safety, health, quality of life, and a host of other issues that arise near these colossal structures.

 

"... and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of ......"

 

They presented their case in front of the County's Planning Commission (PC) and failed to make a dent.  They later brought their case to the County's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) with as much success.  Some of these people on those boards were their neighbors.  They took their case to the 51st Circuit Court, and were thwarted/stalled by County and Consumers' Power attorneys claiming that CARRE had no legal standing to sue.  A minor victory for CARRE occurred when Judge Cooper found they had such legal standing, and that next hearing will occur on Wednesday.

 

"... according to the best of my ability."

 

But let's take a look at the legal standing of the previous arbiters of the County's zoning laws, the County's PC and ZBA.  Our offices received this FOIA response back from the County Administrator Fabian Knizacki:

"Oaths of office are not required for the members of the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals..."  Fabian, this is as wrong as saying that the County Administrator is not required to have an Oath of Office.  We are a nation and a state of laws, and just because you are the chief executive of the County, like Mr. Knizacki, or the chief executive of a city, like John Shay-- you need to take and file an oath of office, or vacate that office.  The same is true of all the PC and ZBA members.

 

Here is the E-mail I sent back to the office of the County Administrator:

 

Mr. Knizacky

 

One of the reporters from my local newsblog, The Ludington Torch, recently made a couple of FOIA requests from the County and you replied.  In these two responses, you indicated that both you, the County Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals were not legally required to have an Oath of Office on file.  The second is forwarded herein.

 

That statement is incorrect.  MCL 15.151 (included here:  http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(htn5trycxcgnes45xdphpi45))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=mcl-15-151) states that "All persons now employed, or who may be employed by the state of Michigan or any governmental agency thereof, and all other persons in the service of the state or any governmental agency, shall, as a condition of their employment, take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation required of members of the legislature and other public officers by section 2 of article 16 of the constitution of 1908 of the state of Michigan."

 

If this isn't clear enough, MI AGO 7236 states succinctly "It is clear that a member of a local planning commission is an officer subject to this requirement, and that taking the oath of office is a condition precedent to entering upon the duties of planning commission member."  Also see Meiland v Wayne Probate Judge, 359 Mich 78, 87; 101 NW2d 336 (1960).

 

I have no beef with you or either the commission or the board, but in the interest of the public good, please have the County Officials with no Oath of Office on file step down and have the County Commissioners select new ones who will swear duty to the state and federal laws.  Also have the various actions performed by the Planning Commissions, the Zoning Board of Appeals, yourself, and any other County Agency in violation of state law reviewed and re-addressed by the new members in open meetings.  Thank you, and please reply, or have your legitimate successor reply with your proposed actions within two weeks.  Thank you.

 

Tom Rotta

The Ludington Torch

 

 

No other oath, affirmation, or any religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust.

 

I hope that CARRE's attorneys on Wednesday can make the case that Mason County's seated Planning Commission and ZBA members have illegitimately created zoning law that does serve the interest of the people of this county and hat they serve contrary to the laws stated in the Michigan Constitution.

[Willy]

My hat's off to you X for another excellent job of gathering and laying out the facts. Something the LDN has forgotten to do.

[XLFD]

If there was an Oath for journalists to defend free speech, freedom of the press, etc., LDN would be in gross violation of it.  Instead the LDN is likely peopled by those who never studied journalism in school and at the universities, learning it from the LDN's current editorial staff.  Heaven help them.

[Marty Redman]

You got some big balls, X, and one of them is in Fabian's court now.  The other is lingering on Shay's nightstand I wager. 

 

Flawless argument.  Those that have not sworn to the oath within the proper time should step down.  Those that have done an oath should be moving to remove these people from office or be violating their own oath of office.  Does the prosecutor and Judge Cooper have an oath on file?

[XLFD]

The prosecutor and Judge Cooper are good politicians that have sworn their oath.  They definitely should be moving to replace the bad politicians who haven't.  That goes for the City Council of Ludington who have let City Manager John Shay practice without license for nine years. 

[Sweater Cows!]

I think you were a bit harsh on Knizacky in you reply letter, the guy may not have a clue about any of what your talking about and you could have "kindly informed him" of the rules, the guy sent you back a kind sincere denial with real sentences explaining why the foia was not available.  A little honey once in a while with new people you come in contact with within the county(state/city/ whatever) may bring you a lasting complementary relationship instead of your what appears to be a bit adversarial right off the bat. sometimes I think you need a female or effeminate male to proofread as you are a bit stodgy indigestible sometimes. The art of getting others to care about your causes when they have there own is more likely to be accomplished with more kindness. ( I am believing this is your first contact with him/his dept.?)

[XLFD]

This was my first direct contact with Mr. Knizacky; Toni has been the 'good cop' in this relationship, I readily admit.  I think I would have been a little more "honeyed" with Fabian if his replies to Toni's FOIAs  had been less insistent on his not needing an Oath of Office for himself, and for the two boards not needing oaths.  This is not the case, and someone who has the job and extensive duties of a "County Administrator" deserves to be dressed down and held accountable if they do not enforce and comply with state laws.  Particularly, since in my view, he has already vacated his office back in 1994 when he assumed his powers and duties without an Oath.

Fabian had also asked for a FOIA fee of around $7 for providing scans of 10 Oaths of Office of County officers, without declaring what the fee was for.  Under inquiry, she found out that he had charged $3 plus change for the cost for the search and about the same for the labor to scan the documents.  Those charges would not even be requested by John Shay, and are not allowable by the Act, as any competent administrator could tell you.  Sorry, Fabes.  Pardon the harshness.

[Sweater Cows!]

okay, I was thinking that was a first contact in total.

[Willy]

Shouldn't the County Adm. know the laws he is supposed to work with in his daily pursuit of serving the public? Isn't it reasonable to expect him to check with legal council to see if an oath is required and if he didn't then why didn't he. He should have stated that in his reply to X. I think X,s response to Mr. Knizacky was more than appropriate. There comes a time when dealing with these types of people that you just shrug your shoulders and roll your eyes in wonderment because of their lack of knowledge and lack of concern for  important questions put to them. The fact that noone in local government follows up on issues raised about corruption and wrong doing or the legality of theirs and other officials actions should be of of real concern to all citizens. Is there something in Mason County water that causes local officials to act like John Shay groupies. From X's banishment to 500 ft. windmills, these Mason County and Ludington  government officials have really dropped the ball and it has fallen on all of our heads.

[Heaven Therzke]

technocalities.  these people recieve money from the county to do there job.  there loyalty is to the county and its agencies.  the county is part of the state and USA so an oath to those entitties would be redundent.

[XLFD]

Counties and cities get their powers from the states they are in.  They can lose those powers just as easily, as the Emergency Financial Managers our governors have installed to operate mismanaged cities.  The states have a very valid reason for making sure the officials of smaller units of government has allegiance to the state that grants them their powers.  The Prosecuting Attorney of a county and the City Attorney of a city have duties to make sure all officials take their mandated oath and to enforce the consequences of not taking it. 

Also any elected candidate has an understood loyalty to the people whose consent is what their power is derived from. 

[AQUAMAN]

I think these oaths of office are a legal, binding, and mandatory part of being part of any government agency or board. And the law also states so legally. So, why the repeated attempts to deny this is true, and deny it's legitimacy? I think it's plain old fashioned vanity and aloof attitudes of superiority that is in the way. That in itself is more and more evident and of concern as we look into these particulars and find there is strange and unworthy excuses being given for such conduct, and that we as people concerned are just to ignore it and go away because we are just the peons, not the folk in charge. If I were in the administrator's job, I would have welcomed the oversight, and advised I was taking this to the boards for review and immediate action to see that the oaths were taken asap. Or is that too much to ask of an appointed/elected official?

[XLFD]

Oaths of office to a politician are like licenses to a common person.  Sure you can drive without that thin sheet of plastic, and you might have the know-how to install a sidewalk without some pieces of paper from the state for your company saying that you are qualified, and you may have took eight years to get a degree from a prestigious medical school. 

But if you try to drive, install that sidewalk, or do medical procedures without that licensing by the state, you risk losing those privileges.  The reason behind this is that you need to show your competency in that field, so as to protect the rest of the public. 

The oath of office is a state mandated pre-requisite for assuming any political office in Michigan; it states you are to show allegiance to the laws of this state and country, so as to protect the rest of the public and show responsibility as to spending their money.