Wreck Les Speaking

[XLFD]

At the beginning of last night's meeting, I was sought after by several officials, before and during the proceedings. 

At first, I was called over by City Clerk Deb Luskin, who informed me that the Code Enforcement Officer Virginia Ruiz wanted to remind me that some of my signs were in the right-of-way.  So today, I sent Ms. Ruiz correspondence showing that temporary signs are allowable in the R-O-W under the City's zoning law, that the strip of land between the sidewalk and the street is not the City's property but the owner's (check your property descriptions) and if they remove any signs they will face legal challenges for violating the property owner's and my First and Fourth Amendment rights.

I then sat down, and was greeted by Councilor Kathy Winczewski (aka Katie Moonbeam) who thanked me for running for office and handed me the following meme in Ludington Oriole colors, a black background with orange lettering, saying it was worthy of my paying attention to.  I read it, agreed with its overall sentiment, but knew it was Moonbeam's passive-aggressive way of trying to get me to mellow my messages about our city official's unethical behavior.  So today, I have decided to share it with you, because its message became very relevant a little over an hour later.

There was a lot of things of interest in this meeting that illustrates what is wrong with our current political landscape, but that's for another article dealing with the recap of the meeting.  During the next hour and fifteen minutes, let's just say that I spoke and criticized the city's actions as regards three ways of handling public policy, and the city council went through the agenda without any surprises. 

Or you could look at the video of the meeting and judge for yourself, since I will only be covering the very last communication made by someone who doesn't say a lot: my opponent for the Third Ward seat, incumbent Les Johnson. Les didn't comment on anything I brought in front of the council this evening, nor anything I brought up before, in fact it was not anything dealing with public policy.

August 22nd, 2016 Ludington City Council meeting from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

Reading the transcript of the message and viewing the recording, this comment by Les Johnson had little more than opinion and erroneous observations, and was more of a political statement than anything else.  Check it out at the 1:16:15 mark in the video. 

"I'd just like to bring up one last thing. The City recently won a minor lawsuit. Through June 30th of this year, this lawsuit has cost the City over $4000... and even though the City wins some of these lawsuits, that I call frivolous, we still lose, because the taxpayers are paying this money, and, I mean even, if we do win the lawsuits, the taxpayers are still paying the money, so the City is losing.

And Mr. Rotta seems to really enjoy suing the City, whether he wins or loses, he doesn't have to pay a cent.

So, I guess, I know there's nothing we can do about this, and Mr. Rotta is constantly complaining and accusing all of us up here of being corrupt and crooked I guess, as he says it. But if he defeats me in running for this seat, if or when he defeats me, he should feel right at home up here if, if he considers us all crooks and corrupt. I think he'll fit in very well. I just wanted to bring that up."

His full statement, minus the ums and ers, here are the problems in the order they appear:

1)  The City has not 'won a minor' lawsuit.  The lawsuit he probably refers to is the FOIA lawsuit 16-91-CZ which I have received an adverse opinion just recently.  I still have ten days to file a motion to the court to alter the decision, which I will do because it is fairly evident to me that a clerical error seems to have occurred.  More on this later, but I will win, it just depends on how far it needs to be taken.

2)  The City's municipal insurance has provided the legal team to defend this lawsuit, thus the City has not cost the city any legal fees up to this point as it has been paid by insurance.  Nobody other than City Attorney Richard Wilson described the process in an April 2013 meeting:  "...the first $100,000 of liability (from a civil lawsuit) comes right out of the City's premiums that are paid to the insurance company."  Any amount of money used to defend the city is being covered by insurance, a fact they always point out when they lose a good amount of cash.  So today, I sent a FOIA request to the city asking them to send records justifying the costs that Les mentions, because it would seem corrupt if they are spending $4000 for doing nothing.

3)  A FOIA lawsuit is not frivolous, tell Judicial Watch and Hilary Clinton that.  For one to go forth,  a public body must refuse to give away documents.  For someone to win one, they must be able to show they were withheld unlawfully, which can be difficult when you are unclear about what you are being denied.  I have initiated lawsuits as a last resort with this and  with the previous two FOIA lawsuits I had with the City, I am confident when the dust clears that I will get the records withheld unlawfully here.  In the two previous cases, Les had rubber stamped the denial and lost in the end, that will come true here as well.

4)  I would not be in my right mind if I enjoyed filing lawsuits, that's why I have always tried to avoid it.  I have had problems with the City since 2008, my first lawsuits came about in late 2011, after the City had started attacking me without any regard to ethics.  They continue because Ludington city officials think they are above the law.

5)  His statement about me not 'paying a cent' for these lawsuits is naïve and ludicrous.  Every filing of a lawsuit costs $150 or more, every filing of a motion costs at least $20, I have retained two attorneys who want a couple of thousand up front in retainer-- thankfully, I won enough in both cases to cover their costs.  Researching and publishing my legal output takes many hours of work, and plenty of expenses making copies and mailing/serving them in accordance with law. 

A special note needs to be said about his last statement.  I think his overall intent was to claim that I was crooked and corrupt and would somehow fit in with my perceptions of his fellow city officials, but when he ends with "I think he'll fit in very well.", is he not admitting that his fellow officials are crooked and corrupt?  If so, that's something we can definitely agree on. 

What I cannot agree on is why he would consider me crooked and corrupt as a citizen who comes before him twice a month 'complaining and accusing'?  Have I, like him, served on the Board of Review while sitting on two other city boards, which is expressly forbidden by city law?  Have I sold wine and liquor from my liquor store repeatedly to the Downtown Ludington Board (DLB, of where I was member and secretary) for events he voted on, making a tidy profit?  And never noted the conflict in the minutes, as required by law? 

Have I overlooked the glaring conflicts of interest by other DLB/DDA members who did the same, like his fellow Councilor Nick Tykoski, and a host of other corrupt and crooked charges that I and others have brought forth while he was councilor that had merit even without an accompanying lawsuit.  Never did he enter into the DDA minutes that they had conflicts of interest like Les often had.

If Les Johnson cowardly wishes to close a city council meeting with a statement short on facts and long on groundless charges against my character, then it's a great display of why he needs to be replaced.  And why Councilor Katie Moonbeam needs to give him and his fellow snickering buddies at the city council meetings the meme she gave me; not that it would help. 

[Willy]

This is unbelievable. Talk about not knowing what is going on. This demonstrates that nobody on the Council is paying attention to what is taking place right under their noses even when X shows them all the facts and logically explains those facts. These people need to be tested because they are either in the grips of a contagious brain disease or there is nothing in their skulls for a disease to affect.  What a couple of idiots. Moonbeam's insulting card to you shows just how ignorant and foolish she is. It's to bad you didn't have a card to express how you feel. As far as air head Les is concerned, what could possibly describe such an idiot. Ludington citizens have the unlucky privilage of being represented by some of the most feeble minded boneheads the City has to offer. Ignorant can't describe them. There must be some word that fits. Let's post the most appropriate name that should be bestowed on City Councilors.

Below is a nice card for Moonbeam.

[XLFD]

The city council seems so far removed from the citizens; it's terrible for me to have to witness at each meeting their tortured reasoning for doing what they have been doing-- if they deign to use any reasoning at all.  Their lack of flexibility means that they don't have their heads up their own anal orifices, but three guesses as to whose rectum their heads fit snuggly in.

[Willy]

What it's like when X addresses the City Council

[Brad]

Nice job X... you really have me irritated!!

I really wish the citizens in Ludington and especially the 3rd Ward would get to truly understand what you provide and what their councilors are doing.  They are acting like any other politician.  Committing the atrocities and ignoring the consequences.

...CROOKED COUNCIL!

PS- Looking forward to report on CC meeting.  Wondering who bought city's Dowland property at a discount...?  Jacobsen? Scott? Sanders? Tykowski? Neal? Lester? Etc?

[XLFD]

Thanks, irritation and disbelief is what I was hoping to convey through this article (the full meeting conveys it even more), because not very many in my corner go to these meetings regularly and see the behavior of the council. 

The person okayed in the 426 Dowland sale was an outsider I believe, few insiders would attach much value to the property if they seen the 2007 report containing all the soil contamination of the two lots.

[AQUAMAN]

Also dittos to a nice job X, and your points of law and ethics are still on point here again. Willy and Brad also make some great posts, dittos to them too. You know, there is so much more corruption and conflicts of interest in this video that stands, well, almost unrivaled to the last few years. Well, I could make all the regular observations, but here's a few: Shay gave X a very dirty look at the beginning of the CC Mtg., another sneer and narcissist attitude. Then there was the obvious approval of selling a $125K property, for $60K, with payments to be half now, and half later. How much later? I didn't see that time period, did anyone else? Then we have Bob Budreau, is he an appraiser of property values now, not just an agent? Didn't see that either. Wth is the new business at that property, never heard that either? Then, we have a new waterpark/splash pad proposal, Copeyan Park, that CC Krauch just heard of 3 years ago, and with NO definitive answers there either, as to how they plan to achieve $215K worth of funding, where? Plus the COL can pick up the extra $15K of expenses? When they claim routinely and repeatedly to be broke? Then finally, the Lesley Johnson remarks, on duty, as a City Council officer, making political remarks on the record, during a regular scheduled council mtg.? Is that even  legal, or ethical? He might take his remarks, with a big laughing exit, to be rude and arrogant, because these same remarks could be made in a debate forum, not his chosen forum! That would be what a true patriot and gentleman would do, not what he did. Shay escaped about 1/4 of the mtg., wth, does he have to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes? Then, I also witnessed no second of the motion that Kathy Moonbeam made of the rejection of the Hotel porch zoning board made previously. You need a second of that motion made by Moonbeam, to ask to a vote on that Kaye. I think and almost know most of Kaye's statements are made via a teleprompter type of written dialogue, that which she simply reads from the City Treasurer and Clerk that write it all up in ADVANCE for her!

[Willy]

Good points Aquaman, especially the legality of Les Johnson making a negative political speech about his opponent while sitting at a Council meeting. I would call it slander or libel. Shay  must slip these people some sort of potion because when they become councilors they act as if they are in a stupor and cannot function as normal, rational people.

[Brad]

I second that.  Nice Aquaman and Willy.

Council seems to .."drink the Kool-Aid"....

...And maybe they get the Kool-Aid from Cas'.

(my apologies to Kool-Aid, they've been abused a lot the last ...8 years)

[XLFD]

To be fair to John Shay, he was getting up from his seat repeatedly because the projector they used for their presentation about splash parks would need to be 'tonked' every ten or so minutes.  I have noticed that Councilor Nick gets up and goes towards the loo when the meetings go past the forty minute mark or so.  Either that or he's getting directions from his domineering other half.

As for Aquaman's and other's view on the appropriateness of Les Johnson's words, I would say this.  It is sort of unethical for a city councilor to make what could only be interpreted as a political campaign point even if he's using solid facts during a city council meeting.  A few years back, the City of Sterling Heights passed rules to cover that in their meetings including:

* Conduct nor allow campaign and fundraising activities on government premises, nor use government resources for these purposes

* Use public authority primarily to achieve personal political advantage or favorable press coverage

* Use a public meeting or other city function as an opportunity to introduce or otherwise advance the candidacy of a candidate for political office.

Other cities without such rules will have a mayor or mayor-pro-tem step in to make sure that their officials are not acting improperly.  In Ludington, an incumbent councilor can cast unfounded character aspersions and lies against his opponent while they're forced to sit and hear it in the peanut gallery.  Afterwards, the one in charge of the proceedings is beside herself with mirth over it, all that was missing was the applause.  It speaks volumes of what we have going on here in Ludington.

[AQUAMAN]

So, Shyster Shay is the new projector man? Good job for him, hope he can handle that chore. As for Les, was quite surprised and shocked he did this. He's usually a gentleman in conduct, but now, has also shown his true colors, sad, and disgusting. I like the man, went to school with him, he's being contaminated by his fellow councilmen now, not good.

[XLFD]

Shay is handling the projector until they can find an attorney willing to do it for only $125 an hour. 

Was this the first act of Les Miserables?  It reminded me of that point in the concluded Republican debates where "Little" Marco Rubio decided to confront Trump with insults and loaded rhetoric, but it looked forced, contrived and ran against his type.   The major difference between the two situations is that Rubio also stuck to public policy issues.