Committee for a Wronger Ludington: A Rocky Road Ahead

[XLFD]

Tomorrow the citizens of Ludington will choose whether they wish to allow the Mayor of this city to serve for up to twenty years rather than the twelve years that current charter provisions allow.  It seems like a rather inocuous vote.  After all, the mayor's position in Ludington is pretty much a ceremonial role, capable of making appointments and serving as a figurehead of the city, so why is it such a big deal to vote for or against this proposal?

The Committee for a Stronger Ludington sent 20 people out into the community to get at least 300 signatures to bring this to a vote, and had a fair number of signatures rejected for many reasons, just squeaking out enough to get on the ballot.  They then remained quiet until October when they came out with a Facebook site, yard signs, three color mailers mailed to several thousand Ludington voters homes, half page advertisements in the Ludington paper, and a big billboard in the downtown.  The opposition to this proposal has been effectively restricted to a fair and balanced review of the issue by WMOM radio featuring three people for each side advocating their points, and internet noise primarily generating from this site.

One of the latest pushes by the Committee has been to offer free ice cream cones from the House of Flavors to anybody in the city who consents to put a "Vote Yes" sign on their lawn, as shown here (gotten off their Facebook site at noon today):

Barry Neal, son of Bob Neal, who runs the House of Flavors was an early vocal pusher of this proposal, and many say that the Henderson and Neal friendship was a major factor in what led to a $250,000 settlement against the City back in 2008.  Both serve on the Ludington DDA.

Now, most know that bribing someone to vote a certain way is a crime, but is giving away free ice cream to those who will put your campaign sign on their lawn illegal?  The legality of it is a good question, State Election Law, MCL 168.931  says: "A person shall not, either directly or indirectly, give, lend, or promise valuable consideration, to or for any person, as an inducement to influence the manner of voting by a person relative to a candidate or ballot question, or as a reward for refraining from voting."  But former City Councilor David Buskirk  (2000-2003)  thought it was at least unethical when he posted on the site:

Fortunately, the Committee assured him that it wasn't bribery, just a "thank you".  The Committee's line of thinking should remind you of what passes for "business as usual" down at the City Hall.  But you need to replace the "Free ice cream cones", with tax breaks, grants and DDA money that is greedily consumed by those who meet the approval of the Ludington City Hall.  But these aren't truly free-- they come at the expense of the taxpayers, and to the detriment of the public services this public money should go towards.

Then below that, Rik Whitaker, who commented twelve days ago on Facebook, asks the Committee to show him any project that our current mayor requires another term to finish.  The Committee has posted often since then, but remains quiet to his question.  The Committee does not like questions that an ice cream cone cannot answer.  ludington City Hall's answer to Kool-Aid.