The Detroit News. November 23, 2017
What’s Macomb to do with clerk?
This spring, we shared our concerns regarding Macomb County clerk Karen Spranger’s performance - or lack thereof. At that time, we said she must improve. Months later, there are no signs that’s happened and only mounting proof of her incompetence.
But the challenge remains: What to do about it? For good reason, it’s tough to overturn the choice of the people. Removing an elected official is hard, and there aren’t many options for doing so. Other county officials, however, are certainly looking into what possibilities are available.
Spranger was elected last November, a Republican carried in on the wave that put President Donald Trump in office. She was unqualified for the role, and now the citizens of Macomb are dealing with the consequences.
“There’s a very real possibility we may be operating without a functioning clerk for the next three years,” says county Commissioner Leon Drolet, also a Republican. “It’s become beyond dysfunctional.”
The clerk’s office is a department most people don’t spend much time thinking about. That’s because when the office is run well, it doesn’t draw attention to itself.
Now, residents are annoyed about the lack of service and Spranger’s many screw-ups. Recently, the Macomb County Circuit Court’s head judge sent Spranger a letter demanding she reduce a sizable backlog of court filings.
“This backlog is problematic for our judges that rely on these bundles being processed timely,” Judge James Biernat wrote.
The judge also pointed to months-old backlogs in processing criminal history reports, among other shortfalls.
Part of the problem is Spranger’s office is currently short-staffed - largely because her poor leadership is driving away qualified employees.
Some of the positions have been vacant for months. Three months after taking office, she fired her deputy clerk and another employee (they had complained about Spranger’s performance) and was consequently sued. And in addition to violating ethics provisions, she’s become embroiled in several other legal battles with county employees and officials, including county Executive Mark Hackel.
Spranger is good at creating chaos, but not so good at doing her job.
Yet to remove her would be difficult. A citizen-led recall is hard to pull off and expensive. Another option would be for the governor, working in conjunction with the attorney general, to remove her. But that’s even more rare and requires clear proof of misconduct or willful neglect of duty.
Drolet says other options would include appealing to the Legislature to write legislation targeted specifically to this case, while building in safeguards to protect the democratic process.
He also says commissioners are looking to an old, largely unknown state law that allows elected officials to demand administrators, including clerks, offer a report under oath when requested. If Spranger does not comply, she could potentially be removed.
If nothing else, this situation is a good reminder to choose elected officials carefully.
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Lansing State Journal. November 19, 2017
Vandalism and violence detract from the point
It’s unclear what precipitated the vandalism of 600 white crosses on the lawn of Faith Bible Church in Delta Township this week.
The sign next to the crosses, reading “Pray to end abortion,” could be a clue.
Yet regardless of who and why, vandalism is never an appropriate response. In fact, it shifts the conversation away from the issue and puts it squarely on the bad behavior.
Too much of that has been happening lately.
Today’s political landscape - and the deep partisan divides on immigration, health care, taxes, gun control and myriad other issues - has led to increased frustration.
The frustration is understandable and allowable. Expressing that frustration in a destructive way undermines any point trying to be made.
All opinions on divisive topics such as abortion have a right to be heard - without threat of vandalism, or worse yet, violence.
A lack of respect for the right to express divergent views is stunting public discourse. And it’s that discourse that leads to improvements and solutions to problems in our society.
Faith Bible Church and its members are entitled to their beliefs and their method in sharing them. Each of the 600 stark-white crosses displayed on private property represents 44 abortions performed in Michigan in 2016. That was a powerful image.
So was the image of the toppled crosses in the church yard. The vandalism showed a lack of respect for this church and its members. And showed an incredible lack of understanding about the tenets of free speech.
Whether or not you agree with the “pray to end abortion” message at Faith Bible Church, we should be able to agree on people’s rights to express their views.
Without fear of vandalism or violence.
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Times Herald (Port Huron). November 25, 2017
St. Clair River is booming again
Times Herald headlines in the early 1990s were full of fish covered with strange tumors, wild mammals that could not reproduce, and water birds that could not eat because they were born with deformed bills. All their maladies were traced back to the environment - and to the damage we had one to it. From PCBs and perchlorethylene to organochlorines and methyl mercury, we had dumped it into the environment.
It ended up in the St. Clair River, where it poisoned the water and the fish. The water and the fish poisoned the animals and the birds. To avoid poisoning ourselves, we issued warnings against eating the fish - as if anyone needed to be told that eating a walleye covered in lesions or a deformed perch was a bad idea.
We didn’t have to warn anyone against eating the waterfowl. They just went away. Fish-eating birds like the cormorant all but disappeared from the area. Birds of prey such as eagles, finally recovering from the DDT excesses of the 1970s, were in trouble again.
But even we can learn.
That was also the era when the St. Clair River was designated one of the areas of concern - as in one of the most dangerously polluted - on the Great Lakes. We and our neighbors resolved to stop dumping our industrial and agricultural chemicals and our household wastes into the St. Clair River. We haven’t actually stopped, but we are a long way from 1990.
When the St. Clair River was designated an area of concern, there was a long list of reasons nobody would want anything to do with it. The water, ironically, wasn’t suitable for industrial or agricultural use because of all the industrial and agricultural chemicals. The river bottom was poison not only to things that lived there, but the dredge spoil was toxic waste.
Most of the impairments of the river’s traditional benefits have been eliminated. Among them is the harm it was doing to wildlife. The birds are back. One species, a winter visitor, natural Tom Dennis writes about on Page 1D today.
Others have attracted waterfowl hunters back to the river to pursue their fall traditions on the water. Some on shore have been concerned and surprised by the gunfire from lower Lake Huron and the St. Clair River. Waterfowlers are governed by both state and federal laws and are perhaps the most careful and conscientious hunters.
They are observing minimum safe distances to shoreline homes and are using shotguns loaded with nontoxic ammunition that won’t reach the banks. They are scrupulously careful about identifying targets and recovering the birds they kill. And waterfowl hunters, like most outdoors enthusiasts, hold the environment close to their souls.
Their shotgun pellets cannot reach riverside homes, though echoes of their gunshots do. It sounds like the recovered heartbeat of a recover waterway.
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The Mining Journal (Marquette). November 25, 2017
Hauswirth a wise choice as new NTN executive director
The people who run the Noquemanon Trail Network, by all accounts, parked one in the cheap seats recently in their hire of Lori Hauswirth as the organization’s new executive director. According to a written statement from the network, Hauswirth is a 20-year veteran trail advocacy and nonprofit work veteran who, most recently, served as the executive director of the Copper Harbor Trails Club and an associate region director with the International Mountain Bicycling Association.
Cary Gottlieb, who serves as NTN president, lauded the selection.
“We are very pleased to announce this appointment,” Gottlieb said. “Lori brings extensive experience to our growing organization that will enable us to better utilize our resources and increase our positive impact on the community.”
In addition to the wealth of job experience, Hauswirth holds a bachelor’s degree in land use planning and management from Northern Michigan University and has an extensive background in nonprofit management, organizational development, fundraising, and event promotion. “The NTN has developed a trail system that is world-class and an invaluable, year-round community resource,”Hauswirth said in the written statement. “I am very excited to be supporting the NTN and to work in partnership with the many people and organizations in Marquette that share a common goal of promoting a healthy, active community.”
This is a solid selection that makes sense from an experience and education standpoint. We look forward to Hauswirth taking charge of the NTN.
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