A Goodrich school official and the Secretary of State have ended up in court.
Michelle Imbrunone, superintendent of Goodrich School District, was one of the 18 plaintiffs named in the lawsuit filed on Jan. 26 in the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Michigan charging that a ‘gag order? provision in Public Act 269 is unconstitutional and asking that the law be rejected. The lawsuit, Robert Taylor v Ruth Johnson filed before Judge John Corbett O’Meara, seeks immediate injunctive relief.
The concerns with Public Act 269 began in December when Senate Bill 571 was passed by the Senate 25-12 and the House 58-48. On Jan. 6, Gov. Rick Snyder signed the Senate Bill 571 into law creating Public Act 269. Subsection 57(3) which amended Michigan’s Campaign Finance Act, prohibits elected and appointed public and school officials from providing factual information to voters about local ballot measures within 60 days of an election. State law already prohibits governmental officials from using tax dollars to advocate for or against a proposal.
The defendant in the case is Groveland Township resident and Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson.
‘The Michigan Department of State was neutral on the bill when it was moving through the legislature,? said Gisgie D’vila Gendreau, spokesperson for Johnson. ‘We cannot comment further on pending litigation.?
Imbrunone also could not comment on the lawsuit; however, Scott Eldridge, senior principal attorney at Miller, Canfield who filed the case, did respond to The Citizen on Wednesday.
‘We represent all the plaintiffs in this case,? said Eldridge. ‘If they want to repeal the law right now’that would achieve the same end that we are seeking. We are focused on the offensive language in Subsection 57(3) that’s a clear violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment and due process clause. It’s an unprecedented gag order against public officials and citizens for prohibiting them from engaging in the free exchange of objectively neutral information about matters of public concern. The concern (by lawmakers) is the law was not being forceful enough. The solution is to enforce the existing law, not to prohibit content neutral speech all together. The language (in 57(3)) is too broad.?
The Michigan Municipal League, which represents the largest collective voice for municipalities in the State of Michigan the Michigan Department of State found in a three-year period only five valid complaints where local entities violated the state law forbidding them from advocating for a ballot issue.
‘This gag order is a heavy-handed solution to a problem that barely exists,? said Michigan Municipal League President Jack O’Reilly, mayor of Dearborn. ‘With so many communities essentially locked out of telling voters about issues on the March 8 ballot because of this bad law, we no longer could wait on a legislative fix.?
The MML recognized that more than 100 school districts and local governments will have issues on the upcoming March 8 ballot and the new law may already have an adverse impact on the election since the date is less than 60 days away.
The Goodrich School District has a proposal on the March 8 ballot to allow the school district to continue to levy the statutory rate not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance.
The vote is a millage renewal and not new taxes.