Don’t Waste Your County-Clerk Vote on Norlander — She’s Already Running for Secretary of State

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La Pietra Promises Undivided Loyalty to the Peopleand Full Attention to the Job, Full-Time, Full-TermGreen Party Candidate Also Posts Full Disclosureof Campaign Finances, Showing He’s Kept His$100-Maximum Promise and Taken No PAC Money;Office Website’s Posting of Incumbent’s Reports Leaves OutLast Year’s Climb from $852 to $29,266 Cash on Hand –3/4 of it Raised in One Night at High-Roller Auction     John Anthony La Pietra, candidate for Calhoun County Clerk-Register for the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI), has found two more reasons for the people of Calhoun County to vote for him over incumbent Anne Norlander:       [x] John has posted all his campaign finances on his campaign Website (http://www.jalpForThePeople.org), in a format that lets anyone see easily that he’s kept his promise to take no more than $100 from any donor — and that he’s taken nothing from PACs.  The reports posted for Norlander on the Clerk’s office Website don’t include the one that shows she raised almost $30,000 last year — 3/4 of it in one night last October at an auction of donated items including trips to Florida and South Africa.       [x] And John isn’t running for any other office, and won’t for a full four-year term if he’s elected.  Norlander, by contrast, kicked off an “exploratory” committee in February – and filed the paperwork in April — for another run for Secretary of State . . . after she officially started campaigning in January for a sixth term as Clerk-Register.     Norlander has run for higher offices while holding onto the Clerk’s job four times before:       [x] MSU Board of Trustees in 1995-1996;       [x] State Senate in 2001;       [x] Secretary of State in 2001-2002; and       [x] Congress in 2003.But on April 2, she sent the Bureau of Elections a Statement of Organization form saying she had kicked off the “Anne Norlander S.O.S. Exploratory Committee” on February 29.  This appears to be the first time she has filed papers to run for another office _in a re-election year_ . . . and _*after*_ she had already started campaigning for re-election.     Federal Election Commission records for Norlander’s Congressional campaign committee are on the FEC Website at       http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00385419Records for all four state-level campaigns can be found via the candidate-search page for the Bureau of Elections campaign-finance database:       http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/can_search.cgiThe three older campaign committees have been dissolved.  But the new Secretary of State committee is active.  And the records show Norlander has already spent at least $180 on the campaign:  she had to pay a late-filing fee because she did not turn in the basic form to register the committee within ten days after she formed it.     “It’s bad enough that someone running for the office that manages elections for the whole state messes up the basic duty of a candidate to file a timely report at the start of a campaign,” John notes.  “But what’s worse is the risk of divided time, attention, and loyalties posed when a sitting County Clerk runs for her or his party’s nomination for Secretary of State.     “Remember, party candidates for Secretary of State aren’t picked by people voting in primaries.  All parties on the ballot in Michigan — whether major or minor — nominate their Secretary of State candidates at conventions.  To win a major-party nomination to that office, a candidate needs to court the support of party bigwigs and fat cats.  And that means pressure to show loyalty to the party, and not necessarily to the people who elected them to run county elections on a non-partisan basis.”     John has already made non-partisanship a key issue in his campaign for the Clerk’s job.  And he promises to serve full-time for a full four-year term, and not to divide his loyalties — or his attention to doing the job — with a run for any other office.  That could also protect the power of the voters — since if Norlander won the Secretary of State nomination and quit as Clerk, under Section 209 of the state Election Code the vacancy would be filled by appointment by the judges of the Circuit Court.Information Displayed Tends to Promote Incumbent;Information Not Shown Seems to Protect Her——————————————     Norlander has already shown an ability, if not an intent, to benefit her party and herself — and occasionally the “big two” parties represented on the County Commission — in the information her office puts out.  Some examples:       [x] The “big picture” of Norlander which dominated the online property-records search-function home page when that feature was unveiled this spring.  John pointed out that the photo did nothing to help citizens use the service.  And, after he rebutted an “appalled” response, the big new photo was replaced by an older, smaller photo. But there’s still a photo of Norlander there — taking up public resources . . . and serving no public purpose.       [x] The office’s FOIA request form, which has Norlander’s name in big black-and-blue letters at the top.  There’s no reason for that, either — especially since the form says it’s for election-related information, and goes to Deputy Clerk for Elections Teri Loew, not to Norlander.  (And in a bit of campaign cross-over, the slogan on the form — “We Keep the Records of Your Life” — has been showing up recently in letters to the editor backing Norlander.)

[x] Flyers sent out to candidates (and local clerks and the
media) to share with their supporters:  reminders of the
voter-registration deadline and some facts about the absentee-voting
process.  The substantive content of these flyers was reasonable — but,
although they were properly sent from Loew’s e-mail account, Norlander’s
name got on them too.  So those who accepted the invitation to “forward
this message to your family, friends, neighbors, and associates” also
sent an almost-subliminal message:  “Anne Norlander, County
Clerk-Register”.

[x] The “Offsite Resources” page on the Election section of the
office’s Website.  This page of links manages to be both _partisan_
(linking to government offices and branches occupied by Norlander’s
Republican Party, but not to equivalent agencies held by other parties)
and _*bi*-partisan_ (connecting visitors to the state Democratic and
Republican Parties, but not to any of the other four parties on the
ballot in Michigan).  John has been asking for fair treatment for all
parties on this page for five months.
More recently, a page titled “Political Party Headquarters”
has been posted on the site.  Originally, it gave detailed contact
information for the Calhoun County Republican and Democratic Parties –
and nothing about any other party active in Michigan.  Now, thanks to
John’s push for equal treatment, the page has links to home pages of the
other four parties on the state ballot.  But _those_ links should be on
the “Offsite Resources” page.  And one minor party has provided all the
information for a “County Co-ordinator” that the page lists for the
major-party county headquarters.  But that information hasn’t been
posted yet.  It could be coincidence that this County Co-ordinator is
John; he held the post in the Green Party for years before he ever
became Norlander’s opponent.

John doesn’t presume these actions are intended to boost
Norlander’s re-election campaign.  But he does see a pattern.
“Sometimes the Clerk’s office puts out information that serves no public
purpose.  Sometimes information the office chooses _not_ to put out
_would_ benefit the people.  In either case, the effect often seems to
be to promote or protect the incumbent and her friends.”

Selective Posting of Campaign-Finance Reports:
Back to 2004 for Some Incumbents — But Not Even
Last Year for Others . . . Including Norlander
———————————————-
Another example of this phenomenon is the fact that the office is
starting to post some candidate campaign-finance reports on its Website.
If you want to know what incumbent County Commissioners running for
re-election raised and spent in previous elections, you can find scans
of their reports dating back to 2006 — for some, even to 2004 — as
well as for 2007-2008.

The same holds true for at least one countywide officer, too –
Drain Commissioner Blaine Van Sickle.  But if you look for Norlander’s
reports, all you’ll see on line is 2008.

Of course, there are hard-copy reports on file at the County
Building.  When John was first considering running for Clerk, he wanted
to know how much a campaign might cost.  So he looked up the reports for
the 2004 election.  Norlander’s Democratic challenger Ryan Hersha raised
$5,800 in cash (not counting in-kind contributions) — and spent it all.
Norlander raised and spent almost three times as much — and ended
2004 with a balance of $852.46 in her campaign account.

That’s under the state’s $1,000 reporting threshold — so Norlander
didn’t have to file even another annual report until she exceeded that
figure.  And there are no reports posted on line for her for 2005, 2006,
or 2007.  But her first report for 2008 — posted on line, and covering
from January 1 to July 20 — says she had $29,266.17 cash on hand to
start the year.

Where’s the report on how and where Norlander raised over $28,000?
Also in the office, in hard copy.  And it shows that she raised over
$23,000 of that all in one night — at a fundraising auction October 17,
2007.  The lists of items up for bids can still be seen on private,
unlinked pages of Norlander’s campaign Website — here (for the live
auction) and here (for the silent auction).

Some of the in-kind donations — a week at a condo in south
Florida, a photo safari in South Africa — were valued at the maximum
amount for a contribution to an office serving a population the size of
Calhoun County:  $1,000 per person per “election cycle”.  So some donors
maxed out for all four years on this night.  So did some bidders.  Many
others chipped in many hundreds.

Norlander’s Democratic Party opponent this year, Jonna Siano, has
at least one deep pocket in her corner too.  On Friday the 24th, Siano
reported receiving a $1,500 donation the day before, from UAW Michigan
V-PAC.

Both Norlander and Siano’s posted reports meet the state’s
requirement that candidates identify the occupation, employer, and
business address of anyone giving them more than $100 altogether.  But
John gave that level of detail for every contribution, cash or in-kind,
regardless of size — and for every expenditure the campaign made, too.
And it’s all visible, in the universal Adobe Acrobat PDF file format,
from this Webpage (and this one) on his Website — and in one big TIFF
file at the Clerk’s office Website.

John’s report also shows that he kept his promise not to accept any
contributions of over $100 from any donors — not even from his own
party.  And he has taken no money or in-kind contributions from
political action committees (PACs).  “The only PAC support I want,” he
says, “is from _P_olitically _A_ctive _C_itizens.

“I’ll take 100% of anyone’s legal vote — and I won’t take more
than $100 of anyone’s legal contribution.  That keeps my conscience
clear and my focus on the people.  Not just _our_ kind of people, not
just _our_ class, not just _our_ party . . . _*all*_ the people.”

* [=======] * [=======] * [=======] * [=======] * [=======] *

For more reasons to vote for John for Calhoun
County Clerk-Register, please feel free to e-mail

jalp@triton.net

or call

269-781-9478

For more information on the Green Party of Michigan and its other
candidates, including eight more that Calhoun County voters will see on
the November 4 ballot, contact

Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street   /   Ann Arbor, MI  48104
http://www.MIGreens.org info@MIGreens.org
734-663-3555

#    #    #

prepared and distributed (with donated labor) by
————————
John Anthony La Pietra
For the People
County Clerk-Register

386 Boyer Court  *  Marshall, MI  49068
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

*===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===*
*===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===* *===*

John Anthony La Pietra
For the People
County Clerk-Register
=====================
386 Boyer Court  *  Marshall, MI  49068
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
jalp@triton.net

For Immediate Release
———————
October 29, 2008 (original PR)
November 1, 2008 (list of links)

Don’t Waste Your County-Clerk Vote on Norlander –
She’s Already Running for Secretary of State Again!
===================================================
list of links

[x] posted all his campaign finances
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/PR081021.html

[x] http://www.jalpForThePeople.org
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/

[x] reports posted for Norlander on the Clerk’s office Website
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/cf.taf?_function=detail&RECORD_uid1=2401&
_UserReference=74D6437EEB7274C24909324D
[all one link]

[x] auction
http://www.AnneNorlander.com/auction.taf

[x] trips to Florida and South Africa
http://www.AnneNorlander.com/auction.taf?type=live

[x] “exploratory” committee
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/com_det.cgi?com_id=513840

[x] started campaigning in January
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/candlist.taf?_function=list&election_id=107

[x] MSU Board of Trustees
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/com_det.cgi?com_id=507699

[x] State Senate
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/com_det.cgi?com_id=510277

[x] Secretary of State
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/com_det.cgi?com_id=510366

[x] Congress
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00385419

[x] “Anne Norlander S.O.S. Exploratory Committee”
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/com_det.cgi?com_id=513840

[x] http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00385419
http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00385419

[x] http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/can_search.cgi
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/cfr/can_search.cgi

[x] had to pay a late-filing fee
http://miboecfr.nictusa.com/cfr/dumpimages/2969841.pdf

[x] Section 209 of the state Election Code
http://www.legislature.mi.gov/mileg.aspx?page=getobject&
objectname=mcl-168-209&query=on&highlight=vacancy
[all one link]

[x] “big picture” of Norlander which dominated
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/080428_roses.html

[x] rebutted
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/080510_my-ltr.html

[x] “appalled” response
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/080503_DW-ltr.html

[x] big new photo
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/AnnePic2.jpg

[x] older, smaller photo
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/AnnePic.jpg

[x] there’s still a photo of Norlander there
http://rod.co.calhoun.mi.us/

[x] office’s FOIA request form
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/refdocs/281-FOI_form.doc

[x] slogan on the form . . . in letters to the editor backing Norlander
http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20081028/OPINION03/
810280302/1014/OPINION
[all one link]

[x] voter-registration deadline

http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/self-promo_VR-deadline_080908_2pp.pdf

[x] absentee-voting process
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/self-promo_AV-ballot-app_081013.pdf

[x] “Offsite Resources” page
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/election.taf?_function=link

[x] fair treatment for all parties . . . for five months
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/corresp_links.pdf

[x] push for equal treatment
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/corresp_party-HQ.pdf

[x] post some candidate campaign-finance reports
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/cf.taf

[x] if you look for Norlander’s reports
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/cf.taf?_function=detail&RECORD_uid1=2401&
_UserReference=74D6437EEB7274C24909324D
[all one link]

[x] her first report for 2008
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/tifs/0A/39.TIF

[x] lists of items up for bids . . . here (for the live auction)
http://www.AnneNorlander.com/auction.taf?type=live

[x] and here (for the silent auction)
http://www.AnneNorlander.com/auction.taf?type=silent

[x] Jonna Siano
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/cf.taf?_function=detail&RECORD_uid1=2396&
_UserReference=74D6437EEB7274C24909324D
[all one link]

[x] reported receiving a $1,500 donation the day before
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/tifs/0B/C0.TIF

[x] Adobe Acrobat PDF file format, from this Webpage
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/PR081021.html

[x] (and this one) on his Website
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/PR081021.pdf

[x] and in one big TIFF file at the Clerk’s office Website
http://co.calhoun.mi.us/tifs/0B/9A.TIF
(link added Nov. 1, 2008)

[x] promise not to accept any contributions of over $100
http://www.jalpForThePeople.org/CFRept_contributions.pdf