Let's put some new people on Lansing city council

Let's put some new people on Lansing city council

October 1, 2019

Two at-large council members, Carol Wood and Patricia Spitzley, as well as 1st ward council member Jody Washington and 3rd ward council member Adam Hussain, are up for re-election. Hussain is running unopposed, but Wood and Spitzley are being challenged by Jodie Rodocker and Yanice Jackson-Long. Washington is being challenged by Brandon Betz.

Julee Rodocker Yanice Jackson-Long Brandon Betz

Here's what your ballot will look like if you are in the 1st ward:

In August, I did a story on all the primary candidates' campaign contributions, but beyond that, I won't talk about the challengers. You can learn about them from their campaign websites: here for Julee Rodocker, here for Yanice Jackson-Long and here for Brandon Betz. However, I do want to explain why the incumbents need to be replaced.

Carol Wood Patricia Spitzley Jody Washington

Carol Wood

Having served on city council since 2000, Carol Wood is Lansing's longest serving elected official. That means that more than anyone, she can be blamed for the city's dismal financial position. Going back at least as far as 2010, Carol Wood served as the council representative on the boards of both of Lansing's retirement systems, Police & Firefighters and general employees (ERS). She left the ERS board in February 2017, but remains on the P&F board. From 2001 to 2017, funding for P&F pensions sunk from 112.6% to 68.4%. Funding for ERS pensions went from 89.5% to 58.8%. As a long-time council member and a member of both retirement boards, Carol Wood probably has a better understanding of the situation than any other city official. But did she ever sound the alarm about growing pension and retiree health care liabilities? Has she ever proposed changes to reduce those costs? Not that I know of. And this is by far the biggest issue this city is facing. It is killing us.

And that ain't all. FOIA requests are handled by the city attorney's office. The law provides that appeals of FOIA denials must be heard by the president of the city council. You would expect that since this duty is established by state law, it would be taken seriously. Carol Wood has failed to do so. In early January 2018, I sent the city attorney a FOIA request asking for the pension calculation sheets for 20 police and firefighters. Those forms would provide the straight life pension amount - the amount before any adjustments for survivor benefits. I suggested that any other sensitive information on the forms be redacted. The city attorney's office denied my request, saying they'd already given me the pension amounts in a list. I appealed, saying that I doubted the accuracy of the list and wanted the source documents, which the Freedom of Information Act entitles me to. City council president Carol Wood upheld the denial without explanation.

Later in 2018, I sent a FOIA request for a March 18, 2015 memo from then city attorney Janene McIntyre to then mayor Virg Bernero. It was referred to in another memo regarding a group of Teamsters retirees who got blindsided by a sudden increase in health insurance premiums. My request was denied due to attorney-client privilege. I appealed to city council president Carol Wood, arguing that one cannot claim attorney-client privilege simply because an attorney participated in the communication. There are very strict guidelines that were not met in this case, and I explained them in detail. Wood denied my appeal "because I have been advised by the City Attorney office that the denial is proper and consistent with the applicable law."

Patricial Spitzley

Patricia Spitzley was city council president in 2017, when I first requested the pension calculation sheets for those 20 retired police and firefighters. That time, the city attorney's office denied my request due to a 2012 state law that says information regarding the calculation of retirement benefits is exempt from the FOIA. I appealed to Spitzley saying

I accept that this is the law. However, the information regarding the calculation of the benefit could be redacted. That would consist of the final average compensation (FAC), which is of no interest to me. My only interest is the "full retirement allowance" or "straight life amount." I already have retirement date, retirement age and service amount, all of which are provided in Retirement Board meeting minutes.

Spitzley upheld the denial in a December 18 letter. It was as if she hadn't bothered to read my appeal. She simply parroted the city attorney, saying "Your request was denied because the information requested is exempt from disclosure by state statue [sic]."

Jody Washington

In my March 29, 2017 story Not sure about Schor, I suggested that Andy Schor, then candidate for Lansing mayor, may be more concerned about the welfare of unions than of Lansing citizens in general. What made me say that was 1) the biggest contributors to his House campaign account were union PACs and 2) after checking with the UAW, he declined to move forward with a bill to make pension details of retired public employees available through FOIA. Jody Washington sent me this email:

As always, I enjoy reading your blogs. I'm not sure what you are getting at with this one.

I'm always quite puzzled that you enjoy a healthy pension, which I'm certain you are not willing to give up, and yet, you constantly complain about other folks receiving pensions. I am not sure if you ever belonged to a union, but I imagine you enjoyed comfortable working conditions, a 40-hour work week, a healthy environment, and yes, even a pension due to the hard work unions put in throughout many years and all across the nation.

It is difficult for many of our younger workers to listen to folks that are older that enjoyed a robust wage and pension system that you now complain about and demonize. I'm not saying that we don't need to look at some options and that we need to be fiscally prudent, but I find it a bit hypocritical when I read these types of articles from folks that are enjoying exactly what they are complaining about.

I replied:

I would never defend a harmful public policy just because it was beneficial to me personally. What kind of person do you think I am?

Jody replied:

No, Steve, you already got yours and continue to get yours.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com, or call or text me at 517-505-2696. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

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