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It must have been a hard pill to swallow when school boards members, Sarah Costain, Monica Dziesinski and Eric Lawson, who were facing a recall effort, realized over 4300 individuals in the community felt they were quite bad at their school board job. Over 4300 community members picked up a pen and signed a recall petition which would have put these three back on the ballot in November so voters could decide whether to continue with the chaos and waste they bring to the school board, or replace them.
All was on track for the "replace" option which is likely what drove their decision to hire the Butzel law firm. Butzel, a large law firm considered to be in the top three in the state, has offices in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Lansing and D.C. Their services come with a hefty price tag, generally charging $600/hour and up. Butzel identified board member Monica Dziesinski as the client of record but stipulated they were representing Dziesinski, Lawson and Costain.
For what reason did these board members feel it necessary to engage legal counsel? It would appear it was a "throw spaghetti against the wall" maneuver intended to upend the democratic process of recall. And it worked. Although Butzel forwarded an absurd claim that thousands of signatures needed to be disqualified based on a technicality that 10 Township Clerks, a City Clerk and our County Clerk were unaware of, Alpena County Clerk Keri Bertrand obliged and disqualified enough signatures to overturn the recall. Bertrand did have the option to allow this claim to be placed before a local circuit court judge, but instead chose to disempower and silence over 4,300 community members. Disgraceful action for an elected official who should be representing everyone.
Michelle Markowski
Alpena