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As a matter of transparency it's important for the community to know that all the petitions from the school board recall effort are now in the hands of unknown numbers of individuals. The day after the recall petitions were filed with our County Clerk, community member Dennis Schultz submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Schultz wanted all petitions, numbering close to 2000, to be copied to a thumbdrive and turned over to him. Schultz paid for the FOIA and by that action, had in his possession the names and addresses of over 4300 individuals who participated in the democratic process of a recall campaign. Nothing was redacted from the petitions, and of particular concern, Schultz was given possession of the signatures of over 4300 community members.
It became clear Schultz distributed this information to others, but unknown as to how many. It was beyond shocking when during a school board meeting AJ MacArthur said he was "disappointed to see" some of the signatures on the petitions. Why was this shared with MacArthur and why should he have access to that information? It seemed to be a finger-wagging moment for MacArthur who appeared to be attempting to place some element of shame on those who participated in a democratic process and who likely never believed their names, addresses and signatures would be copied and shared with an untold number.
Dennis Schultz received the copied petitions in digital format meaning signatures can then be easily copied and transferred and used in multiple nefarious manners. Schultz paid for the FOIA request and the costs associated with copying 100s of pages of material. Has Schultz inserted himself into other aspects of the recall campaign and, if so, for what reason? Of biggest concern, who has my signature now?
Cathy Goike
Alpena County