Hello Friend and Ann Arbor neighbor!

It's Lori and I'm writing to offer a few thoughts around Proposals C and D—even if you have already voted or already made up your mind. After noticing the many NO yard signs and the few YES signs, I am concerned by what I found in my research. Here are a few thoughts:

I BELIEVE I AM SEEING an established culture of cronyism in Ann Arbor that reflects the patterns of national politics. I see a NARROW GATEWAY TO CIVIC ENGAGEMENT because a person must have significant financial resources to consider a campaign to run for a city office in Ann Arbor.

ELIZABETH WARREN SAYS, “Money slithers through every part of our political system, corrupting democracy and taking power away from the people. We need to empower ordinary people through a small dollar public financing system that gives candidates an incentive to spend more time courting working people rather than n big donors.” Elizabeth Warren is talking the hearts of Proposal C and Proposal D.

I AM AWARE that campaign costs have skyrocketed. In 2022, the average of total contributions to winning Ann Arbor candidates was just over $35,000 and five years earlier, that average less than half that amount. It seems that in order to actually win, candidates now need personal wealth or access to sizable donations from PAC's, from outside of Ann Arbor and even from out of state.

I AM REALIZING that as long as money is the filter, we risk losing something precious—true diversity of thought, perspective, and lived experience. Without it, we end up with governance by a group of one mind and a single agenda. Challengers are fewer, debate is less robust, and a significant exchange of divergent ideas and points of view is absent.

ONE WAY TO REVIVE A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS is to open the candidate pool, enliven the way we campaign to truly educate constituencies, cast our vote based on issues, not party endorsements.

IT DOESN'T SHOCK ME TO LEARN there is misinformation being spread about C and D. Exaggeration and fear mongering tactics to undermine these proposals. Facts, obscured and distorted. Large amounts of money funding the NO campaign from outside Ann Arbor and outside Michigan. I fear that what is happening here where I live is the same thing happening nationally.

DON'T WE ALL WANT A DEMOCRACY THAT IS OPEN TO EVERYONE, not just those who are well-connected? I now understand the Fair Election Fund to be well researched, proven, and true, progressive reform. I think Ann Arbor deserves better than dark money and I urge you to consider what a YES Vote on Prop D can mean for us.

OUR PRIMARIES EXCLUDE THE MAJORITY OF VOTERS. I want us to move away from low-turnout partisan primaries to a system with real voter choice that prioritizes local voices over party labels. I think voters deserve an electoral system that benefits us over elected officials, and I urge you to consider what a YES Vote on Prop C can mean for us.

Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti are the only two cities in the state that continue to have partisan municipal elections. We choose our leaders in the August primaries when campus is empty and many residents are away. It appalls me that for over a decade the outcomes of August primaries have been decided by less than 10% of registered voters.

Why would we care whether university students vote in our elections? PEW Research says that this generation is the most alienated from politics and unmotivated to use the ballot box. What future leadership are we not cultivating? Raoul Wallenberg found his place in the world when he came here as a UM student. After John Kennedy urged UM students on the steps of the Union 64 years ago to dedicate themselves to serve democracy, they later joined the Civil Rights Movement, the Peace Corps, and the movements for womens rights and environmental rights. We are missing out on engaging the next generation!

ABOUT THAT GIANT POSTCARD
Know that this costly piece of campaign literature, scaring and intimidating voters against C and D, was produced by a political organization in the Lansing area run by a longtime political consultant who was banned from Twitter several years ago for abuse and harassment. It's carefully crafted to misrepresent and leave out critical contextual information. Let's not just swallow it, hook, line and sinker.

About the misleading QUOTES that hint to being from WHITMER and NESSEL:

It makes it sound like Whitmer opposes C and D. The truth is she did not oppose them and in subsequent opportunities to do so, she did not oppose them. The truth is when her office did an administrative courtesy review, she was unable to approve the amendments because they were submitted outside of the window for her consideration.

It makes it sound like Dana Nessel opposes them. From her office came an advisory opinion from one of her 250 assistant attorney generals that the campaign might come into conflict with the state’s budget law. Experts in municipal law say that this Assistant AG misconstrued the law. The truth is many budget allocations are determined by charter amendments brought about by residents. If Whitmer had agreed with this AG's advisory opinion, she would have said, "I cannot approve it," but she did not do so.

About what's true and what's distorted on the postcard's backside:

DISTORTION: C eliminates the Democratic primary in local elections.
TRUTH: C eliminates all primaries for local office, not just the democratic primary, so all candidates appear on the November ballot without party affiliation

DISTORTION: C hides whether a candidate is a Democrat or Republican
TRUTH: With C, all candidates are free to fully publicize their party affiliation anywhere and anytime but because party does not appear on the ballot.

DISTORTION: C reduces the amount of information available to voters.
TRUTH: With C, the party affiliation of the candidate is public information, and candidates are incentivized to provide more information and be more explicit about what they really believe, their priorities and remedies. .

DISTORTION: C changes our elections after the most diverse City Council in Ann Arbor's history was elected.
TRUTH: We do NOT currently have the most diverse City Council in Ann Arbor’s history and to claim this is an affront to the function of diversity and a claim about diversity in name only because this Council does not represent the diversity of views of the residents of the city. In that sense, it is the least diverse. Council meetings conclude in less than 2 hours because the amount of discussion, questioning, and debating has evaporated since there is unanimity on almost every issue.

DISTORTION: D create a public funding system to give your property tax dollars to local political campaigns.
TRUTH: D will not increase taxes and there is no additional millage. PROP D creates a fixed allocation in the current year’s City budget , 8/100th of the City’s total spending. For each citizen, the cost per person each year is the equivalent of the price of a Big Mac.

*The YES folks don't have big money; they can't bankroll a slick postcard with counter arguments. They're squeaking by, 150 progressive minded citizens who have worked their tails off to get real fixes to our democracy on the ballot. Katie Fahey's recent endorsement means something because as the founder of Voters Not Politicians, she knows this can work. Contrary to what you might hear, the YES folks have done due diligence with knowledgeable consultants and they have done it all for the greater good. For all of us.

That's it. Just a few thoughts before the election and I hope we can engage on a deeper level around these issues and more in the future.

Appreciatively,
Lori

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