A2Politico: Ann Arbor Politics Grilled To Perfection

In January of 2009, County Commissioner Conan Smith, Chair of the Ann Arbor Democratic Party Club, and son of State Representative Alma Wheeler-Smith, was re-elected to the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners as one of the four Ann Arbor representatives. In his very first act as a newly elected public official, and as the newly elected Chair of the County’s Ways & Means Committee (the Committee where the Commissioners decide how to spend the $190,000,000 dollars in tax and fee money they are given by the county’s 347,000 residents, Smith moved to “adjust” some of the Board’s rules and regulations.

More exactly, Conan Smith moved to cut the time alloted to each individual who addressed the Ways & Means Committee to three minutes, down from five minutes. He also proposed that the board require that individuals who comment during Ways & Means meetings comment only on agenda items. With the exception of County Commissioners Jeff Irwin (now a candidate for the 53rd District House seat) and Roland Sizemore, the rest of the County Commissioners (all of whom serve on the Ways & Means Committee), went right along with Smith’s “adjustment.” 

Before Smith proposed curtailing the public’s time and speech, there had never been any such limitations. Conan Smith told the Press “his goal was to make the meetings more efficient, and that the public still had the opportunity to speak before the entire board with no change in the current time limit or topic rules.” Since few people ever go to the County Board of Commissioners’ meetings, let alone speak at them, Conan Smith’s professed desire to increase efficiency was a crock…of well pickled sauerkraut.

Conan Smith went on to be quoted in the Press as saying that he “believes citizens should be treated more like staff, and that he would be willing to allocate them even more than 5 minutes if they contacted him before the meeting, and if it were appropriate to the agenda.” Citizens, alas, are not Conan’s Smith’s staff. We don’t work for elected officials such as County Commissioners; Conan Smith and the other Commissioners work for us.

When I initially read about the rule changes, I found Smith’s comments shocking in their arrogance and astounding in their clear lack of understanding of the place and minor part he plays as an elected official. To say that he would consider allotting citizens more speaking time provided he approved of citizens’ topics/comments beforehand is as illegal as it is undemocratic and plainly egotistical. The only other thing I found more shocking was that the local press that covered the meeting wrote nothing about the overt misuse of power by Conan Smith and those County Commissioners who voted along with him. Why a misuse of power? 

Those in the know refer to Smith’s proposed and passed rule changes as the “Tom Patridge” rule. Tom Patridge? He’s a royal pain in ascot to just about every local politico who has ever had to sit through his comments at meetings. At Ann Arbor City Council meetings, he’s a citizen who exercises his right to speak regularly and often repetitively at various public meetings of elected officials. Conan Smith proposed the rule change, and it was adopted by those County Commissioners to thwart Tom Partridge’s penchant for berating them about (in his opinion) their pitiful records on issues such as homelessness, supportive services, disability services and, well, let’s just say items not appearing on “the agenda.” 

AnnArborChronicle.com noted the rules changes in a piece posted to the site in early-January 2009. The site also noted County Commissioner Jeff Irwin’s comments that citizens should be able to come before the Commissioners and read the phonebook, if they so chose. That the AnnArborChronicle.com reporter accepted Smith’s obviously ridiculous explanation concerning his proposed rule changes without question is exactly why local politicos such as Conan Smith come to believe they are entitled to treat their staff (the public) with disdain and disrespect. The message of Smith’s rule change was clear: “We don’t want to listen to the rabble, and we don’t have to do it if we don’t want to.”

Well, as the saying goes, revenge is a dish best served cold. 

Enter local blogger (and Republican) Janelle Baranowski. On November 19th, she posted an entry to her site in which she writes about her attendance at the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners‘ meeting. She begins,

“An old man with a cane hobbled up to the microphone and began a (somewhat) coherent speech on the plight of the homeless in the County and his request that the Board proceed quickly with the budget approval. At three minutes, Commissioner Conan Smith called time and the man hobbled back to his chair. It was what happened during those three minutes that boiled my blood.

“As soon as the gentleman stood, nearly every member of the Board turned to their neighbor and began (what looked like) personal conversations. With the exception of a few moments searching in her purse, Commissioner Kristin Judge appeared to be the only person paying the least bit of attention.

“During this time, I couldn’t help but remember the 20 minutes I spent listening as several Board members waxed poetic on their hard work creating the budget, the difficulties they faced, and how grateful they were to each other and the County staff for accomplishing the daunting task. The whole time I remember thinking, ‘Wouldn’t a personalized thank you note be a little less self-serving and a little more meaningful?’”

Yep. Baranowski, who was watching the meeting without any knowledge of the backstory about Tom Patridge, was describing the behavior of the County Commissioners as Tom Patridge spoke. 

Baranowski goes on to write in her entry, “Realizing that no one else planned to comment, I immediately approached the Board and introduced myself. I mentioned that I was happy to see that they troubled themselves to actually look at me, given that earlier they were too busy chatting to listen. I was sure to point out the separate twosomes to assure them I had paid attention to their behavior. Chastising them for their rudeness, I said it was disgraceful that they couldn’t pay attention for three minutes and that as representatives, all citizens deserve their respect.”

It’s exactly what the local reporters who’ve been covering the Washtenaw County Commission meetings should have done, but never did because getting quotes from the local politerati County Commissioners is way cooler than pissing them off by writing about their stifling of free speech, and their horrid treatment of a citizen, even one they consider a royal pain in the butter bell.

Now Baranowski’s blog entry gets really interesting. She writes:

“Needless to say, many of the Commissioners spoke with me after the meeting was adjourned. First up was Conan Smith. He explained that while he understood the nature of my comments, he wanted to put some context behind the Board’s behavior. To paraphrase the conversation:

“He explained that the gentleman comments at every opportunity, at every single meeting.
My response: So? That’s his right. He [Smith] then explained that the gentleman has slandered both him and his wife in the past, as well as other Board members (sadly, no specific examples were provided.) My response: He did not do anything like that tonight. His comments were about the homeless and the budget.

“Comm. Smith then asked me for my opinion on the limits of free speech.”

The limits of free speech? Conan Smith, with his B.A. in creative writing, is not an expert in anything except writing about free speech creatively. He obviously put forth the rule changes to deter Tom Patridge from speaking, and when a fresh set of eyes (Baranowski’s) took in the disrespectful behavior of the County Commissioners, we finally saw that Emperor Conan Smith was as naked as the day he was born.

Janelle Baranowski has a plan: “I plan on annoying the heck out of the Ways and Means Committee. From now on, I plan on speaking for three minutes about whatever comes to mind. I plan on using the three minutes at the beginning and end of the meeting to become more annoying than Mr. Partridge. I hope they will breathe a sigh of relief when he approaches the microphone….It’s easy for them to push around the old (slightly nutty) guy. But no more. Not on my watch. Because this is No OK. I’ll do my best to be at every meeting until Mr. Partridge get’s to rant for three minutes to his heart’s content. Because it is his RIGHT.”

It’s our right to speak before the County Board. When Conan Smith brought forward the rule changes, the county corporation counsel, Mr. Hedger, suggested the rule changes might run head-on into free speech issues. Obviously, no one on the County Board directed the lawyer to research the question, and issue a formal opinion. Rather than see a citizen sue the County to find out whether Smith’s rule changes are illegal, the Washtenaw County Commissioners (one of whom has launched his bid to serve in the State House of Representatives in the 52nd District [Commissioner Mark Ouimet]) should reverse Conan’s Smith’s foray into the political pool of Narcissus. The County Board should return public commentary at Ways & Means to five minutes. No holds barred.

When Tom Patridge speaks, the County Commissioners can pay attention for five minutes, or they can take their political marbles and go home. As for Conan Smith, our Ann Arbor County Commissioner with a taste for $800 hotel rooms on the taxpayer dime, while the county struggles under a $30 million dollar deficit, he should go back to writing creatively. Politicians with a taste for stifling freedom of speech to suit themselves, and to keep their wives (State Representative Rebekah Warren) from being “slandered,” are generally found in small South American countries, not parading as progressive Democrats in Ann Arbor.  

Here’s a thought: in August 2010, when Ann Arbor County Commissioner Conan Smith comes up for re-election, if he runs, his “staff” should send him back to the Suburbs Alliance from whence he came. There, as Executive Director, he can limit the speech of all who work for him to his heart’s desire.

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