Will Ann Arbor Voters Press Delete and Dump Another Politico Because of An Email Scandal?
by P.D. Lesko
In June of 2009, the now defunct Ann Arbor News broke a story that revealed Ann Arbor City Council members were abusing email during open meetings to mock and make fun of constituents, to script debates and to rig votes, such as a vote on whether to support a salary increase for themselves. The scandal involved some big fish in the small political pond that is Ann Arbor, including all of the current members of City Council with the exceptions of First Ward Council member Sabra Briere and Fifth Ward Council member Mike Anglin.
In October of 2009, AnnArbor.com’s Ryan Stanton reported that some private citizens had taken it upon themselves to FOIA six years of emails sent by our City Council members to each other during open meetings. (There are 2,700 pages of the emails available here.) The Ann Arbor residents involved undertook the task because on September 21, 2009 Council had voted down a resolution put forward by Fifth Ward Council member Mike Anglin and First Ward Council member Sabra Briere to release Council emails to the public on the City’s dime. (A2Politico wrote about that here.) City officials, including Attorney Stephen Postema and CIO Dan Rainey, broke out the old abacus and calculated that it would cost $45,000 in city man power to retrieve the emails from the server, examine and redact the materials.
Since Council members and Mayor Hieftje felt that $45,000 was too much tax money to waste on the project, the resolution was voted down 8-3. Of course, it was very likely members of Ann Arbor City Council would have rather had bamboo shoved underneath their fingernails than to have had any more of their puerile, arrogant and embarrassing emails released to the public. It could also be that there are other past Council members— some big cheese local politicos—such as Christopher Easthope (now Judge Christopher Easthope), Joan Lowenstein (former Second Ward Council member and current Board member of the DDA), Wendy Woods (former Fifth Ward Council member and current member of the Planning Commission), Jean Carlberg (former Third Ward Council member and present member of the Planning Commission) and others whose emails could potentially embarrass them.
There are a million reasons why this lot of politically connected people wanted their emails sent while they served on City Council kept out of the public eye, and why they were desperate for the media coverage of those same emails to just dry up and blow away—which it eventually did. In 2010 AnnArbor.com endorsed Teall for re-election with nary a word about her inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, vote rigging and debate scripting as revealed by the Ann Arbor News just months earlier.
However, the sacrifice of Third Ward Council member Leigh Greden to the gods of the 2009 email scandal was seen as payment enough for the rest of them. They felt Leigh’s pain, really they did. Margie Teall cried when Greden said his final goodbyes at a Council meeting.
Sometimes, alas, the gods can’t be appeased by the take-down of a ring-leader. The gods can be dastardly in their demands of repayment when the bar tab for a decade of questionable political karma comes due.
Second Ward Council member Stephen Rapundalo, while he participated in Greden’s email-a-palooza during open Council meetings, did so to a lesser degree than, say, Fourth Ward Council member Margie Teall. However, Rapundalo’s campaign for re-election may be torpedoed by an email he sent to Tony Dearing, the Kontent King at AnnArbor.com. Rapundalo’s gaffe, revealed by AnnArbor.com on October 23, 2011 reads like a Greek tragedy:
Ryan Stanton writes, “Further evidence Rapundalo is taking the race seriously is an e-mail he inadvertently sent to AnnArbor.com’s Chief Content Officer Tony Dearing last week. The e-mail, intended for another recipient, reveals Rapundalo’s tactical response to discovery of Lumm’s efforts to get information out to residents about a restoration project planned along Malletts Creek in the 2nd Ward.
‘As for the Mallet’s Creek project — be sure to involve me in any meetings, etc., if there any, before the election — just so I look like I’m engaged,” Rapundalo wrote in the e-mail. “Is there something I can write up for my e-newsletter and make myself look knowledgeable and at least neutralize her for the time being?'”
Anonymous comments in response Rapundalo’s email gaffe from AnnArbor.com readers were scathing:
townie writes: “Another incumbent doomed by his own arrogance and email habits. This absolutely confirms Lumm’s contention that Rapundalo is representing City Hall to his constituents instead of representing his constituents to City Hall. Everyone I know in the second ward is voting for Lumm, or already has via absentee.
I’m tired of councilmembers like Rapundalo who only see their time on council as a way of serving their own private “economic development” interests instead of serving the public.
And by the way, if I was on council and needed up-to-date information on issues important to my constituents, the LAST person I would ask would be Tony Derezinski. He’s even more out-of-touch than Rapundalo!”
say it plain writes: “OMG, I just *love* that dirt on Rapundalo about the email!
He must have been writing to Tony *Derezinski* asking for ammo to make himself look good and to “neutralize” Lumm, lol, but clicked the wrong name on his email addressbook! Too rich! Tony *Dearing* comes just before Tony *Derezinski* in his rolodex…too funny!
He really ought to be more careful with his emails next time he’s looking for PR help on issues that voters care about but that he could care less to *really* know anything of lol…how revealing was his email language?!
Let’s end this pal-sy we-the-powerful garbage from the Hieftje lackies on City Council…”
The same day, in fact less than 30 minutes after the post was put up that revealed Stephen Rapundalo as a manipulative poseur more concerned with “seeming engaged” that actually being engaged, AnnArbor.com’s editorial board comprised of the three Musketeers who run the news blog (CEO Matt Kraner, VP Tony Dearing and VP Laurel Champion) endorsed Rapundalo, in part, they explained, due to his “diligence.” It was a journalistic farce that left readers angry and wondering if the right hand ever knows what the left hand is doing at the news outlet. Readers slammed AnnArbor.com’s editorial board over a perceived conflict of interest between one of the editorial board members (Laurel Champion) and Rapundalo.
Rapundalo posted the endorsement to his campaign web site as a PDF document. One presumes he did so to keep people from reading the dozens of scathing comments posted in response to the news blog’s decision to back his re-election.
An October 31, 2011 letter to the editor posted to AnnArbor.com in support of the candidacy of Rapundalo’s opponent, independent Jane Lumm, kept the discussion about the email gaffe alive. Dr. Jerome Johnson writes:
The email that Stephen Rapundalo inadvertently sent to AnnArbor.com’s Chief Content Officer Tony Dearing (AnnArbor.com, “Rapundalo vs. Lumm …,” Oct 23, 2011), but clearly meant for another Tony, speaks volumes about the tactics and values of Mr. Rapundalo as well as the cronyism and undercurrent of the present City Council.
His opponent for Ward 2 City Council, Jane Lumm, was researching the city’s plans related to the Malletts Creek restoration, which entailed cutting down a multitude of trees, thereby alarming people living close by. She was doing this on her own and for her neighbors and friends, not her constituents.
When Leigh Greden and Margie Teall were exposed as having misused email while on the job, both told the newspaper they refused to apologize. Likewise, Rapundalo refused to accept responsibility for his email gaffe, and neither did he apologize to his constituents. Will voters press delete and get rid of another Ann Arbor City Council member thanks, in part, to an email blunder? Maybe. Of course, as amusing as some may find Rapundalo’s email gaffe, it’s nowhere near as “revealing” as the email gaffe of the Cornell Tech Consultant who managed to pass on his entire long and very steamy exchange with his mistress, Lisa (another Cornell Business Employee), to the entire S. C. Johnson School of Management.
Word now has it that Steve Postema is going to be making a run at the two Washtenaw County Circuit Court seats currently held by the retiring Melinda Morris and Timothy Connors, who is expected to seek re-election.
A prospective campaign issue for Postema will be his role in the e-mail fiasco that cost Leigh Greden his council seat in 2009. When the Ann Arbor News broke E-mailgate back then there were serious questions raised if Postema, as City Attorney, had warned City Council members that utilizing computers in council chambers while the Council was in session possibly violated The Open Meetings Act. Even after the scandal was receiving public exposure that would lead to a lawsuit by Noah Hall, he continued to cheerfully aver that he could discern no Open Meetings Act violations. Nevertheless, when Noah Hall’s suit was filed, the city made no attempt to get the case dismissed but entered into a settlement agreement privately with the plaintiffs in that suit with the concurrence of City Council.
As this news was being broadcast for months locally, making Ann Arbor City Council a laughing stock for months with articles covering E-Mailgate, Postema’s City Prosecutor, Bob West, was arrested by a deputy sheriff in Pittsfield Township for drunken driving; he would eventually plead guilty to operating while impaired and the video of his YouTube arrest would gather thousands of hits. Even more embarrassing than the arrest itself was West’s futile attempts to assert his position talk himself out of the situation with the arresting deputy. Despite the humiliation this brought upon the City Attorney’s Office, Postema only meted out a very short suspension to West – who some thought should have been fired.
Carol Kuhnke, an Ann Arbor attorney, and at least one other candidate are expected to run in this circuit court race against Connors and the for the Morris vacancy created by her impending retirement. Kuhnke, a liberal with Democratic Party ties, is expected to garner plenty of support in the Ann Arbor Ypsilanti area.
There is a viewpoint that Timothy Connors, an Engler appointee whose father, Edward Connors, was president of the conservative American Hospital Association, may have a hard time defeating Democratic-supported opponents in 2012. Connors, a former insurance lawyer, had been a genenrous donor to the Michigan Republican Party and ultraconservative Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor in his runs for the high court. His wife, Margaret Connors, finished a disappointing distant third place in the 2008 Ann Arbor District Court primary depite getting campaign support from all Circuit Court judges. Timothy Connors has been criticized for his on-the-bench performance by certain groups; see e.g. http://www.a2buzz.org
Postema has forged close ties to AAPD chief Barnett Jones and is expected to get excellent suppport of Mayor John Hieftje as well as current and former members of the Gang of Seven who have ruled City Council with an iron fist for the last few years. Expect those powerful connections to make him a bona fide contender for the two seats at issue in 2012.
Jane Lumm should get in her car and follow the mayor and
Rapundalo….. so they know she is there.
@Phyllis, there’s little a candidate can do. This is what Hieftje does; it’s what Margie Teall did and Sandi Smith did when they ran for re-election. It’s what Stephen Rapundalo is doing. Christopher Taylor recently sent out an email to constituents that was loaded with lies about Rapundalo’s “accomplishments.” These people think nothing of lying. For the first time in a very long time, Ann Arbor has a news site that is pointing out their lies through fact-checking. So, when you use a search engine to find Stephen Rapundalo, this comes up: http://www.a2politico.com/?p=10601.
Steve Rapundalo went door-to-door in 2009 to campaign for Leigh Greden in the Third Ward.
Greden lost, garnering less than 40% of the vote.
The Mayor as well as John Dingell endorsed Greden.
The fact that the Mayor has been reduced to going door-to-door like a Shine-ola salesman is illustrating how desperate the Rapundalo campaign has become.
Maybe the anti-Hieftje Democrats need to resurrect some more political dinosaurs from the 1990s like Peter Fink to retake City Council from the clutches of the current controlling political clique.
@Mark, I received a phone call from an absolutely irate 2nd Ward resident who’d been treated to a visit from Hieftje and Rapunds. The person was very angry because the two men are lying about Lumm’s voting record and her political positions. They are going to houses with Lumm signs and pressuring people to take down the signs. It’s reprehensible, and they’re doing it to OLDER voters (70+).
Rapundalo is trying to save his seat by campaigning door to door with Mayor Hieftje. I now understand why he can’t run on his own merit.
As to the Mallet’s Creek project, the “restoration” includes building a huge (and hugely expensive) swamp in County Farm Park. Never mind that This past summer’s mosquito problem was the worst in recent memory. Considering the potential for being mired in a mess, Rapundalo may think it’s better to seem engaged rather than to be engaged so he can later duck responsibility.
Ann Arbor voters have a clear choice — between a conscientious candidate who actually cares about such issues and an incumbent who cares only about his seat.
You forget the Greden/Easthope email exchange about a certain something taking place on a desktop. How quickly we forget!