Thursday, August 11, 2016

Beware of the Dot-Com/ Complaint filed with AG

Hi All,
The local papers don't print the real issues.  Did you know your Supervisor, Leo Savoie,  got your private email from township records and sent you political propaganda supporting him and his slate ?

Susie Kern,  candidate for CLERK of Bloomfield Township,  sent me this email that I have permission to share on this blog.   

UPDATE Note:  I thought I had posted this blog before the Aug. 2, 2016 election.  Apparently not.  However, 
On 8/2/16,  Susie Kern lost to Jan Roncelli for the Clerk position.   This FOIA issue and what happened at the Township by Supervisor Savoie and the Clerk's office  is still very relevant today and is a serious problem.  A complaint was filed with the Attorney General.   Nothing to report on that... yet.  Stay tuned.
Perhaps we'll see Ms. Kern run for this position again?  Will we see Mr. David Thomas, who lost to Mr. Savoie on 8/2/16 run for the Supervisor position again?  Will the entire election be validated?  If so, why?  How many votes did the Savoie/Roncelli slate (that included 5 other positions) receive at the Primary election on 8/2/16 because of the estimated 3000-5000 email addresses  Mr. Savoie received through the "illegal" FOIA and then used those email addresses of township residents to send them a message (possibly more?) to vote for their slate?  No one knows for sure.

Marcia 

Beware of the Dot-Com     (by Susie Kern)

Fact: June 27, 2016 Bloomfield Township Supervisor, Leo Savoie, submitted a FOIA Request for Public Record to the Charter Township of Bloomfield Clerk’s Office “All email addresses used in distribution of the Bloomfield Township E-News.” (1)

Fact: June 30, 2016 Residents enrolled in Bloomfield Township E-News through personal email addresses were sent a misleading email from info@bloomfieldtownshipelections.com (‘dot-com’), as it is not to be confused with the actual Township email of info@bloomfieldtwpelections.org (‘dot-org’) that directs residents to the Bloomfield Township Clerk’s Office. The content of the email is the June 16th Eccentric newspaper article of endorsement for candidates as a request to vote for Leo Savoie, Jan Roncelli, Brian Kepes, and 4 other candidates. The email is a political promotion. (2)

Fact: At the July 11, 2016 Bloomfield Township Board of Trustee Meeting, Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie stated that he had called Bloomfield Township Board Attorney Bill Hampton approximately 30 days prior and asked him…

“If the (Bloomfield Township E-News) email addresses were FOIA-able and open to the public, and he believed in his opinion that they were… I went to the Clerk’s Office and prepared a FOIA, paid the necessary fees, and I was given the email list. I used that email list to send out an endorsement that was prepared by the Eccentric… Is this a public list or private list? He (Bill Hampton) is in the process of making that determination… The company that I engaged to do that, they purchased that domain site, and it is very similar but it ends in DOT.COM and not dot-org.”
The FOIA request was then submitted through the Bloomfield Township Clerk's office of Jan Roncelli. (3)

Fact: Bloomfield Township E-mail List for E-Newsletter Sign-up states…
         
            Bloomfield Township Email Sign-up Page:
By submitting this form, you are granting: Bloomfield Township, 4200 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Township, MI, 48303-0489 United States, http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/ permission to email you. You can revoke permission to mail to your email address at any time using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. We take your privacy seriously (to see for yourself, please read our Email Privacy Policy). Emails are serviced by Constant Contact. (4)

Bloomfield Township Email Privacy Policy:
In connection with your use of our products or services, we will obtain contact lists (including email addresses and other information for your subscribers) and content (including the content of your campaigns and storefront information) that you provide to us in connection with such use. We acknowledge your ownership rights in such contact lists and content. We will never sell or rent your contact lists to anyone without your permission and will never use your contact lists or content for any purpose other than as described here. (5)

Fact: Bloomfield Township website provides a Privacy Statement from Constant Contact to the Township Residents for their Newsletter Email List. (6)   Supervisor Leo Savoie set up a website address through GoDaddy.com (7)  and ended his email with a “Paid for by…” disclaimer “in collaboration with Constant Contact.” (8)

Fact: Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie, Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli and Bloomfield Township Attorney Bill Hampton each and all failed to read and follow the Bloomfield Township E-News email policy.
Bill Hampton, as acting Bloomfield Township Attorney representing our Township residents, offered political campaign advice to a single Trustee.
Supervisor Leo Savoie purchased and used the Bloomfield Township E-News email list for his political campaign.
Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli is responsible for the FOIA providing the residents’ email addresses to Supervisor Leo Savoie for their political campaigns. (9)

Questions: Oh, so many questions with no acceptable answers… So will just stick with the observations…
It is disappointing to say the least that our Bloomfield Township Supervisor Leo Savoie and Clerk Jan Roncelli have abused the FOIA procedure to violate Township Policy, the Residents’ Privacy Rights and the Public Trust, all for personal gain. An email sent from what appeared to be our Township Clerk’s Office (www.BloomfieldTownshipElections) with the apparent protection of the Township Privacy Provider (Constant Contact) as official business communication requesting residents to endorse candidates of choice, was deceitful and lacks respect for our residents. Moreover, whether or not it violates a Federal Law, the lack of confidentiality and use of residents’ personal information by both Supervisor Leo Savoie and Clerk Jan Roncelli is concerning. The correspondence from Bloomfield Township Elections Dot-Com versus Dot-Org to distort the authenticity of the email sender is their disclaimer to the disingenuous misdeed. Disappointing and sad.

Recommendations:
Bloomfield Township manages our tax dollars. Bloomfield Township Trustees and employees are there to serve you. Education and answers to any and all of your questions should be readily available to you… 50 times, 51 times, however many explanations you require! Whatever it takes! You should know where every tax dollar/fee penny comes and goes without requesting a special meeting or FOIA.

New leadership with honesty and integrity is required. “The trust of the residents comes first.” 10
 New Trustees to respect the Township residents’ privacy, tax dollars, concerns and interests... with financial accountability and transparency, ‘to serve’ ‘full-time’ 5 days/week.

Oh, and when you hear from Bloomfield Township by email, BEWARE OF THE DOT-COM.


(1) FOIA document dated 6/27/2016 via Deana Mondock, CMMC/CMC, Deputy Clerk, Charter Township of Bloomfield, 4200 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 Phone: (248) 433-7780 dmondock@bloomfieldtwp.org

AND Bloomfield Township Board of Trustee Meeting 7.11.16 ~ https://vimeo.com/174355731~ Agenda Item 8, 1:21:33.

(2) Bloomfield Township Elections <info@bloomfieldtownshipelections.com>. "Eccentric Endorses Candidates." Message to: Bloomfield Township E-News Residents. 30 June 2016. Email.

(3) Bloomfield Township Board of Trustee Meeting 7.11.16 ~ https://vimeo.com/174355731~ Agenda Item 8, 1:21:33.

(4) Bloomfield Township website ~ Bloomfield Township E-mail List ~ Sign up for our Email Newsletter ~ http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/EmailList/MailingList.asp

(5) Bloomfield Township website ~ Bloomfield Township E-mail List ~ Sign up for our Email Newsletter & Email Privacy Policy ~ http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/EmailList/MailingList.asp

(6) Ibid.

(7) GoDaddy.com ~ http://bloomfieldtownshipelections.com/?reqp=1&reqr=

(8) Op. Cit. ~ Footnote 1

(9) Op. Cit. ~ Footnotes: 1, 2, and 3.

(10)  Candidate for Bloomfield Township Trustee, Kirk Brannock. Bloomfield Township Board Meeting. 12 July 2016.

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