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.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Censure? Savoie and Roncelli for FOIA email scandal...Yes.

Hi All,
The Bloomfield Township June 30, 2016 email scandal was effectively suppressed by Supervisor Savoie, Clerk Roncelli and others before the August 2 primary election.  They even cancelled the last Board of Trustees meeting before the election.  Didn't want any public comment concerning FOIA or the election?    At that cancelled meeting, I wanted to read the below "Resolution for Censure"   so the voting public would know of the unfair and fraudulent use of township email addresses.   The Aug. 2 election for the 7 township positions was very close.  I feel the  3000 or so email addresses that received the bogus email from Supervisor Savoie around the same time as the absentee ballots arrived in the mail of thousands of voters may have made a difference in the results.  I FOIA the same list of email addresses on June 30, 2016  and was denied the FOIA on July 22,  23 days after Savoie USED those email addresses to promote himself, the clerk and others on his slate.  An unfair advantage in a very close and contested election.

Since Trustee Neal Barnett wrote a Censure against Dan Devine on July 13, 2015..... I felt there should be a Censure against the Clerk and the Supervisor for their real illegal actions.   I did read this "Resolution" during public comment at the August 8, 2016 meeting,  too late to make a difference in the 8/2/16  primary.

While I was reading the Resolution in my 3 min allotted time on 8/8/16, Trustee Brian Kepes,  left the Board seat and room while I was speaking at public comment.... something he often does when I speak.....with his usual disrespect toward me and anyone else he disagrees with.   The voters made a huge mistake in the Treasurer's race and is sending the wrong  person to the November ballot.

FYI:   Resident, Alice Wachol, filed a complaint with the Attorney General of Michigan on this FOIA email issue.  It is past time for action to be taken by the AG.   The citizens of Bloomfield Township have pushed hard this election cycle to end the "family, friends and favors" culture that has gone on for decades.  This  FOIA issue was wrong and the media should have reported it and the facts in early July...before the election.

RESOLUTION FOR CENSURE OF BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR AND CLERK
  ( I read this at the 8/8/16 Board of Trustees meeting during my 3 minutes of Public Comment... but the Resolution was not brought by anyone on the Board of Trustees... and therefore, not officially accepted or voted on by the Board of Trustees.  But it should have been...)

WHEREAS, In conjunction with sending out the Absentee Ballots to Bloomfield Township voters, the Township Clerk abused her power as the FOIA Officer for Township records by releasing approximately 3,000 private email addresses to the Township Supervisor to be used for their mutual political benefits, and

WHEREAS, those addresses were held by the Township for the sole purpose of communicating legitimate Township news to those residents who signed up for such purpose with the promise that their privacy would be protected by a "Privacy Policy" conspicuously made apparent in the sign-up process on the Township Website, and

WHEREAS, the Township Supervisor then created a bogus email domain entitled "BloomfieldElections.com" to confuse the recipients to believe that the transmission from that site was actually from the Township Clerk's official elections domain entitled "BloomfieldElections.org", and

WHEREAS, The Township Supervisor emailed from the bogus email domain to the inappropriately obtained private email addresses of unwitting residents a communication including endorsements of the Clerk and the Supervisor by 2 local newspapers to fraudulently indicate that the Township's Election Department was officially urging recipient residents to vote for them, and

WHEREAS, the same private email list of Township residents was denied upon the FOIA request made by a Township Resident because it would "Violate the FOIA laws if such release were made", and

WHEREAS, The Clerk and Supervisor violated the same law and the privacy rights of their citizens in the scheme discussed above in a successful effort to fraudulently secure their re-elections.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Bloomfield Township Clerk Roncelli and Supervisor Savoie shall be held in contempt by the residents of Bloomfield Township and hereby officially censured by the Township Board of Trustees   (should be, but not censured by Board)  for their collusion and the fraud perpetrated on the voters, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said Clerk and said Supervisor should be held accountable to any and all prevailing laws under the various State and Federal Penal Codes and pay the appropriate costs and imprisonment associated with their shameful behaviors.  

My opinion.
Marcia Robovitsky

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Bl. Twp. PRIMARY Election Results 8/2/16

Hi All,
The  Bloomfield Township August Primary election results are:  
http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/Services/Clerk/Elections.asp
 
Leo Savoie    Supervisor
Brian Kepes   Treasurer
Jan Roncelli   Clerk

Trustees are:

David Buckley
Michael Schostak
Neal Barnett
Dani Walsh


These names will be on the November 2016 ballot,  running unopposed as there are no Democratic candidates.

While the 7 well educated and extremely qualified citizens that took the time and effort to campaign for a spot on the Bloomfield Township government  (that I was supporting)  were only able to put 2 Trustees on the November ballot,  I am very proud of all seven and will always call them my friends.   It was an historic election,  the citizens had CHOICES for the first time in decades. 

I hope all  of my readers and their neighbors... will become more involved in Bloomfield Township issues and attend the many meetings.  Be informed!   After this November election,   the township local elections for the 7 positions will be in 4 years..2020.   Will you be one of the candidates then?

For the record and my opinion:

I will always believe that the media played an extremely biased role in this election and I will always believe that Supervisor Savoie and what I called his "gang" of Trustees also had an "orchestrated and quite evil campaign"  against Treasurer Dan Devine.   Many of the archived Board of Trustees audio/video meetings are proof of that.  Someday, more of you may come to realize that point.   Reading some of my archived blogs will also tell the story.

The next step for me is to keep being the WATCHDOG.    I hope you will continue to accept my emails and to read my www.bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com  messages.

Thank you for voting.  The township has 34,884 registered voters.  The number of ballots "officially"  cast was 11,117 or about 1/3 of the eligible voters.   Unfortunately, the actual number of  people taking the time to submit the ballot was 11,734.   But, because there were  502 people that actually filled out the absentee ballot  and 65 people that went to the polls that did not have their ballots counted.... not for any of the candidates and not for any of the  millage proposals ...the "official" numbers of ballots cast is reported as  11,117.    Those 567 ballots that did not count could have changed the results.  Apparently those 567 ballots had entries for Republican and Democratic people.. and at the PRIMARY.... you many only vote for ONE party.     Wish more people read my blog about making sure your absentee ballot counts before voting:  http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/2016/07/make-sure-your-absentee-ballot-is.html

Stayed tuned for more.... my goal is and always has been... to have honest, transparent government for the taxpayers of our community, Bloomfield Township.

Marcia

Monday, August 1, 2016

Historic Vote-Bl. Twp. Be Informed!

Hi All, 
I posted Trustee David Buckley's comments in a blog a few days ago.... because I thought the taxpayers needed to see the township officials in action to really understand all that is going on.

Here is something that another person sent out to friends and neighbors after viewing my blog with that video clip:

 From a reader/ ....

 "......the following blog post of Marcia Robovitsky, ..........may be helpful to those of you who aren't familiar with the current board dynamics.  Marcia, a longtime Township resident, sees herself as a bit of a "watchdog" for Township residents.  She regularly attends Township meetings, is familiar with all the issues and, in my opinion, has a good grasp on the overall situation.  If you are looking for something to view to give you a feel for the atmosphere and dynamic of the current board, Marcia has attached a link to a pivotal Township meeting from last year.  I initially viewed only the nine minutes she suggested, but I found it so intriguing that I watched nearly 90 minutes more (before and after Dave's very eloquent comments.)  I was astounded to see how this particular meeting began the sequence of events that has brought us to this point, with a distinctly divided board and challengers to all the positions.  If you can find the time to view even some of it (particularly agenda item #5,) I believe you'll find it to be enlightening and informative.  It will introduce you to each of the current board members through the lens of how they actually function as a governing body, which is far more illuminating than watching them present themselves as candidates in prepared sound bites in a candidate forum or on paper in a direct mail piece.  

http://bloomfieldtwphappenings.blogspot.com/2016/07/re-elect-trustee-david-buckley-video.html?m=1

I realize that local politics is not of interest to many, but I've spent a good deal of time working with Township officials the past two years.  It is important that the association maintain a good working relationship with Township leadership, as we call on them frequently for assistance with neighborhood issues, and there have been moments recently when that has been challenging.  For the first time in many years, we have choices and we can help effect change that will benefit the Township as a whole.  I hope you will make a point to vote on Tuesday because, as always in a local election, every vote counts.  The victory or defeat of any candidate is sometimes literally just a handful of votes."


Thank you to that reader above.    
From that Blog:
At a VERY IMPORTANT  4/13 /2015 Board of Trustees meeting.... over one year ago.... David Buckley left his seat as a trustee and went to the podium to speak as a resident... to the Board and to the residents.  

 The agenda item then:

PLEASE listen to Trustee David Buckley speak/   time marker of video  2:16:00 to 2:25:37
 
 go to:     “Board of Trustee Meeting 4.13.15”
The video is available for your viewing pleasure at https://vimeo.com/124934765
Note:  please be patient while video loads.. takes time :)

So important:   ALSO, please, make some time to view the entire video section of AGENDA # 5 from start to finish.  Remember,  this was an agenda item in April of last year... 2015.   Listen to others speak at public comment on this agenda item. 

Please take a look tonight or tomorrow BEFORE voting at the Primary Election/  BE INFORMED!  VOTE:   Aug. 2, 2016.  

Thank you.
Marcia Robovitsky


I am supporting:
David Thomas for Supervisor
Susie Kern for Clerk
Dan Devine for Treasurer   re-elect

VOTE for these FOUR TRUSTEES
Jeff Axt
Kirk Brannock
David Buckley    re-elect
Dani Walsh

Thank you.
Marcia Robovitsky