This post will be of interest only to residents of the Caledonia Community Schools district in West Michigan. This relates to the May referendum regarding a bond issue to support our local school district. The bond issue passed narrowly. Both the school district and an independent pro-bond campaign committee did everything possible to disseminate accurate information and to answer questions. Anti-bond campaigners, most prominently Mark Hardy, disseminated disinformation. Because Mark Hardy chose to post his newspaper ads and lawn signs without the required paid-for-by disclosures, I filed a complaint against him with the state. What follows is the history of that complaint: my original filing; the state’s finding against, and formal warning to, Mark Hardy; and Mark Hardy’s rebuttal and my response to that rebuttal. The matter now goes back to the state for final resolution.
April 24, 2023: My complaint against Mark Hardy
Here is my complaint that I filed against Mark Hardy with the Board of Elections of the Michigan Department of State.
A. The complaint (with addresses deleted):
B. The photographic evidence that I submitted:
C. Confirmation from the Sun and News that Mark Hardy was the person who placed the anonymous anti-bond ads, and that in the opinion of the publisher of the Sun and News it was a mistake to publish the ads without a paid-for-by statement.
May 11, 2023: The Board of Election’s finding
Here is the letter from the Board of Election stating its finding against Mark Hardy and issuing a formal warning:
June 2023: Mark Hardy’s rebuttal and my response
A. On June 15, the Board of Elections notified me of Mark Hardy’s rebuttal and invited my response:
On June 25, I emailed my response to Mark Hardy’s rebuttal:
On June 26, I emailed this supplement to my response to Mark Hardy’s rebuttal:
Here are the two photographs documenting Mark Hardy’s complaint against Eric VanGessel in 2022 for the same violation that Mark Hardy himself committed in 2023.
A closing note
I would like to make one point clear: None of this represents a personal disagreement between me and Mark Hardy. I don’t think we have met in person. I have seen him at school board meetings, but I don’t recall ever speaking with him. What I am interested in here is establishing what the law requires in the important matter of local elections and referenda.
Since I began attending school board meetings and Caledonia United meetings in the fall of 2021, I have repeatedly seen and heard people making unsupported complaints against our teachers and administrators. In many instances, these complaints have turned out to be false, but the people who make them never admit it, and many of our fellow citizens are moved by the false complaints to take actions (such as voting against a bond issue) that tend to undermine our excellent public school system. So in May 2023 a bond referendum that should have been approved easily was nearly rejected.
This is a sick dynamic. I believe that one way to address it is to require everyone to adhere to certain minimum standards. For example: don’t break laws. That would be a good start. That’s what this is about.
Verba Sparsa 