Signs of the times: Williamston Board of Education candidates dinged over campaign signs

One candidate faced concerns about fundraising

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 — Four candidates for the Williamston Board of Education have been sent letters by Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum demanding they comply with the Michigan Campaign Finance Act . 

The letters were triggered by a 13-page itemized and documented letter to Byrum by Williamston resident Mark Lee. Byrum considered it an informal complaint and referred Lee to the Michigan secretary of state to file a formal complaint if he chose to. In a Facebook chat, Lee said he would be filing a formal complaint tonight. 

Lee’s letter documents instances where candidates had distributed electronic and printed materials without the paid-for disclosure that includes the proper committee name and address for the committee. Byrum sent letters to Jeremy Mourey, who is seeking to fill a partial two-year term, and Ken Kittendorf, Marcy Shepler and Morgan Raymer, who are competing for two, six-year terms. Also seeking the six-year terms are Sarah Belanger, Erika K. Bushey, and Christopher Lewis. Deborah Sue Wolf is a candidate for a partial two-year term. 

Kittendorf, Mourey, Shepler and Raymer were all notified their yard signs, printed materials and electronic materials did not have the required paid-for designation on them. Michigan Campaign Finance Act requires that all materials produced by a candidate committee include the name of the committee and the mailing address as well as a paid-for disclaimer. 

Raymer also appears to have violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act by soliciting donation checks made out to him, with a memo line for his campaign. Michigan law requires separate accounts for campaign funds and personal funds. 

“As soon as I got your message yesterday I rushed down to Mason to figure out what was happening,” Raymer said. “I have ordered stickers to correct the signs, and I went to the bank this morning to create a campaign account.”

Raymer’s only contact number is his work cell phone, but that too may run afoul of campaign finance laws. 

Bryum said in a text message corporations can’t make donations in Michigan, and “the utilization of corporate resources (phone) by a CTE [Committee To Elect] would be considered a prohibited contribution.”

He said he will reach out to Byrum to determine how to navigate the situation with his work phone so as not to violate campaign law. 

Kittendorf acknowledged in a phone call he had read the campaign finance manual the clerk sent after he became a candidate, but had made “an honest mistake” in not putting the full name and address of his committee — “Kenneth Karl Kittendorf, 2820 Linn Rd. Williamston MI 48895″ — on his signs and campaign materials. He had been using “paid for by the committee to elect Ken Kittendorf,” which was not the name of his committee nd did not include an address. 

Kittendorf accused City Pulse of “harassing” him for calling him to ask about Lee’s complaint, then said he was ending the conversation and to never call his phone again. He hung up. 

Mourey said the error in his signs of not putting the address of his campaign of was an oversight. He has since corrected that by placing the full “paid for” disclosure on stickers on his signs. 

Shepler said she had been attempting to contact Byrum’s office to determine what was wrong and how to fix it but had run into phone issues. City Pulse called the same number and found the same issue. Byrum was notified and texted within an hour that an electronic prompt had been left off the voice recording but has since been corrected. 

Bryum and Shepler connected this morning. Shepler said she will be filing a change of name for her campaign to correct the paid-for errors. 

She had been placing signs with  “Paid for by Marcy Shepler for Williamston Board of Education, 3485 E. Sherwood Rd. Williamston, Mi 48895.” The name of her campaign committee is Shepler Marcy J, at the same address.