June 2025

Oakland County Commissioners may, or may not, be grappling with government transparency and ethics proposals in the months ahead.

I say may or may not because board and personal politics very well could have already doomed both proposals before they could get a fair hearing or any hearing at all.

The first proposal, in the form of a resolution, was put forth by county commissioner Kristin Nelson (D) from the 10th district which includes Waterford, West Bloomfield, Keego harbor, Sylvan Lake and part of Pontiac.

Introduced in early May, her proposal would establish financial disclosure for county officials, including the county executive, commissioners, county-wide elected officials (clerk, treasurer, prosecutor, water resources commissioner and sheriff). Also included would be members of boards and commissions appointed by the county board, the board chair and the county executive, as well as non-merit appointed positions.

Basically what she is proposing is the adoption by the county to mirror what voters approved for state officials in 2022 when the electorate ushered in Proposal 1. Although the enactment by lawmakers was not perfect, the way it is structured now, state officials and candidates for those offices must file each year financial disclosure reports to includes sources of income, assets and liabilities.

At the county level, Nelson proposes annual disclosure to include, at a minimum, sources of earned and unearned income, assets and liabilities, positions held in businesses, nonprofits and other organizations, spouse/household financial interests, gifts, travel and reimbursements from any entity doing business with the county.

Before anyone writes off the proposal as overkill, I share an incident from decades ago when the state had proposed bringing the M-275 highway through the western lakes of Oakland County to connect further north with I-75, and the prosed highway was stalled just south of Novi. At the time Dan Murphy was the county executive and he assigned one of his deputy executives to head up an effort to break the logjam to bring the highway through the lakes area. Coincidentally, as I was running a news organization in the lakes area at the time, we had assigned a couple of people to track all vacant parcels of land along the proposed highway routes and determine ownership. We discovered that as part of a group owning vacant land on the highway route was the very deputy county executive appointed by Murphy to push for the highway.

Needless to say, had financial disclosure been the law of the day, anyone, not just the media, would have had access to the information which proved a major conflict of interest.

Nelson tells me that her proposal has been sent to the legislative affairs and government operations committee where she says the committee chair is unlikely to give her proposal a hearing at all, despite her description of the transparency proposal as a “cornerstone of democracy.”

A similar fate is likely facing a second government reform proposal, this one by Democrat commissioner Charlie Cavell, whose 19th district serves part of Birmingham, Royal Oak and the communities of Berkley, Ferndale, Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge.

Cavell submitted a resolution to “establish an ad hoc Board of Ethics within Oakland County...as part of an effort to modernize the county's standards of conduct, which have not been updated since 1990. In response to the evolving needs of county government and public expectations for transparency and accountability.” The board would field ethics complaints against elected county officials and county employees.

I spoke with Cavell recently and he admitted that his proposal is dead on arrival, laying the blame at the feet of board chair and fellow Democrat David Woodward, whose district encompasses parts of Birmingham, Troy and Royal Oak.

Cavell admits that as board chair it is Woodward’s prerogative to suggest to committee chairs what resolutions (proposals) to move. I think that proposals for increased transparency and reform at the county level are at least worth a hearing and discussion.

Personally, as a long-time advocate for government reform, I draw the line at the local level where I was convinced by a group of local township supervisors many decades ago that financial disclosure at the local level would prove to be a major deterrent for those willing to volunteer to be involved at the local level on boards and committees where pay is token at best, if at all. But when we talk about the county board and the county-wide elected officials, I think it’s a legitimate concern.

If you are so inclined, take the time to tell Woodward to at least give these proposals a consideration. Woodward’s email address is WoodwardD@oakgov.com. I like Woodward and have found him reasonable in the past. Who knows, in that he admits he is considering a run for the 11th congressional district now served by Haley Stevens, he may just be willing to listen directly from local residents.

To me, it’s a no-brainer to at least consider having a legacy that includes added transparency, probably a first for the 83 counties in Michigan, and right in line with the leadership position Oakland holds on so many other issues.

Downtown SPJ awards

The Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) have released the results of the 2024 competition and members of our publishing team picked up recognition in a few categories. Judges were SPJ members in other states.

Our team members compete in the Class C (under 50,000 circulation) category.

Cover Design: Chris Grammer took third place for his December issue design of the cover for the Restaurant Inspections longform story.

Health Reporting: Mark Stowers took second place for his December story on Restaurant Inspections.

Environment Reporting: Stacy Gittleman took second place for her July longform on Fluoride in Water, many months before it became a national issue.

I remind readers that locally we are the only publication still committed to providing longform story-telling on critical issues. These stories are planned out months in advance and require weeks of work on the part of the reporter writing these pieces. So recognition by journalism piers is an honor.

David Hohendorf

Publisher

DavidHohendorf@DowntownPublications.com