I am not going to write about the craziness reported to have gone on at some of Michigan’s county GOP conventions on Monday. There’s plenty of reporting about it on the internet, so if you’re interested, Google away.
I must, however, write about reports that the Livingston County GOP did not allow reporters to cover its convention.
Of Michigan’s 83 counties, just three so far have been identified as barring reporters from Monday’s GOP conventions: Livingston, Clinton, and Kent. And if those three counties barred reporters from attending, those decisions are in violation of the Republican Party of Michigan Rules for Selection of Delegates and Alternates to the 2022 Republican County Convention and State Endorsement Convention.
You can check out the rules yourself by clicking here. I’ll save you a bit of time, though, and direct you to page 20, where you’ll see this:
The Michigan GOP intended county conventions to be conducted as open meetings; this means according to Michigan’s Open Meetings Act. Written in 1976, the OMA, along with the Freedom of Information Act, are known as Michigan’s Sunshine Laws, and they’re designed to make government processes and information open to the public. This is what transparency is all about.
That the local Republican Party would violate this rule is hard to believe because Meghan Reckling, chair of the Livingston County GOP, knows how to file Freedom of Information requests, and she is often concerned about transparency.
When she got upset about last summer’s proposed Drag Queen Bingo event, which had been planned for the Howell Melon Festival to raise funds for the Livingston Diversity Council, the local GOP filed Freedom of Information requests for emails “after it became clear that there was a lack of TRANSPARENCY regarding the … fundraiser.” At the state level, Reckling has taken to social media to decry lack of TRANSPARENCY with COVID deaths and the redistricting process, and issue calls to action.
It’s not a huge leap to figure that people who file Freedom of Information requests and get upset about lacks of TRANSPARENCY must surely understand the importance of open meetings, right? And skilled political operatives surely understand that covering political conventions is a staple of journalism in a democracy.
I needed to know: Did the Livingston County GOP really and truly bar reporters from its convention on Monday?
Multiple journalists and news outlets reported that it did just that. The Detroit News reported it. The Detroit Free Press reported it. Michigan Radio’s “Stateside” program talked about it.
Jordyn Hermani of Gongwer Tweeted about it, as did Zack Gorchow.
I still couldn’t believe that our local GOP, so concerned about the TRANSPARENCY of others, would think it serves democracy to turn away reporters when it came to their own meeting, so I emailed Reckling Tuesday morning to ask whether the reports were accurate.
Her response was confusing:
Per the Call to Convention, the County Convention is open to any Livingston County resident who wishes to attend and observe the process as a guest. Any individual representing a media outlet who is a resident of Livingston County was welcome to attend and report on last night’s convention.
So, if the reporter lived in Livingston County, they’d be welcomed with open arms, but if they didn’t live in Livingston County, they couldn’t attend? Was the Livingston County GOP actually imposing a residency requirement on reporters?
I was left scratching my head, so I emailed Reckling again:
I am interpreting your response to mean that only reporters who live in Livingston County would have been able to attend. Is that correct? I … want to be precise: Only reporters from Livingston County would have been able to attend the Livingston GOP convention. If that is correct, were there non-Livingston County residing reporters turned away from the meeting?
As of this writing, Reckling has yet to respond.
If, indeed, reporters — no matter where they lived — were barred from attending Monday’s Livingston County GOP Convention, one has to wonder why.
And in case you’re interested, here is the list of the 59 delegates and 31 alternates selected Monday to attend the upcoming Michigan GOP Convention:
DELEGATES
John Conely
Wesley Nakagiri
Meghan Reckling
Daniel Wholihan
Jay Drick
Mark Reckling
Elizabeth Hundley
Daniel Schifko
Jennifer Conely
Kristina Lyke
Donna Nakagiri
Denise Thornton
Lisa Schifko
Marcia Dicks
Paul Funk
Jason Huntley
Kathy Jacksey
Joseph Riker
Samuel Theis
Susie Dame
Bruce Hundley
Constance Robinson
William Garrett
James Bruney
Joseph Farkas
Robert Kittridge
Claudia Garrett
Tyler Hammock
Denise O’Connell
Joyce Secord
Lee Ann Blazejewski
Ivan Secord
James Thornton
Mark Fosdick
Frank Dame
Harold Melton
Cynthia Holland
Deborah Day
Dominic Restuccia
Jennifer Wiggins
David Tharp
Grace Dame
Jeffrey Wiggins
Karen Melton
Liberty Dame
Ronda Hawkins
Susan McDonald
Timothy Kandow
Laura Quinn
Cynthia Beach
Dennis O’Connor
Larry Parsons
Gregory Brown
Marie Anne Bien
Richard Knieper
Summer McMullen
William Nylund
Mari-Ann Henry
Sarah Kaake
ALTERNATE DELEGATES
Olivia Verfaillie
Douglas Helzerman
Vivian Nylund
Kenneth Verfaillie
Susan Aeschliman
Len Dorazio
Elizabeth Rozmarniewicz
Kimberly Rocheleau
Iyer
Tricia Fessler
Brett Snow
Greg O’Neil
Mary Beth Potrykus
Alex Yarber
Randall Mattson
Colleen Quinn
Harry Bowman
Christine Englert
Craig Drelles
Cynthia Decker
Timothy Quinn
Debra Coulston-Kwapisz
Robert Kwapisz
Jacqueline Zaplitny
Stacy Kraepel
Linda Williams
Kelly Powell
Linda Kilarski
Christopher Jones
John Byberg
Thomas Schaffer
