Let’s talk about how the City of Troy’s political activity policy happened and how it was used against me in short order.
Under oath, the City Clerk was asked if she had any involvement in drafting the administrative memo regulating political activity by City personnel and resources.
Her answer: “Yes.”
Then she was asked what her involvement was. Her answer: “I researched it and wrote it.”
The clerk writing HR policies for the city isn’t something I had on my 2024 bingo card. This matters because the City Clerk’s job is supposed to be administering elections, handling records, FOIA, council agendas and minutes, business licenses, notary services, and other clerk functions.
Instead, the City Clerk “took it upon” herself to rewrite a political activity memo that was later used to remove me from the Troy Fire Department after I filed to run for City Council.
Think about that.
The official responsible for administering elections helped write a policy restricting who could run. The policy was then adopted by City leadership, and then by the Fire Department. And I was terminated.
The City defended it in court. The City lost.
Then the City appealed. And the City lost again.
Two rulings have now confirmed what should have been obvious from the beginning: Troy violated Michigan’s Political Activities by Public Employees Act when it terminated me for running for City Council.
This is why the ruling matters. This was not just a bad personnel decision.
This was City Hall allowing an election official to help write a policy that restricted political participation, then using that policy against a firefighter who filed to run for office.
That should bother every resident in Troy, regardless of politics. You do not get to rewrite the rules when someone files to run. You do not get to use City policy to punish someone for running for office. You do not get to punish a public employee for participating in democracy.
And after two losses, as far as I can tell, the City still has not removed the policy from the books.
The courts have spoken. Now City Hall needs to decide whether it is finally ready to listen. The City Clerk should be protecting the integrity of elections, not helping draft policies that limit who can participate in them.
More to come.