Friday, October 7, 2005

Taxpayers shouldn't foot Currie's legal tab

Clerk hires private lawyers for new lawsuit over absentee votes

The Detroit News

Currie's snafus • August 2002: Tabulating absentee ballots in primary election takes more than a day after the polls close. • November 2001: Currie clashes with then Secretary-of-State Candice Miller over delays in counting mayoral election votes. • November 2000: Detroit voters complain of long lines and under-prepared polling places in national election. Source: Detroit News research Error processing SSI file Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie has now hired private attorneys to defend her against allegations of vote fraud and to pursue a new case -- all at taxpayer expense.

It is unclear what the private attorneys can do for her that Detroit's Law Department lawyers can't do, but her private attorneys wasted no time in injecting race issues into her dispute with the court.

Taxpayers shouldn't have to foot the bill for that.

Currie, who is in a re-election race with challenger Janice Winfrey, was fined $250 by Wayne Circuit Judge Mary Beth Kelly for defying her order to stop mailing unsolicited absentee ballots to voters.

Defeated City Council candidate Maureen Taylor has sued Currie and the city's Election Department, contending voter fraud resulted in her failure to make this fall's ballot, which gave rise to the court order.

Currie hired outside counsel to defend her against this complaint and, separately, to contest the court order and secretary of state's order not to mail the absentee ballot applications in Federal Court. One of her private attorneys, Steve Reifman, said the effect, if not the intent, of these orders is to make voting harder for the city's black residents, who are protected under the federal Voting Rights Act.

Reifman said he believes the Taylor suit is about at an end, but the next stage is pursuing the federal case. Reifman added that since Currie was personally named as a defendant in Taylor's suit, she wanted to have more control over her legal situation than the Law Department could provide.

He added that Currie wants to vigorously defend ballot access for Detroiters in the face of the orders from the secretary of state and Judge Kelly.

But at a time when the city is struggling with a deficit, does the city clerk need to be running up more legal bills at city expense? Especially since she can command the resources of the Law Department?

And if Clerk Currie is all that interested in protecting Detroiters' right to vote, that desire is certainly not reflected in her record of botched elections.

Under the City Charter, the City Council has to approve all outside legal expenses once they reach $25,000. Private lawyers can hit that total pretty fast.

Detroiters are interested in protecting their right to vote. But they are also interested in having their tax dollars go to more urgent needs than this litigation.

If the council is looking to save money, this expense is one place to start.