Some Hartland School Board Candidates Care About the Law, Some Do Not
Complaints filed against Hartland School Board Candidates Bugni, Dumond, Glabach, and Hemeyer
Hartland Township Michigan - Hartland Township resident Wes Nakagiri has filed a complaint with the Michigan Bureau of Elections against four Hartland School Board Candidates for campaign finance violations. The four school board candidates are Vic Bugni, Thom Dumond, Meghan Glabach, and Michelle Hemeyer. Representing the status quo, these four candidates are running together as a team seeking election to all four school board seats up for grabs in the November 8, 2022 election.
Nakagiri alleges each member of the status quo team violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (Act 388 of 1976) when Glabach’s candidate committee paid for advertising for Bugni, Dumond, and Hemeyer.
Section 71 of the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCL 169.271) states, “A candidate committee shall not make a contribution to another candidate committee. This subsection does not prohibit the purchase of tickets to another candidate committee's fund-raising event that does not exceed $100.00 per candidate committee in any calendar year. A person who knowingly violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000.00, or imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both.”
By paying for advertising for her other team members, The Committee to Elect Meghan Glabach made prohibited campaign contributions to Bugni, Dumond, and Hemeyer. Similarly, by accepting this prohibited contribution, Bugni, Dumond, and Hemeyer also violated the law.
The status quo’s illegal contribution was in the form of an advertisement published in the September 2022 edition of Community Life. The ad can also be view at Community Life online, page 20. This ad clearly states the Glabach campaign paid for this ad on behalf of the entire status quo team.
In contrast to the status quo team, a team of four conservative candidates chose to comply with the law. The conservatives’ website (https://vote4cleanslate.com/)) shows an opposing team of four conservative candidates complying with campaign regulations. The campaign committees of Michelle Blondeel, Glenn Gogoleski, Greg Keller, and Bob Merwin chose to understand the law and properly pay for their advertisement/sign.
Commenting on these violations Nakagiri said, “It is clear that these status quo candidates have two things in common. The status quo candidates didn’t care about campaign laws. And they also didn’t care about how Hartland Consolidated Schools’ COVID policies would harm our children. It is up to authorities to hold these candidates accountable for their unlawful actions. More importantly, it is up to voters to hold them accountable for the crushing harm they have inflicted on our children’s health and education. Our children deserve better than the status quo.”
Wes Nakagiri (R) currently serves citizens of Hartland and Tyrone Townships as County Commissioner. He also serves as the head of Livingston County government as Chairman of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners. Due to new district boundaries he is running for re-election serving the citizens of Hartland Township and citizens of Oceola Township who live east of Latson Road.