SMART bus system general manager hit with campaign finance complaint

Christina Hall | Detroit Free Press

The chairman of a taxpayer group funding a campaign against the SMART millage in Tuesday's election has filed a campaign finance complaint with the state against the bus system's general manager.

Michigan Taxpayers Alliance Chairman Leon Drolet said he mailed a complaint against John Hertel, general manager of the Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation, to the state Bureau of Elections on Thursday

Drolet charges that Hertel abused his position and violated state law Wednesday by directing SMART resources, including vehicles and personnel, to promote passage of the ballot question during a demonstration at Lake St. Clair Metropark in Harrison Township.

The event was dubbed, in a SMART press release, as a mock demonstration of emergency preparedness to show the importance of the bus system during a potential disaster.

It was a mock race with two teams, one led by Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, the other by Mickey Redmond, color analyst for the Detroit Red Wings. They were to load emergency supplies on and off vehicles to see which team had the fastest response time. SMART drivers navigated the course.

There was no mention of the proposed millage in the news release.

Drolet said Hertel was quoted in a Detroit News article Thursday saying the event was for fun but that the serious purpose of the race was to demonstrate why citizens should vote in favor of the millage on Tuesday, according to Drolet's complaint.

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"Mr. Hertel's defiance of the law is clear and blatant. Mr. Hertel has a very long career as an elected official and public employee, and should be very aware of state laws prohibiting use of taxpayer resources to influence elections thus his violation can only be interpreted as willful disregard of the law," according to the complaint.

The state has not received the complaint, said Fred Woodhams, spokesman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. He said once a campaign finance complaint is received, the state has up to five business days to determine if it will be investigated or dismissed.

Hertel said in an email: "SMART is unable to comment on a complaint that it is not in receipt of."

The SMART millage renewal on Tuesday's ballot would be for four years and would generate $71.4 million in the first year.

Ballot language in Oakland and Macomb counties will include the SMART renewal and a very slight millage increase because both counties collected just under the current rate of 1 mill the last several years because of Headlee rollbacks.

For voters in Wayne County, the 1-mill proposal is a renewal because there was no rollback that affected the rate being collected, according to Robert Cramer, SMART's deputy general manager.

The 1-mill rate would cost a taxpayer with a $100,000 home about $50 per year, David Sabuda, SMART's director of finance, previously said.

Hackel and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson are urging voters in the tri-county area to approve the SMART question, saying SMART is the regional transportation system. They were against a separate regional transit tax that ended up not getting on the ballot this year.

Transit advocates, such as Motor City Freedom Riders, are encouraging yes votes on the millage. Megan Owens, executive director of Transportation Riders United, told the Free Press in April that SMART provides a "critical service to tens of thousands of people every day, to school and work and doctors."

But Drolet, a Republican Macomb County commissioner, has said "SMART is the most expensive, inconvenient way of moving people around in metro Detroit. It is a disservice to the riders and a disservice to the taxpayers both."

He said the taxpayers alliance has contributed about $80,000 to the anti-SMART campaign. That's more than the $67,000 campaign to defeat the 2016 ballot question that would have funded regional transportation.

The state may not even receive Drolet's complaint against Hertel and determine whether it will investigate it before voters go to the polls Tuesday.

So what does Drolet hope to accomplish?

"There is a widespread problem of public officials campaigning, using taxpayer dollars, that is frankly an epidemic," he said. "What we're trying to do is let these elected officials know we are paying attention and try to hold them account to the extent the law will allow."

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.