Republicans in Oakland County lose legal battle to unseat new executive

Bill Laitner | Detroit Free Press

An Oakland County judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Republicans seeking to unseat the Democrat who succeeded legendary Republican L. Brooks Patterson as county executive.

The lawsuit also challenged the legitimacy of the Democrats' leader on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, seeking to kick him off the panel.

Had the Republicans prevailed, they would’ve expelled County Commissioner David Woodward, D-Royal Oak, chair of the county board of commissioners, ending the Democrats’ slim 11-10 majority. They also would’ve nullified the historic 11-10 vote, led by Woodward and cast two weeks after Patterson’s death, that appointed, on straight party lines, Patterson's successor — David Coulter, who, at the time, was the mayor of Ferndale.

But with Wednesday's ruling, the status quo reigns, and so does the hierarchy of Democrats running Michigan’s most affluent county. The ruling was issued from the bench by Oakland County Circuit Judge Daniel P. O’Brien.

Despite losing, it was good that “we finally got a decision,” said Oakland County Commissioner Michael Spisz, R-Oxford Township, the lead plaintiff on the Republican side.

Sounding conciliatory, Spisz said: “We’re holding no grudges. We’ll continue to work for the residents of Oakland County."

But the county's Republican leader was bitter. The ruling left Republicans with "no options," said Rocky Raczkowski, chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party.

"It's sad that the judge wasn't up front with us from the beginning, because, by dragging this out, he's given us no time to appeal" before next year's elections, Raczkowski said.

"There's nothing we can do. The cost and the timing to appeal? Absolutely not," he said, after calling O'Brien's ruling "incomprehensible" and saying "the judge's decision was 'clear as mud,' to use his own words."

According to Raczkowski and other political experts, by the time the Michigan Court of Appeals could rule on a Republican appeal, Oakland County voters likely will render the issue moot at the polls. In the August 2020 primary election, voters will choose one Democrat and one Republican to vie for county executive in the general election in November. On the Democrats' side, Coulter, as well as Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner, have declared candidacies. No Republican has declared, although Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard — long considered Patterson's heir apparent — has said he would not run.

Regardless of who is elected, Coulter now seems safe from legal challenges and free to serve out Patterson's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2020. Immediately after the ruling, Coulter said in a statement:

“We are pleased with the outcome of today’s circuit court ruling, a case which never deterred my administration from moving Oakland County forward.

“We will continue to focus on building on Oakland County’s strengths through balanced fiscal policies and renewed economic development that celebrates the diversity of our residents and creates economic opportunity in all parts of our county.”

Woodward called the lawsuit “a frivolous political stunt.” He added: ”We’re very pleased that the judge saw it for what it was and dismissed it." Reached at Metro Airport as he prepared to leave for a business conference in New York City — Woodward is a nonprofit executive as well as a part-time county commissioner — he said he did not attend Wednesday’s hearing because he was confident of the outcome.

The Republicans' lawsuit listed three defendants – Coulter, Woodward and the board of commissioners as a whole – so they required three attorneys to fend off the GOP challenge.

The initial version of the lawsuit was filed in a rush on Aug. 16, minutes after Republicans on the county board discovered that Woodward was requesting to return to the board, after resigning a week earlier to apply for the appointment to succeed Patterson. Republicans immediately challenged Woodward’s right to rescind his resignation, saying he’d put his resignation in writing to the county clerk and even told payroll to stop his commission pay. Yet Woodward was armed with a legal opinion that said his resignation wasn’t final under state law, until the board of commissioners approved it. And the commissioners had taken no such vote.

That morning, just before the slim majority of Democrats voted to appoint Coulter as county executive, a lawyer for the Oakland County Republican Party rushed to court seeking to block the vote with a temporary restraining order. That effort failed. The Republicans tried and failed again a few days later, as they sought a preliminary injunction, which also would’ve undone the Democrats’ wresting control of county power.

Instead, in the second court hearing, both sides got a mild dressing down from Judge O’Brien, who told them he would not issue a quick decision, that they must "wait in line like everybody else," and to prepare for a full-blown trial. Since then, following months of marshaling evidence and legal arguments, the two sides met Wednesday, when they heard O’Brien end the quirky political drama.

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Contact Bill Laitner: blaitner@freepress.com