Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By IAN MINIELLY
Bessemer — During Monday’s Bessemer City Council meeting, Linda Nelson brought up the requirement in the city’s charter that prospective candidates for city office must be a resident within the city for at least two years to run for office.
Under the two-year requirement, at least three of the currently registered write-in candidates would be disqualified, potentially throwing the election into turmoil.
The council voted 3-2 on Monday to seek a legal opinion from city attorney Mike Korpela, if they could get it quickly.
Korpela said Wednesday under state law, the two-year requirement in the Bessemer charter cannot be used to disqualify otherwise qualified candidates who have resided in the city less than two years.
Korpela wrote, “A citizen’s right to seek elected office is a fundamental right under state and federal law. Any restriction on requirements to seek office must serve a compelling state interest and be the least burdensome method to achieve those results.
“By law, a candidate must be a resident and registered elector of the district from which he or she is to be elected, over 18 in Michigan, and live within the jurisdiction for more than 30 days and (be) eligible to vote in that district.”
Korpela brought up the past issue of John Frello and Kathy Whitburn returning to Bessemer and running for city council without meeting the two-year requirement of the charter. Korpela and former city manager Tom Chatel reviewed the charter and related case law and decided the two-year requirements have been struck down multiple times and could not keep them from running for office.
The prior election cases concluded, according to Korpela, “The state had no compelling interest in a two-year residency requirement and placed too great a burden on a citizen’s right to move and participate in the political process.”
Korpela said the two-year requirement is improper, unenforceable and cannot be used to disqualify an otherwise appropriate candidate.
He said Nelson is relying on incomplete research and ignoring the relevant cases regarding the two-year requirement and instead focuses on a case that, while similar, was decided based on technical grounds upholding Detroit’s residency requirement before the date of filing and was not about a two-year requirement like other cases.
Gerry Pelissero, Gogebic County clerk weighed in on the election confusion in Bessemer and said after checking with the Michigan Bureau of Elections the “county clerk possesses the authority to interpret and apply Michigan election law, the county clerk lacks the statutory authority to interpret a city charter.”
Therefore, “Any interpretation of the Bessemer City Charter as it applies in this situation would be the sole authority of the city of Bessemer and its legal counsel,” said Pelissero.
