Ask ELi: Did You Hear About that Candidate Who…

The filing deadline to get on the ballot in the East Lansing City Council race passed last week and ELi has already had several readers reach out to ask us to clear up confusion about some of the candidates.

So let’s get down to brass tacks.

Question #1: “Doesn’t the city charter prohibit employees from running for council?”

This query has been directed to Steve Whelan’s run for office. Whelan has spent the last 25 years as an officer with the East Lansing Police Department. He officially retired on July 29, a week after the filing deadline.

What does the charter actually say?

“7.13. No regular City employee or administrative officer shall seek any elective office to the City of East Lansing, unless he or she resigns from his or her position with the City.”

ELi reached out to Interim City Clerk Amy Gordon to ask if Whelan’s candidacy breaks any rules.

“I wanted to ensure everything was according to city [statutes],” she said, “so I checked with our legal team who assured me that because he submitted his resignation before submitting his election materials, he is good.”

Whelan submitted his resignation on June 5, several weeks before filing to run.

“I have served the citizens for 25 years faithfully and now I’m looking forward to serving in a different setting,” he told ELi in a phone conversation. “My background as a city employee makes for a very unique and profitable situation as a city councilmember.”

Question #2: “Is it true that one of the candidates doesn’t even reside in the city?”

We received this question at the beginning of the week and began looking into the rumor to see if there was any truth to it.

ELi spoke with Liam Richichi on Wednesday and learned the origin of the confusion.

Richichi said he was living in a part of the city with an East Lansing address and was part of the East Lansing School District, however, it was officially in neighboring Bath Township, which was where he was registered to vote.

ELi asked former City Clerk Marie Wicks if the city requires a lease or deed from candidates for city office to prove their residency.

“[The clerk’s office] doesn’t require anything like that,” she said in a brief phone interview. “But what Amy [Gordon] does is check the voting records to make sure that they are registered to vote in the city. That’s how they confirm residency.”

Richichi told ELi that as soon as he learned he was actually in Bath Township — and before he submitted his official paperwork to run for council — he signed a lease for an apartment in East Lansing and changed his voter registration.

“I wouldn’t be on the ballot and I wouldn’t have signed an affidavit that’s legally binding [if I didn’t actually live in East Lansing,” he said. “I wouldn’t subject myself to legal action if I didn’t know I was doing the right thing.”

Bath Township Clerk Brenda Butler-Challender confirmed that some people with East Lansing mailing addresses would vote in Bath, and said the township contains residents with mailing addresses in four different jurisdictions. 

Richichi said that he knows he isn’t the only one affected by the gray area in terms of mailing addresses, school districts and voting districts. When families move into the area, some believe they live in East Lansing but are actually residents of Bath or Meridian Township.

Do you have questions about the candidates or need something cleared up about the election? Ask ELi and we might answer your quandary in a future article.