The story behind the story on Snow’s email | News, Sports, Jobs

“Every day you lead by example. Whether you realize it or not, or whether it’s positive or negative, you influence those around you.” — Rob Liano

I had the story ready for Tuesday’s paper, but no comment from Gordon Snow.

I received a copy of the email Snow, an Alpena Public Schools administrator seeking re-election to the school board, sent from his personal email account to the school email accounts of APS principals, telling the principals to ask all of their staff if they want to get yard signs to support Snow or contribute funds to his campaign.

We had a statement from an attorney for the Michigan Press Association who reviewed the email calling the missive “problematic” and saying it could violate the Michigan Campaign Finance Act’s ban on using public resources for campaigns, because Snow communicated with each of the principals via school email. accounts.

We received several phone calls and emails to the Secretary of State’s Office seeking comment, although they did not return our calls.

But I didn’t have Snow on the record and I didn’t get in touch with him until earlier Tuesday. I, news writer Steve Schulwitz and managing news editor Torianna Marasco decided that we hadn’t given Snow enough time to respond and that it wouldn’t be fair to run the story without giving her more time.

We decided to hold the story until Wednesday.

But until Tuesday, there was never any question whether we would run the story.

When I received a copy of Snow’s email, it immediately raised questions. I knew that the Campaign Finance Act prohibited the use of public resources for campaigns, and it appears that Snow’s email at least went along with that prohibition by asking directors, using work emails, to poll their staff to see who he wants to support Snow.

At the very least, it seemed unusual for a school board administrator (the school board has hiring/firing powers over the school district superintendent, making the school board the boss of every other school employee) to ask school employees to essentially act on behalf of his campaign.

So I reached out to the Michigan Press Association attorney, an expert in campaign law, who called the emails “problematic” and said Snow’s letter may have violated the Campaign Finance Act.

With that confirmation, we knew we had to report.

When any public official — of any political party or, like school board candidates, of no political party — does something questionable, taxpayers and voters have a right to know so they can judge the public official’s actions for themselves.

That’s why newspapers exist, to arm readers with the information they need to make informed decisions about how they want to engage with their community, including whether or how much they want to support candidates for elected office .

For Snow’s supporters, the email may have been a big no-no. Snow’s opponents likely see it as an act of disqualification. Voters just learning about Snow may fall somewhere in the middle.

That’s for our readers to decide.

Our job is to provide the information so they can make that decision for themselves.

I eventually got hold of Snow and spoke with APS Superintendent Dave Rabbideau, from whom Snow said he executed his plan to send an email to the principals.

Snow, a former teacher and APS principal, said he doesn’t believe he broke the law and never meant to do anything wrong, he just wanted to reach out to people he’s worked with for a long time to see if they’d be supportive. it.

Rabbideau said the district spoke with an attorney for the Michigan School Boards Association, who told the district that while Snow may have shown poor judgment with his message to principals, he likely did not break the law.

We also reached out to APS board president Anna Meinhardt, who told Schulwitz that the board plans to clarify its policy on proper campaign procedures.

We included all of this in the story — the Michigan Press Association attorney’s concerns about Snow’s actions, Snow’s explanation, Rabbideau’s insight into what the school board association had to say, and Meinhardt’s vow to work on policy.

A political group representing Snow’s opponents called for Snow’s resignation, and we included that in the story.

Armed with all this information, our readers were able to decide for themselves whether they thought Snow did anything wrong or how wrong his actions were and their level of support for him going forward.

If we had done nothing with the story, we would have robbed our readers of the chance to make that decision, and that would have been a neglect of our duty to our readers.

Justin A. Hinkley can be reached at 989-354-3112 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JustinHinkley.