Media Advisory Contact:

December 16, 2021 Jessie Mitchell

jessie.mitchell@gmail.com

LOCAL ATTORNEY FILES LITIGATION AGAINST INGHAM COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION

AND BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO ADDRESS LEGAL VIOLATIONS AND LACK OF
TRANSPARENCY IN COUNTY GOVERNMENT
Complaints allege violations of Michigan election law by the Election Commission and violations of
Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act by the Board of Commissioners

LANSING, MICHIGAN – Local attorney Elizabeth Abdnour filed two legal complaints today to promote
transparency in local government. The first complaint was filed against the Ingham County Election
Commission, which wrongly denied Abdnour’s petition to recall Lansing City Councilmember Brandon
Betz at a clarity hearing on December 6, 2021. Abdnour’s petition seeks to recall Betz due to the
following:

On February 4, 2021 City Councilmember Brandon Betz sent the following text messages
to constituent Michael Lynn Jr. which are the basis of this recall: 1. “you’re a dickbag troll
who no one listens to. I heard you made enemies with Kathie too. Good work!” 2. “All you
want is power and everyone sees it. You’ll turn your back on any white person who doesn’t
do exactly what you want. Weak ass bitch.” 3. “I don’t represent assholes.”

Despite clear language in both statutory and case law that Michigan election commissions may only
consider whether recall petition language is clear and factual, the Ingham County Election Commission
wrongly denied Abdnour’s petition on the basis that it did not include a recitation of Betz’s “specified
outcome” – something Abdnour could not have included in the petition without engaging in speculation,
which would have violated the requirement that the petition be factual.

At the clarity hearing, the Election Commission read from a memorandum prepared by attorney Courtney
Gabbara which the Commission apparently interpreted as instructing them to consider whether the
petition included Betz’s “specified outcome” in verbally attacking a constituent. After the hearing, Abdnour
filed a FOIA request seeking a copy of the memorandum, which was improperly denied by the Ingham
County Board of Commissioners as an attorney-client privileged document. In fact, both Michigan and
Sixth Circuit law are clear that attorney-client privilege of communications is waived when voluntarily
disclosed to a third party, as the Commission did at the clarity hearing by reading from the memorandum
and relying on it to deny Abdnour’s petition.1

Abdnour is being represented Karen Truszkowski of Temperance Legal Group.

Plaintiff Elizabeth Abdnour said, “Ingham County appears to have a problem following the rule of law. I
can only imagine the obstacles a non-lawyer would have faced in my position. The intent of these lawsuits
is to make our local government processes as accessible to the community as the Michigan Legislature
intended them to be.”

For more information, contact Jessie Mitchell at jessie.mitchell@abdnour.com

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1
The clarity hearing audio can be reviewed on the Ingham County Election Commission website at
https://docs.ingham.org/12.06.2021%20EC.mp3.