Thanks John - you hit the nail on the head.

Cue the trolls.

I agree John. I would like to thank both Ms. Bluhm and Ms. Bittner for the depth of their integrity and professionalism.

I enjoyed the way you demeaned any opposing views by simply calling for trolls. Calling for trolls is being a troll. I like to see a bully put in their place. That is all that happened here. The bully pushed and the bully lost. They got what the wanted, to avoid a mandated election and have their non-elected person in there for additional time. Their plan all along. That's why they didn't allow the election process to happen so they could claim there wasn't enough time (after they illegally delayed it.) Keep the light brighter now more than ever and keep your eye on what changes in this time, it will hurt. They are counting on you being quieter and "just moving on." We will not accept even a hiccup and the microscope that has been created by repeated flagrant mistakes is why you are under such scrutiny. With so many more watching everything now, they won't blink without everyone knowing.

Let me say this again. Your own arguement is illogical. If Mayor Slater was after a power grab he would not have resigned his council position. Now he is guarenteed nothing unless he runs again. If there was a conspiracy it would have worked like this. Push to elevate CM's Tietz, Henderson or Flemming to mayor. Then you could push to have like minded persons elected and "grab" the majority. The Judge spoke, lets have an election and get on with the business of Troy. Gooooo Troy.

canseeonlyoneside, Utter nonsense. The Council voted to test the case of the charter against the SOS, 4 - 2. If they vote the other way (4 - 2, 5 - 1, 6 - 0) there is no case.There is also no "plan". Show us all how the Attorney or Clerk benefit from a decision in either direction. You can't, because they don't. According to the Charter, there wasn't enough time. There really isn't enough time for a May election, but a judge's ruling changes all that. Even the judge agreed there wasn't enough time for February. There will be an election in May, plenty soon enough. And again, show us all the repeated mistakes. They don't exist. Stop with the speculation, and come up with some facts.

I don't know about calling any woman "..a seasoned professional"

John – I enjoyed our conversation at the city council meeting when we both spoke. Unlike most of the other Patch commenters who have never met me, you and I found common ground even though we disagree on nearly every political issue. As an attorney I’d like your opinion on my blog post and assessment of Troy politics:

Please first read the comments on the news article about the judge’s ruling in FAVOR of the Secretary of State and AGAINST the City of Troy.

Like every council member and some city employees, Lori Bluhm has received high praise from some and criticism from others. Attorneys are trained to be calm and professional; it’s their job to present themselves well.

You did a much better job of presenting than I at the council meeting. I think my applesauce analogy was better content and explained why some are blind to the contributions of conservatives, but that’s a matter of opinion.

The intelligent, skilled professional Lori Bluhm was wrong about a special election not being necessary, since she thought the Troy Charter didn’t require it. State election law did!

She didn’t do her homework carefully on this very important issue, clearly, logically and articulately presenting a (wrong) opinion some considered to be partisan and politically motivated. She may deserve the criticism.

Do you think the cost of the suddenly-necessary heavily advertised “no special election” would have affected the outcome of the vote? The sanctity of the Troy Charter was the first of four reasons listed for recalling the mayor. It makes me think the air is bad for some inside the Troy Beltway just like DC.

John Kulesz, please leave your opinion on my blog post after reading it and the comments on the news article. Thanks!

Don’t you think your side should worry about the actual violence perpetrated against conservatives (recent beating in Lansing by union thugs), not mere words, which are flying both ways in Troy? Once again it receives a mild-mannered rebuke from the White House instead of strong condemnation. Shades of Mayor-until-May Dane Slater on the Martin Howrylak hit piece that made me revise my speech.

Ann Gault and Jeff S. should read my blog post and look in the mirror to know who the bullies are. We’re only trying to block a hostile takeover of our town and standing up for the written Constitution, with amendments by votes of We the People.

I so agree, John. You're right, she conducted herself with decorum and professionalism throughout this process. City Attorney Bluhm was between a rock and a hard place on this, thanks to Dan Brake, Bob Gosselin and company. Those attacking her should be ashamed. She is doing exactly what we pay her to do: she's representing Troy. The Judge's ruling should have everyone making an outcry about the State's ability to belatedly step in, toss Home Rule aside and side step our Charter. The City Clerk takes her direction from the County. If people want to have an issue with someone not checking with the state their issue should be with Bob Gosselin's pal at the County, Bill Bullard. This succession plan was very public for months; I'm sorry but something is just plain odd about it becoming an issue once the Recall was completed, especially given the political ties and binds between Gosselin, Bullard, and Ruth Johnson. The City Attorney's grace under cunning political pressure is to be commended. She did what was right and she did it well. I hope she knows many residents understand that.

She tried to save money by skipping the voting process and removing voters from the process. Then refused to allow anyone who was DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY to submit paperwork. This was to claim "well now we don't have the time" and you think the SOS should have acted sooner? What about not opening the email until AFTER the deadline? I have many facts about other issues but cannot post as they relate to the next BATCH of lawsuits. You will look back at this time as smooth compared to 2013.

Why not "hire" a mayor and add appropriations making a recall vote not possible? That would "save" some money. We could save a lot more, why not eliminate ALL elections. As long as it's not ugly for the city is the motto I hear OVER and OVER (that ship has sailed). Sometimes truthful debate gets ugly and costs money. Most of you pay more for coffee for what this election will cost you (less than a $1). If we don't see the "value" in elections, I cannot change your view but I absolutely see it (and it disgusts me).

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong (how many fallacies did you bring up?) She didn't try to save money, there was, and is a conflict between the Charter and State law (by the way, the lame ducks passed legislation to correct the State law on that issue last night, now the Charter doesn't have to be amended). They weren't doing it THE RIGHT WAY, there was no election called by Council, so no applications could be taken. They (Gosselin, Clark, Kempen, Brake) were DOING IT THE WRONG WAY. To accept the applications would have violated the law. The Judge also said there wasn't enough time for a February election, that means the SOS and AG WERE ALSO WRONG. The email was sent after business hours, so the Director of Elections WAS WRONG. Face it, you're disgruntled because your person is not the mayor, so instead of applauding the attorney for acting judiciously, you slander her for doing her job to the best of her abilities. Keeping in mind that the judge agreed with the City that a February election violates the Charter, and that a May election can only happen with a judge's order. So far, you have no facts.

"She tried to save money by skipping the voting process and removing voters from the process." There's one slander. She can't do anything of the sort without a vote of the Council. "Then refused to allow anyone who was DOING IT THE RIGHT WAY to submit paperwork." There's 2. As I stated, it would have been illegal for her or the Clerk to accept applications and money for an election that had not been called by Council.. "What about not opening the email until AFTER the deadline?" Implied collusion,. The email itself was late, negating any action or non-action she took. My apologies on the 'your peson' comment. I looked back, and you have not shown a preference for Mr. Fleming (I was not referring to the previous mayor). The election correction came from the Lansing State Journal. "Troy made a 3 month PLANNED bluff and lost." There was no plan nor bluff. There was genuine conflict between the 2 documents. And again, I apologize for he wrong assumption. There is no hate here, just an honest effort to support the attorney and clerk who have done nothing wrong in my mind. I am all for the May election. I also could have lived with an appointment (or 2) that lasted until November.

Clarification. The blurb on the election change is no longer in the Lasing State Journal. I'm trying to get confirmation on what, if anything, happened

You're correct, perhaps libel is the better term. I always get those two confused. I'm not looking for an arguement here, just trying to set the record straight. However, this wears me out, so I'll step back now, and le tthe situation play out.

How can anyone pat Lori Bluhm on the back?? She constantly misleads council and has the City involved with several Federal complaints. Ms Bluhm is wasting city dollars with arguments in court, which make no sense. City Charter does not supersede State law. As a tax payer, I wonder what the federal complaints will cost us....

CC, I’m on the Patch for constructive dialogue, seeking to understand others and solve problems, not asking for trouble. Plenty of people read my posts and like them but are reluctant to comment because they are called trolls and run off by people like you who gang up on anyone who disagrees with you.

We’re all trolls, conservatives who live in Florida or Alpena and even liberals from Troy, because we’re human beings with flaws and live below the Bridge (Mackinac, that is). So the ground is level.

The facts are a man was beaten up in Lansing. He didn’t ask for it any more than a rape victim asks for it by wearing provocative clothing. Or by being in the wrong place at the wrong time, unless peaceful counter-demonstrations are not allowed anymore. This is still a free country, last I checked.

There aren’t such acts of violence at Tea Party rallies. People are mostly polite and clean up after themselves. The anti-Tea Party rally in Washington, DC needed plenty of clean-up by government employees afterwards. How would union organizers feel about freedom of association if they were required to join the Tea Party and pay dues to it?

CC, This mixed martial arts expert has offered to drop assault and battery charges if the man who sucker punched him would fight him one-on-one in a cage fight with a referee.

I’ll bet you a quarter the coward who punched him with a gang of thugs around him will fight in court rather than a fair fight. The MMA expert feared if he had fought back in that situation he would have been beaten to death.

This story is being ignored by most of the media, where you form your opinions about what actually happened. (I don’t get all of my news from conservative outlets, but you ignore or minimize what news you hear through them.)

Try a Google search of “left wing extremists” and see how it comes out. Both searches are a waste of time, since you’ll get biased information with both.

My quarter is on the table. Reveal your name if you’ll take my bet about the cage fight or court fight. I’m not holding my breath.

Hey John Kulesz: Regardless of how "well-prepared" and professional you thought Bluhm was, we wouldn't have been there if she would have done her job right in the first place. Duh.

Bluhm did everything that she could to make sure Slater was annointed to the council. Maybe we should have a recall on the recall. Or, just let our annointed people keep appointing people until every position is full; this should give Bluhm all of the job security that she will need!

I have looked in the telephone book and in Google and am afraid I don,t find anyone with the name of canseeallsi!des. Therefore, since you wish to remain unidentified I find no reason to respond to any of your comments or questions. Just for the record I don,t work for the city but believe the city attorney as well as the city clerk made all of the right decisions in in case.

wlarue, I have been in two unions and got little benefit from them. I also see the good they can do for people in some cases. For sure they helped in the early days when workers were exploited by employers with poor safety standards and low wages. They also can cause hardworking people harm by forcing them to go on unnecessary strikes (the 1979 Caterpillar strike, for example) and division in cities.

I read an article that shows little will change in the auto industry from Michigan becoming a right-to-work state. The vast majority of autoworkers will continue to belong to the union and the overall business climate will improve, bring more jobs to our state.

The further you are from your customer the more likely you are to have an entitlement mentality. I'm critical of the violent behavior of some and the teachers who cared more about their union representation than their students.

Dave W., it was funny because most women don't like to be teased about their age. I know John didn't intend his comment as a sexist comment, and neither did Mumford or I. If you make a comment about a woman's age she could take offense at that.

I was teasing with my comment, not serious. Guess you couldn't see my tongue in cheek through the internet. Most of my other comments are serious. Since you don't know me, I'll try to refrain from any future dry humor or put an emoticon so you'll know it's a joke.

Lighten up and live! My profile picture has been called a Bilbo Baggins picture since I look small next to the Korean Fir that was too tall for our house. I've decided to take that as a compliment on my character rather than an insult on my height. I'm looking forward to seeing the Hobbit later this month and am a fan of Tolkien's novels.

John,
Well said and beautifully written. I attended the Oakland County Court hearing. Judge Langford-Morris surprised the court room as she sent both sides to the jury room to resolve their own differences. That didn't work. Lori Grigg-Bluhm's presentation was phenomenal. She has earned her stripes. She is a proven professional who represents the City of Troy, protecting the City Charter and the residents. Perhaps, that is why the STATE has retracted it's threat to appeal the matter to the higher court. In the end, the judge ruled in favor of a politically safe decision. The corrupt actions of our elected officials shall be remembered on election day.