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    • The recall petition against Mayor Warren Stone was denied by the board of elections
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    The recall petition against Mayor Warren Stone was denied by the board of elections

    Online Niel Posted on

    A recall petition against Warren Mayor Lori Stone was rejected Friday by the Macomb County Board of Elections because the language was unclear, according to a board member.

    Warren resident Paul Kardasz filed the recall petition, alleging that a Stone resident appointed to the city’s Historical Commission made “inflammatory social media posts,” including about Islam.

    But the Macomb County Board of Elections — made up of County Clerk Anthony Forlini, County Treasurer Larry Rocca and Probate Judge Sandra Harrison — voted 3-0 against Kardasz’s petition. Forlini said there were no arguments presented by either Stone’s or Kardasz’s administration at the hearing. He said he voted no because he felt the language of Kardasz’s petition was unclear.

    “It’s a matter of clarity,” he said, “so if the person seeing the recall petition … fully understands what it’s saying. Is that clear?”

    In Michigan, if someone wants to recall a city official, they must file a recall petition and then the county election board holds a hearing. The recall petition language must be approved before a petitioner can begin collecting signatures.

    The electoral commission determines whether the reasons for the revocation are factual and sufficiently clear, according to the law Michigan Office of Elections.

    Kardasz said he plans to take a second look at the language of the petition he filed, but he doesn’t have a “positive or negative” opinion of the commission’s decision. He’s considering filing another petition — either a revision of the original or a petition on an entirely different issue.

    “Overall, they did their duty as required by law,” Kardasz said.

    Kardasz requested the petition based on the appointment of Wesley Arnold to the city’s Historical Commission, who he said has a history of “inflammatory social media posts, including statements labeling Islam as a cult,” according to his recall petition. Arnold could not be reached for comment Friday.

    The agenda package for Friday’s Electoral Commission meeting included several images of Facebook posts.

    The appointment to the historical commission “was not consistent with some of the things that Mayor Stone talked about in terms of the city’s values ​​of diversity and inclusion,” Kardasz told The News.

    Stone said he wants any residents who have concerns or complaints to contact city hall.

    “We can only fix the problems we know about,” she said.

    Kardasz, for her part, said Stone “has made it clear she’s not interested in getting involved with people like me in the community.”

    Stone said he has not seen any posts from Arnold since he was appointed that were in opposition to the city’s anti-discrimination policy. However, she said the Council on American Islamic Relations had reached out to Warren and expressed concerns about Arnold, particularly about anti-Islamic rhetoric.

    She said she plans to sit down with Arnold to discuss the city’s anti-discrimination policy. Other possible steps include taking a diversity and inclusion class, along with pursuing some type of restorative justice. Restorative justice is when a person meets with parties who have expressed a concern and has a conversation about the issue, Stone said.

    “In a community with so much diversity, if you just shut everybody out, then we’d have a lot of people on the sidelines, a lot of people with hurt feelings, and we wouldn’t have the growth to move a diverse community forward.” , Stone said. “We must create a path to redemption.”

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