Charter Commission chair says website changes unrelated to criticism

FRIDAY, OCT. 10 — Changes to language on the Lansing Charter Commission website were unrelated to criticism that the commission had crossed a legal line by using "persuasive" wording, Commission Chair Brian Jeffries said today.

The update was made “to reflect the same language and wording in our first educational mailer for consistency purposes, and was not the result of any recent public comments,” Jeffries' statement said.

City Pulse reported yesterday that the lansingvotes.gov/yourcharter website had been updated to change the phrases “improves transparency” and “increases accountability” to “seeks to improve transparency” and “seeks to improve accountability.” The changes followed criticism of the mailer and the website by City Council President Ryan Kost and Councilmember Brian T. Jackson at the Sept. 29 Council meeting. 

At the meeting, Kost and Jackson alleged the publicly funded mailer violated election law because it was “persuasive,” according to Jackson. Kost later filed a complaint with state officials.

But Jeffries said the commission holds that the mailer was educational, not persuasive, and that the changes simply brought the online language in line with the mailer’s.

“It should be noted that the Charter Commission disagrees with the claim that our recent educational mailer was ‘persuasive’ in any way,” he said. “This piece was carefully developed to provide factual, accurate information to residents about the proposal, its background, and its potential impact on our community. All of our content is strictly educational in nature and provides voters with objective information so they can make their own informed decisions.”

He also said the page is “continuously updated with new educational materials, including the recent addition of a video presented on the proposed charter revisions,” which he encouraged residents to watch.

The mailer said the charter "seeks to strengthen transparency and accountability in city government and broaden representation."

Other language on the website, also critiqued by Kost and Jackson at the meeting, such as the verbiage around voting to retain a strong mayoral system “to ensure the mayor remains accountable to voters,” remains unchanged.