Fool us once…

The reason I am urging us all to ask questions about the actions of “We Love Harbor Springs” is to prevent what happened last year from happening again.

𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗲. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘂𝘀.

This week’s Chamber Candidate Forum kicked off the election season in Harbor Springs. The same patterns from the last election are setting up to fool us again.

I am sure you have noticed that two of the City Council candidates’ signs are together in many of the same yards that hosted the red "Vote Yes" signs last fall. Lots of those signs are crowded along East Bluff (where it's quite possible a majority of the City Council would live-if we let it happen).

Everyone has the right to support whomever they want-loudly and proudly. But, we know from public filings that last year’s “Vote Yes” campaign was largely funded by “We Love Harbor Springs.” Draw your own conclusions about which candidates “We Love Harbor Springs” are supporting this time around.

These new signs are in many of same yards that had “Graham for Mayor” and “Reeve for Council” signs last fall. They were the candidates "We Love Harbor Springs" spent money to support in 2024, contrary to the law.

Will "We Love Harbor Springs" support their new candidates this year like they did last time? I hope not.

By law, all candidates for Mayor or City Council that spend over $1000 on their election efforts are required to disclose their donors and spending in public filings. That didn't happen last year. The failure is why it was hard to see that "We Love Harbor Springs" had contributed to Graham and Reeve. None of them filed any paperwork.

“We Love Harbor Springs” is continuing to raise and spend money from unnamed donors. They are doing so without the required filings. When they fail to file—it makes public scrutiny difficult. Avoiding accountability seems to be the point.

Earlier this week "We Love Harbor Springs" wrote on their Facebook page:

"𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙚𝙢𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙥𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙒𝙇𝙃𝙎 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣.

"𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨. 𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨, 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚."

It is great they now acknowledge they can't spend money on candidates. It is unfortunate that they, in fact, spent money on candidates last year. (Receipts in the the attached images)

I hope this year's candidates for City Council know better than to take money from “We Love Harbor Springs.” More than that, I sincerely hope our community doesn’t get fooled again.

None of what I have written about this week is normal. I am sure a few think it is no big deal. Let me be as clear as possible about what I think: Whether it was an accident or intentional, the actions of “We Love Harbor Springs” are unethical at best and illegal at worst. They are also not things most of us would ever imagine doing.

I think "We Love Harbor Springs" is trying to get us to believe that this is just how it goes. But it is not. What has happened in Harbor Springs is not how a community is supposed to act. It is not how we are supposed to respect one another. Not in a town our size (or frankly any size).

Most residents are flat out tired of it all. I am too. I want us to find common ground. But to get to a better place as a community there needs to be accountability and a genuine change in direction. Let's work together to move forward.