Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero has filed a lawsuit against the Detroit City Clerk’s Office and the city’s election commission for disqualifying her from the Aug. 5 primary ballot, asking the court to certify her candidacy so she can seek reelection to her District 6 seat.
In the lawsuit, Santiago-Romero claims “wrongful disqualification,” saying she provided the appropriate paperwork and signed an Affidavit of Identity with the City of Detroit on April 17 when she filed to run without being informed of any issues or outstanding fees. A part of the language of that affidavit requires the signee to attest that they owe no outstanding fines or fees. And there’s the rub. The Wayne County Clerk’s Office — which is where campaign finance reports are filed — claims that Santiago-Romero’s campaign missed an October deadline for a quarterly campaign finance report and slapped her with a $250 late fee that still was outstanding at the time the councilwoman signed her affidavit, prompting the city to disqualify her from the ballot.
Detroit City Council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony for The Brooke on Bagley 78-unit apartment building ribbon cutting ceremony near the Michigan Central Station in Detroit’s Hubbard Richard neighborhood on Monday, June 10, 2024.
“It’s a shame that we have to go this far, but we have the facts on our side and will take this to court,” Santiago-Romero said in a statement Thursday. “We expect to win in court, and give voters the opportunity to decide who they want as their next city council member.”
Mark Brewer, an attorney with Goodman Acker and the former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, is representing her in the lawsuit. Santiago-Romero has scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. on April 25 at Clark Park to demand that she be placed on the primary ballot.
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Santiago-Romero said she received an emailed confirmation indicating her Oct. 25, 2024 campaign finance report was filed on time. But the campaign mistakenly filed it as a “pre-general” election statement instead of a “quarterly” statement, and the county asked her to refile it on Nov. 11, 2024. But after noticing the report did not appear on Wayne County’s campaign finance system website, the campaign filed another copy on Nov. 8, 2024.
The councilwoman said she received a “notice of failure to file” on Oct. 28, 2024, county records show. However, the lawsuit alleges the county clerk “failed to notify” the campaign of the Oct. 28, 2024 notice and Nov. 11, 2024 late filing notice by registered mail within four business days, which is required by state law.
“These failures mean that those notices cannot be the basis for the $250 fine, which in turn cannot be the basis for a claim that Santiago-Romero’s (Affidavit of Identity) was defective,” according to the lawsuit.
Michigan law requires candidates be current on all campaign finance statements, fines and other filings when running for office.
Santiago-Romero on April 17 filed more than 600 petition signatures and an Affidavit of Identity with the Detroit City Clerk’s Office, which did not inform her of an unpaid fine, leading her to believe she did not hold any fees or errors, according to the lawsuit.
However, on April 21, the councilwoman received a letter from the city clerk’s office notifying her that she had been disqualified due to the unpaid $250 fee, which was based on the duplicate Nov. 8, 2024 filing of the October 25, 2024 report. The lawsuit alleges the fee was erroneously assessed in the first place. She attempted to pay the $250 fee at the Wayne County Clerk’s office on April 21, but they refused, according to the lawsuit.
“This Court has found that candidates who dispute whether fees or fines are owed should not be disqualified from the ballot for allegedly filing a false (Affidavit of Identity),” adding that it will not harm the public if she appears on the ballot with other eligible candidates, according to the lawsuit.
Santiago-Romero’s lawsuit is not the first of this kind.
Wayne County Commissioner Tim Killeen said he dealt with a similar issue in 2022 after the county clerk found that he had overdue campaign finance reports and determined he was not eligible for the ballot. The commissioner filed a lawsuit through the Wayne County Circuit Court, in which a judge ruled he did not violate campaign finance laws, allowing him to be on the ballot.
“The entire basis of the Wayne County Clerk Office’s ballot disqualification was the $250 late fee,” Santiago-Romero said in a statement Wednesday. “Our campaign has now released conclusive documentation demonstrating that the fee was mistakenly imposed. Detroiters deserve better, which makes the Clerk’s inability to answer basic factual questions all the more disappointing.”
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gabriela Santiago-Romero sues Detroit city clerk, elections commission