Dear Editor,

At the national level, there has been lots of talk about a concession speech following the election. I had never run for mayor before and never lost an election when I ran for council in the past so I’m not sure what the proper local protocol is.
Just in case I am supposed to do something, here it is.
Congratulations to everyone who ran for public office and especially those who won. We all hope you serve with dignity and honor, faithfully representing everyone.
There was at least some choice in the City of the Village of Clarkston and the voters expressed who and what they wanted. Thankfully, the appearance of write-in candidates caused some last-minute discussion of issues in what had been complete silence.
Mayor Haven has made some post-election comments as reported in the Clarkston News, as have council members Bonser, Avery and Wylie. While it would have been nice to hear more from them prior to the election, we should welcome what they have provided after the fact as an indication of what the next year may bring.
Mayor Haven elaborated a little on the long-term legal matter of the City of the Village of Clarkston losing the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in the Michigan Supreme Court. He says it was a matter of principle, not the content of the documents, although he did not know what the content was until five years and somewhere around $600,000 in legal expenses later.
Perhaps he and the city council will someday elaborate on what the principle is that the city fought so hard to defend, and we may have to pay for, other than the city attorney being paid with taxpayer funds to keep city information from both the council and public exclusively at his discretion.
Given the continued general lack of discussion on spending and legal matters, I think we can expect that it will be business as usual in the City of the Village of Clarkston. The vote shows that a majority of those who voted are OK with that. That is how the system works. We can only hope that our elected officials put as much time, effort, and taxpayer money into representing us as they have in representing the members of the city administration and their efforts to keep information from us.

Sincerely,
Cory Johnston
Clarkston