Polygon, the Dancing Bear

Occasional notes on politics, history, technology, architecture,
and the life of a county clerk

2002:
May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2003:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2004:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2005:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2006:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2007:
January / February / March
April / May / June / July
August / September / October
November / December

2008:
January / February / March
April / May

Current entries

Sunday, March 26, 2006, 10:23 am

Local School on Comics Page. This morning's Speed Bump comic strip, on the first page of the Ann Arbor News Sunday comic section, shows several kindergartners in "letter jackets". On the left edge of the panel, the back of one jacket is partly visible with "Eberw-" and "Element-".

Is this a reference to Ann Arbor's own Eberwhite Elementary School? Yes! Turns out the cartoonist, Dave Coverly, lives in Eberwhite's attendance area. And the sign on the left edge of the panel looks like it has the Ann Arbor Public Schools logo.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum — Comments

Monday, March 13, 2006, 3:45 pm

From the Clerk-Register. Today's message to my staff.

Most of us came to work through the rain this morning. The rain has stopped for the moment, but another line of storms will be here soon. A tornado watch has been called.

It's pretty easy to feel downcast on a gray day when rain is falling on your head, when passing cars and trucks splash dirty water on your clothes or your windshield. Unless we are farmers or gardeners, we don't usually consider the lifegiving aspect of rain. Wet, annoyed, and in a hurry, we all think first of our own inconvenience and discomfort.

At least we don't take it personally. Setbacks and frustrations and accidents are part of the human condition, as are joys and accomplishments, and we learn to take the bad with the good.

But some people don't see it that way. Bad things don't happen by accident; they're all arranged by an evil conspiracy. Every small disaster is seen as further proof of this. There are no coincidences in the world of a paranoid person, no loose ends. Everything means something, because the conspiracy controls it all.

The word "paranoid" is not a synonym for "fearful". Paranoid people are very sure of themselves. They know what is going on, and see the rest of us as naïve or ignorant.

Nor does paranoid mean "crazy". Though paranoia can be a delusion, a symptom of mental illness, it certainly affects a lot of otherwise normal and rational people.

Paranoia is rampant in competitive endeavors like business, sports, and politics. After all, the other team certainly doesn't have your best interests at heart, and it's a short step from there to seeing the "enemy" as having hidden alliances and powers to control all kinds of things.

Paranoid explanations of world events may seem nonsensical at first glance, but they gain unexpected credence because they're neater and more emotionally appealing. Instead of multiple independent actors capable of doing evil, a paranoid sees them all working together in an all-powerful secret organization.

Of course, like anyone, paranoid individuals come to the Clerk-Register's office to transact business with us. In extreme cases, they may be condescending (if they see you as an innocent dupe) or hostile (if they see you as part of the conspiracy).

But regardless of deluded motivation, they are still our customers. If someone brings you an impossible request, calmly explain that you cannot fulfill it. These situations can be stressful; it is important to keep your cool and treat the customer with courtesy and respect.

And maybe some day they will come to realize we weren't plotting against them after all.

Let's have a great week!

Update, March 16: Following a comment pointing out the issue, I changed "unusual or impossible request" to simply "impossible request". "Unusual" requests should be no problem in my office.

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum — Comments

Tuesday, March 7, 2006, 9:05 pm

MARD v. MLTA, continued. For those of you who were still curious after the last installment of this soap opera, here's more:

Conflict has escalated between the Michigan Association of Registers of Deeds (MARD), representing the 83 county officials whose offices maintain the state's land records, and the Michigan Land Title Association (MLTA), a trade group representing title insurance companies.

Most Michigan counties have two separate positions of "County Clerk" and "Register of Deeds"; Washtenaw County has combined them, so I am both County Clerk and Register of Deeds, and thus a member of MARD.

Title companies are the most avid users of land records, especially the most recently filed land records, since they want to be sure that the titles they are insuring are safe from last-minute liens or other encumbrances. Obviously they want to get access to the information as cheaply as possible, and they are frustrated by the smaller counties which continue to charge the statutory rate of $1 per page, even if the page is delivered as a digital image. Counties that do "bulk sales" of deed images at a reduced rate often restrict resale of the information, so as to maximize the number of entities buying directly from the county.

The title companies have been pushing legislation (House Bill 5124) to put some of their desires into law, and this has been strenuously opposed by MARD. A hearing of the House Local Government Committee had been scheduled in Lansing tomorrow morning on the bill, and both sides were organizing to get lots of interested folks to show up and testify. Suddenly, this afternoon, the hearing was canceled.

Earlier, MARD president Lori Wilson (Montcalm County Register of Deeds) sent the following to a legislator, copied to other Registers of Deeds:

President of MLTA Jerome Jelenick call me last week with a threat, if we don't support HB5124 then are hurting our Counties. That the Register of Deeds offices will be getting sued and not only a couple of them, all of them! He said we will have more in attorney fee's than we would ever lose in bulk sales. I think he is getting scared that his bill isn't going anywhere so he is trying the scare tactic. I told him that with the law suits that are facing the Register's and now with his treats I didn't feel that we could ever negotiate and come up with wording that we agree on therefore I would see him in Lansing. He couldn't even agree to disagree, must be he is losing lots of money and wants to make it up at the taxpayers expense.

Today, just after 5:00 pm, MLTA president Jerome Jelinek sent the following reply to the Registers of Deeds (along with a copy of Lori Wilson's message quoted above):

Subject: Response to Lori Wilson E-mail

Dear MARD Members:

I just received a copy of the attached e-mail attributable to your president, Lori Wilson. Given the gross inaccuracies contained in the e-mail and the overall irresponsible action of distributing such misinformation, I feel it necessary to respond.

As you may read for yourself, Lori indicates that I threatened mass litigation if HB 5124 was not supported by MARD. First, I have not and would not make any "threats" regarding this issue. I have and will continue to conduct MLTA business in a professional manner.

Second, additional litigation and continued escalation of acrimonious behavior between Register of Deeds and those in the title industry is exactly what I have been fighting against since my term as president of the Michigan Land Title Association began last summer. Litigation is a wasteful process and should be avoided if at all possible. Furthermore, Register of Deeds and title companies have worked well together for decades; many still do. We are, in many ways, mutually dependent. Efforts by those to distance and destroy these long standing relationships are extremely regrettable and, in my opinion, constitute poor leadership.

What I most recently communicated to Lori Wilson was in response to her informing me that MARD was not in any way going to attempt to compromise and resolve this dispute. I informed Lori that as presidents of our respective associations, I felt it our obligation and in the best interests of both associations to resolve this matter through compromise and get back to our long history of working together to resolve common issues. A legislative compromise is our best hope of avoiding the current dark environment of lawsuits and appeals leading to more lawsuits and more appeals. I assured Lori that doing nothing, affecting no compromise as Lori indicated MARD supports, would not end the litigation mess that currently exists. I told Lori directly, if that happens, I would equate it as failure on my part and hers.

Reasonable people and groups may disagree. In the grand scheme of things, this is a mighty small issue that professionals in your organization ought to be able to resolve with the professionals in my organization. It does not warrant and we should not permit the type of emotion, false information and demagoguery that clouds the minds necessary to resolve this dispute. On behalf of the members of the MLTA, we would welcome your constructive efforts to fix this problem so we may proceed to mutually address others confronting the real estate industry. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jerome E. Jelinek
President, Michigan Land Title Association

Update, March 10: I received this yesterday, from the president of MARD:

To MARD Members,

I would like to thank every Register who sent letters, made phone calls, met with their Representative asking them to oppose HB5124. With all your hard work we were successful, the committee hearing was canceled because they knew they didn't have the votes to get it out of committee. A few of us met with Lew in Lansing yesterday, the work isn't over, they are working on some kind of amendments and they will try and bring this up again. So at a moments notice I might be asking you all once again to come to Lansing. They know what they are doing, between MARD and MAC we had to many members that were going to be in Lansing opposing HB5124. The next time they might not give us as much notice so we can't have as many people there to oppose it. I would like everyone who has a Representative that sits on the Local Government and Urban Policy Committee to send out a letter to their Representative and thank them for their support and ask them if this is going to come up again for a vote to please contact you before the meeting.

As many of you know from all the emails that you have been getting it is an extremely emotional time. I have not and will not respond to Jerome Jelineks email, I do not feel that I need to defend myself or our Association to him. He knows full well were our Association stands on HB5124 and he doesn't like it that we are winning the battle and protecting our Counties that put us in Office.

I hope to see everyone in Clare on April 9 & 10. I will have an agenda for you soon.

Again I can't thank you all enough. Remember TEAM work is Together Everyone Accomplishes More.

Lori Wilson
President

....Posted by Lawrence Kestenbaum — Comments

Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 2:32 pm

From the Clerk-Register. Yesterday's message to my staff.

Today is Election Day in Augusta Township, where they're voting on the recall of two officials, and in the parts of Ypsilanti and Salem townships which are in the Northville and Van Buren school districts.

Across the state, I think people are coming to know and appreciate the new schedule of (only) four elections per year: February, May, August, and November. I'm very disappointed that the Governor ignored this schedule when she set a special primary and special election to fill a state senate vacancy. Under the law, she has broad discretion to set special election dates, but she could have used that discretion to reinforce a consistent message about when voting takes place.

We have, in effect, a hierarchy of elections, with levels of participation such that we also have a hierarchy of voters.

If you vote in presidential elections in November every four years, you're a foot soldier in the great army of democracy. You have a voice in the final round of choosing the world's most important elected official. In Washtenaw County, there were 174,061 of you who voted in the last one.

If you also vote in the congressional and gubernatorial elections in November every two years, you've promoted yourself to corporal, a step more influential, helping decide who runs the state capitols, the U.S. House and Senate, the state House and Senate. In November 2002, this county had 108,382 "corporals" take part.

If you vote in the August primary elections every two years, you're like a sergeant, helping set up the choices that everyone else will have in November. In 2004, we had 36,794 "sergeants" making those critical selections.

If you vote in your local school elections, or in city or village elections for mayor or village president and city or village council, you're like a major, with a large voice in the world of education, or in the operation of your local government. The last round of city and village elections drew just 15,119 voters; the 2005 school board elections, only 17,778.

If you relate those last numbers back to the first one, that means that about 90% of the presidential election voters get no say in school and local elections.

Election consolidation is at least an attempt to change that ratio. Starting last year, school elections are no longer held in mid-June, after the school year is over, when many families are on vacation, but rather, in early May. They're now held on Tuesdays, like all other elections. For most people, school elections are now held in the same polling places as used in presidential elections.

In short, we have taken away some of the stumbling blocks which kept people away from taking part, and made it easier for a broader cross section of voters to participate.

But this year's school board elections (most of them will be on May 2nd) are not likely to draw many voters - because the candidates didn't show up. About half of the school board members whose terms are up this year are unopposed. That can't mean that everyone is happy about the state of the schools - a glance at any local newspaper in recent weeks would demonstrate otherwise. But few are willing to step up to the challenge of seeking election and serving on these boards.

The best chance of changing that is to expand the pool of people who participate in these local elections. When the whole community takes part, when knowledge is not confined to the few, better decisions result.

Let's have a great week!