Video obtained by The Midwesterner allegedly shows Green Charter Township Clerk Janet Clark distributing anti-recall lawn signs from the township hall on Tuesday.
The grainy video, which does not have an sound, shows a person walk into the township hall and be greeted by Clark. The two then went to Clark’s office where she had several “Yes Green Twp. Board” signs, and Clark could be seen handing one to the person with the camera.
A source tells The Midwesterner the incident occurred Tuesday.
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A video obtained by The Midwesterner allegedly shows Green Township Clerk Janet Clark distributing anti-recall signs from the township hall. A complaint alleges it is a campaign finance violation.
Clark and other officials are facing recalls over their support for CCP Gotion. pic.twitter.com/xqwZwTjH91
— The Midwesterner (@Th_Midwesterner) September 12, 2023
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Clark is one of several township officials facing a recall campaign over their support for a Chinese battery plant called Gotion High-Tech.
A campaign finance complaint was filed with Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) Tuesday alleging Clark and township Supervisor James Chapman committed a “169.257 PUBLIC BODIES ACT VIOLATION,” that is, “USING TOWNSHIP HALL TO DISSEMINATED (sic) CAMPAIGN SIGNS OPPOSIGN (sic) REFERENDUM AND SUPPORTING RECALL CAMPAIGN INCUMBANTS (sic).”
“A public body or a person acting for a public body shall not use or authorize the use of funds, personnel, office space, computer hardware or software, property, stationery, postage, vehicles, equipment, supplies, or other public resources to make a contribution or expenditure or provide volunteer personal services that are excluded from the definition of contribution under section 4(3)(a),” the complaint reads.
The complaint says the signs being distributed by Clark were paid for by “Citizens for Jim Chapman” and are “being stored and disseminated inside Green Township hall.”
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The video showing Clark’s alleged use of the township hall to fight the recall effort is the latest example of the tension and strife that have boiled over in the rural township.
Many residents have argued Chapman and the other township officials have not heeded their concerns over a plan to bring a 1 million sq.-foot battery components facility to the township dominated by farmland. Residents have argued the company’s documented links to the Chinese Communist Party may make the area susceptible to spying and the lack of any public environmental assessment should be reasons to discontinue the plan.
Chapman faces a recall election November 7.