Motion asks state Court of Appeals to disqualify northern Michigan candidate elected to 2 offices

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An incumbent Michigan county treasurer who lost reelection is asking the state Court of Appeals to disallow her successor from taking office because she was also elected to a school board.

The filing, made by the attorney for current Montmorency County Treasurer Cheri Eggett, claims that Linsey Rogers, who was elected Nov. 5 both to be the county’s treasurer, as well as a member of the Atlanta Community Schools board of education, should be disqualified from both positions.

Rogers defeated Eggett for county treasurer in the Republican primary in August, forcing Eggett to run as a write-in candidate in the general election, where she again lost to Rogers.

Attorney David Delaney of Gaylord wrote that two separate opinions, one in 1990 by then-Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelley, and another in 2002 by then-Attorney General Jennifer Granholm, establish that holding a fiduciary position such as treasurer while simultaneously serving as a school board trustee represented a disallowed conflict of interest, as a treasurer collects tax revenues that are managed by the school board.

“…a candidate who files for more than one office when the offices are incompatible and fails to select only one of those offices within three days after the last day for the filing of petitions, will be disqualified from both offices,” Delaney stated, citing a section of Michigan Election Law, MCL 168.558(5).

Eggett’s motion seeks to overturn a ruling in October by a Montmorency County judge, who questioned whether the AG opinions applied in this case as they referenced city and township treasurers, and not county treasurers, who the judge said may more accurately be described as holding tax revenues, as opposed to collecting them. 

While Delaney argued that state law not only required Rogers’ disqualification, it also said any votes for such a candidate should be voided, the judge eventually rejected the motion, saying the case had been filed too late as balloting had already begun.

The lawsuit itself is against Montmorency County Clerk Cheryl Neilsen, who the filing points out had been notified both prior to the election of the conflict, as well as afterward, but declined to take action, saying it was too late.

The suit also notes that Neilsen “has not taken a position” on whether the offices are incompatible.

“The clerk may not sit on the sidelines and then claim that it’s ‘too late’ before and after the election. The clerk is the Chief Election Officer. She must take a position. The offices are incompatible,” stated the motion.

Eggett’s motion requests the Michigan Court of Appeals disqualify Rogers from holding both offices, and do so before Jan 1, 2025 when Rogers is set to take office in both roles.

In an Oct. 3 post on her Facebook page, Rogers said she didn’t feel holding both offices was incompatible, but if it was determined they were, she would let go of her role as school board trustee.

“My primary focus is and has been, to become the next Montmorency County Treasurer. Therefore, if the positions were to be incompatible, I have met the requirements under the law to restrict my candidacy to a single position – – Montmorency County Treasurer,” wrote Rogers.

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