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𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐆𝐀𝐍 𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏 𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐉𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 $𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎+ 𝐅𝐎𝐈𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐄 — 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄-𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋 𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐔𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ⁣⁣⁣ Michigan journalist Anna Matson tried to do what every citizen should be able to do — request public records. And Grand Blanc Township responded with a straight-up 𝐦𝐚𝐟𝐢𝐚-𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧: 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 $𝟏𝟎𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 for a FOIA request. Not $100. Not $1,000. 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫. 𝐎𝐧𝐞. 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝. For public records. The same township whose highest FOIA fee all year was $75 suddenly decided her request magically cost 𝟏𝟑𝟑,𝟎𝟎𝟎% 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. Totally normal, right? Nothing suspicious there. ⁣⁣⁣ Matson nailed exactly what this is: 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘹-𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 — 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. She’s right. This isn’t incompetence. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. ⁣⁣⁣ She also pointed out that FOIA isn’t optional — it’s literally the law’s purpose: 𝘍𝘖𝘐𝘈 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴. There is no universe where $100,000+ is a “cost.” 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐥 — 𝐚 “𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭, 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐧” 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 from people who forgot who they work for. ⁣⁣⁣ She hit the township board with the reminder they absolutely deserved: 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. Imagine needing to remind elected officials that they’re supposed to serve the public. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞. ⁣⁣⁣ Michigan has a corruption problem — and stories like this prove it’s 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐭 𝐮𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐒𝐮𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫. https://x.com/MichaelARothman/status/1994407067952537692?brid=AV_b-Mh8oG268vov3QD-5A