Did Plymouth Township Treasurer Ron Edwards Abuse His Power?

First the required disclaimer: I write about things that interest me. I share my opinions, but they are only MY opinions. They are not the opinions of Patch. I write a blog, not articles. I am (unfortunately) not paid to write MY opinions by Patch, nor anyone else.

This blog is going to be about whether or not Plymouth Township Treasurer, Mr. Ron Edwards is fit for public office. It is going to be about the concept of abuse of power, and punishing your enemies. It is all serious. There will be no poking fun at anybody, and there is no humor in it whatsoever. This is serious business.

Mr. Edwards is asking you to elect him for four more years. He is asking you for a very large salary. Most importantly, he is asking for your trust.

You are being provided an official court document, an official fax from Plymouth Township Treasurer Ron Edwards, a letter of response to address Mr. Edwards' fax, and some background information about one of Mr. Edward's victims.

After looking at these documents, I would hope that you take the time, and think very carefully about whether of not he should be trusted in his position as Treasurer of Plymouth Township.

First and foremost, I must tell you that the events I am writing about took place back in 2003, and while this is old information, I believe it shines a very bright light on the character of the man who wants to continue to be your Plymouth Township Treasurer.

The key events:

March 12, 2003:

Plymouth Township Treasurer Ron Edwards was sued for non-payment for a sign that was created for him by Graphic Visions. This sign was apparently for the Good Old Fashioned Picnic, an annual event that Ron started, and still continues today.

The case was tried at the 35th District Court, Small Claims, in front of Judge John MacDonald. Mr. Edwards was sued by Susan Dillon, the owner of Graphic Visions. While Mr. Edwards was named as the defendant, the address listed on the court document was the address of the old Township Hall. (Why is it the Township Hall address, and not Mr. Edwards home address?)

Judge MacDonald ruled in favor of Susan Dillon, the owner of Graphic Visions in the full amount of $466.00 as well as $25.00 court costs.

Mr. Edwards paid the amount in full, immediately after the judgement was made for the Plaintiff Ms. Dillon. (Did Mr. Edwards pay this personally, or did the Township reimburse him?)

On the same day, only hours after the small claims case was decided, Ms. Dillon received a fax from the Charter Township of Plymouth, Office of the Treasurer, informing her that she had a delinquent personal property tax bill. This fax states that it was sent by Plymouth Township Treasurer, Ron Edwards.

This was a personal property tax bill for Susan Dillon/Graphic Visions for the winter of 1999, and according to the bill it was for the amount of $253.36, and he added a penalty of $10.14, and added interest in the amount of $93.75 for a total bill of $357.25.

March 26, 2003:

Tedder Consulting, which was a Certified Public Accounting firm representing Graphic Visions, sent a letter to thenPlymouth Township Supervisor Steve Mann addressing this matter. This letter was also sent to Judge John MacDonald.

The letter informed Mr. Mann of the events related to this matter, and indicated that Ms. Dillon's records indicated that she neither received an invoice from Plymouth Township, nor had she paid this tax.

It went on to indicate that Ms. Dillon had moved her business to Northville shortly before filing her 1999 Personal Property Statement, and it may be possible that she didn't get the bill. Ms. Dillon indicated that she was certain though, that she has never received any correspondence from Plymouth Township until Mr. Edward's fax, hours after the court case was heard and decided in Ms. Dillon's favor.

The letter went on to indicate that Ms. Dillon wrote a check for this tax, including penalty, and interest, and does not dispute the amount, only the date she was asked to pay this bill.

Ms. Tedder, who wrote the letter, concludes by informing Township Supervisor, Mr. Mann that the timing of the invoice is the reason she is reporting this matter. She went further to say that it she considers it a blatant misuse of his power as an officer of the Township.

Ms. Tedder went on to say that she hopes the community does not encourage the collection of its revenue by having Mr. Edwards determine the timing of Township invoices, and to whom they will be sent. She states that if the Township was interested in collecting this revenue, it would seem that it would have been handled in the prior three years.

Ms. Tedder went on to question how many other businesses owe the Township personal property tax, but have never received an invoice?

Ms. Tedder concluded her letter by stating that it is her opinion that Mr. Ron Edwards should be reprimanded for using his position to settle personal vendettas.

Okay, let's review: Treasurer Edwards gets sued in small claims court for non-payment. He loses. Hours later a delinquent tax bill for the person who just sued him, magically shows up on his desk. He faxes her, and demands immediate payment including penalty and interest.  It absolutely stated "immediate payment" on his cover sheet.  This is a sign of his anger.

These are the facts, and there is no wiggle room in the course of these events. No room for Mr. Edwards spin it, or do any damage control. Look at the documents. There is not one single way that Mr. Edwards can spin this story to change the truth of it.

You have the official court document. You have the official fax from the Charter Township of Plymouth. Mr. Edwards sent it. He demanded it be paid immediately.

The most damning thing of all, is the date on the court document, and the date on the fax that Mr. Edwards sent to Ms. Dillon. THE SAME DAY!

The same day.  He lost in court, and the same day, he found a three year old tax bill for the person he lost to.

This is an outrage! This is the perfect example of a vindictive man, who will stop at nothing to punish anyone who doesn't bow to his will. It is the worst example of misuse of power that I can think of, with the obvious exception of sexual harassment.

There is no way in the world that a 3 year old tax bill for Ms. Dillon just magically appears on Treasurer Edward's desk, a mere hours after she just won a small claims case in court over the guy. It is more likely that I could get a hole in one on every par three hole at Hilltop. All in the same round.

This is no coincidence, and everybody involved knows it.

In the interest of fairness though, I spent some time looking into the business dealings of Graphic Visions. That is only fair, and one learns in life that you have to be diligent in these matters.

I found that Graphic Visions has been a successful business for over 25 years. They have been featured in the local trade publications, and even won Honorable Mention in the 2010 International Sign Contest for best Electric Monument Sign.  I don't know much about the sign business, but I suspect that a small business in Northville winning an honorable mention in an international contest is a good thing.

I even went further in checking out Graphic Visions.  I went to the Better Business Bureau to check on any complaints or concerns that may have been filed. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Graphic Visions has zero complaints, and zero issues filed for as far back as the Better Business goes.

I also went to ComplaintsBoard.com which is another popular site for those vetting a business. I checked everywhere I could, and I have found nothing negative. Not one complaint whatsoever.

So, if Mr. Edwards tries to say that he was unhappy with the work done by Graphic Visions, he is lying. If he was dissatisfied, why no complaint? He got a quote for the job. He picked up the final product, then he welched when it came time to pay. He stiffed her.

Plymouth Township taxpayers pay this man somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred thousand dollars a year, and he stiffed her. That my friends is a fact, and there is nothing anyone can say to change that truth.

This all leads to the big question everybody should be asking themselves. How many other businesses have not been charged for their taxes? How much revenue has been lost due to the ineptitude of the Treasurers Office headed by Mr. Edwards?

How many businesses have been incorrectly taxed for revenues they possibly didn't owe? If the man can bungle a tax bill one way, it would stand to reason that it is possible he could bungle it the other way as well. Who knows anymore?

Seriously, if he couldn't figure out that she owed this money in the three years prior to losing to her in court, who knows what other "mistakes" have occurred? It's obvious he only found this error because he was PO'd about losing in court to her, so how many other cases are out there that we don't know about?

To be honest, how do we even know that she actually owed this money? He came back to his office after losing in court, and suddenly this bill shows up? I don't know whether Ms. Dillon even challenged the validity of the bill. Maybe she was intimidated by him, and just paid it in order to get the matter behind her?

All that I know is that he went to court, and lost, and suddenly there was a three year old tax bill that he claims was valid, and that the plaintiff, who was successful in her case against him, received that bill the very same day. That is a fact that cannot be challenged.

Did the taxpayers of Plymouth Township pay him for his time spent in court? Did he take personal time off to go to court? This is an interesting question, because we don't know whether he was representing Plymouth Township or himself in the court case. It was his name listed as the defendant on the court document, but the address listed under his name, was the old Plymouth Township Hall address.

How many other people has he done this to? How many folks have made him mad, and had him use his power as an elected official to exact revenge? This is, in my opinion, clearly an act of revenge he perpetrated upon Ms. Dillon and her business. It would seem that Ms. Dillon is just one victim of his revenge tactics that we know about, but how many others are there?

The thing I simply cannot understand, is how the man is still in office. Had he done this to me, I would have pursued criminal or civil charges against the man. At the very least I would have demanded that he be reprimanded or even censured by the Board of Trustees for his vindictive actions.

Did this issue go unreported by the press? Was it covered up by Mr. Mann and the rest of the Board of Trustees? Did the voters know about this? I know that I am not the only one who knows about this unethical and vindictive behavior. This information was, and is, obtainable with a simple google search of the man.

In the end, you have to ask yourself, if he can do what he did to a reputable business person, can he do it to you too?

If you get on his wrong side, will he use his power of office to come after you as well?

He came after the Plymouth Township Clerk when he got on Mr. Edwards wrong side.     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnB_ph8T7aE

He came after a 911 Police Emergency Dispatcher when he didn't get what he wanted.    http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/wayne_county/plymouth-township-treasurer-places-angry-call-to-911-over-fireworks-traffic

He came after Mr. Paul Schulz when he got on his wrong side.  

It seems that he came after Susan Dillon too. It seems that he came after her because she simply wanted to get paid a price that he agreed to pay her, for the work he requested.

Is this a man that you want in charge of the finances of Plymouth Township? Is this a man you trust to make sure that you are charged the proper amount of taxes that you pay every year?

Do you feel that this man is fit for public office?

You can say that I spin things, you can even say my opinions are wrong, but you can not dispute the facts. You can not dispute the official court document. You can not dispute the Charter Township of Plymouth fax. You can not dispute the dates on these documents.

My words may mean nothing, but the documents speak for themselves...