Most Shelby Residents Agree: Lisa Manzella Totally Lacks the Trust and Integrity To Effectively Serve As Township Treasurer

Lisa Manzella will NEVER repair the bond of trust that she has destroyed with Shelby Township taxpayers.  This is why her campaign for Treasurer is doomed to fail!

Our March 5, 2012 Inside Out established that Lisa Manzella is desperately struggling to find a rational and realistic reason why Shelby voters should promote her to Treasurer, while simultaneously electing her BOBLEMAN BUNCH slate to public office.  Her struggles underscore Manzella’s ineptness and inability to do the Treasurer’s job!

Election year propaganda aside, when you look at her record as Trustee, there is NO GOOD REASON at all why Shelby voters should trust Lisa Manzella, let alone give her a promotion a pay raise, and control over the township’s checkbook.

Even though Manzella has made it perfectly clear, in writing and in her verbal statements, that she opposes Treasurer Paul Viar’s attempts to cut wasteful spending, make township government smaller, educate taxpayers about budget-busting union pensions, and refuse to cave in to special interests demands when it comes to our pocketbooks, Manzella has no ideas of her own.  She just wants to complain about Treasurer Viar’s efforts to inform us about what is going on — perhaps because Manzella feel beholden to those special interests resisting any changes or financial reductions.

When asked about the Treasurer’s race recently by Phil Nye on Shelby This Week, Manzella’s answer about why she is qualified to be Treasurer was mind boggling.  Here is Manzella’s totally-inept answer to that very simple and straightforward question as reported in our March 5, 2012 Inside Out:

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Phil Nye: So you’re saying that your qualified to be Treasurer of Shelby Township?

Manzella: Oh ... yes I am.  LONG AWKWARD PAUSE (deer in headlight)

Nye: (pulling teeth) Spell that out for me.

Manzella: Oh ....... well ...... I’ve been in business for 30 years...um...the appraisal business.  I’m also an assessor and also a citizen master planner.  So those tools give me the...um...the...the...the...tools will help me in keeping our property values stable, keep them from further decline.  And I have a...um...good vast basis and background in investing and investments.

I’d like to continue to work for the people of Shelby Township.  This is my community, I don’t intend on leaving.  I would rather be the sole vote — the lone vote — and I have been quite alone, rather than be in bad company.  It’s a difficult position to be in.  It’s not been easy on the Board the last few...years.

I’m dedicated to restoring trust, integrity and dignity back to the Board of Trustees.  I think we’ve lost a lot of that.  We need to get the people’s trust back in their local government.  I really wanna... um... continue to try and do that.  If this was my last term in Shelby I don’t want it to be my legacy of being part of this current Board.  It’s not been something I’ve been proud to be....
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In Lisa’s Manzella’s alternate universe, the big issue which makes her qualified to be Treasurer is her work as a property appraiser?  She said her victory will keep property values high?  This shows how out-of-touch she is (she can control the national economy?).  You will note Manzella did not mention one single word about spending, controlling costs, pension issues or anything else.  Her response to this question was ALL ABOUT LISA and her so-called “legacy.”

[EDITOR’S NOTE:  Manzella’s legacy has already been written.  She will be remembered as a big spending politician who wanted to bankrupt the township with a campus in order to try and make herself and her political mentor, Skip Maccarone, look good.]

Since Manzella could not come up with a sound reason why she should be elected Treasurer, it proves that she does not have what it takes to do the job.  So why is she running?  Ego?  Politics?  Revenge?

Lisa Manzella:
Shelby’s Most Unwanted

On her campaign website, we get a peek inside the mind of Manzella.  At least the mind as outlined for her by her campaign manager — professional smear artist John Johnson.  If you doubt Johnson’s trash and burn philosophy, ask former Macomb Township Supervisor John Brennan how he was unfairly and inaccurately trashed by Johnson in 2008.  Now, Johnson is working for Manzella and the entire BOBLEMAN BUNCH to try and give power back to the unions and special interests.

Here is what Manzella included on her website as the theme for her 2012 Treasurer’s race:

“I am dedicated to restoring trust, dignity and integrity back to the Board of Trustees, stop corrupt spending, and take the politics out of the management of the Township.”

Okay, so this very politically-correct statement sounds nice, but what does it really mean?  How does this sentence impact our township, and more important Shelby taxpayers?

First, to Manzella’s political statement about “restoring trust.”  Trust is earned, not freely given.  When you think about trust what is the first thing that comes to mind?  Someone who stand up for what he or she believes in?  Someone with a clear mission and a plan to carry it out?  So what about Lisa Manzella, can she truly be trusted to restore trust?

Let’s examine trust in the context of some issues before the township.

Manzella and “Trust” — 41-A District Court
Since Manzella has been so vocal about the 41-A District Court, let’s examine where Manzella stands on this issue.  Does she support the court or not?  Does she want the public to be involved or not?

Faced with increased pressure, and at risk of losing her elected Board seat, Manzella has tried to rewrite history about her position on bonding for a new 41-A District Court building.  Here is what she said her position is, right now (an opinion subject to change without notice):
“I was not opposed to the people voting on bonds for a new justice center.  They have always had a right to do so.”
Trustee Lisa Manzella - Letter to the Editor
Source Newspaper editorial, April 18, 2010

Okay, so Manzella supports a public vote, correct?  She wants to take this issue to the people for their input, right?  She sees nothing wrong with a public vote on bonding for a new court, is that correct?

Hold your horses....

Here is what Lisa Manzella wrote in an e-mail to resident Ed Young on Tuesday, March 28, 2006:
“I believe the time is now to complete this project.  I was elected by the people to make decisions, and I believe it is an act of cowardace [stet] to throw this back at the people.  One a self-serving official who has only their own interest, would be coward enough not to act on the police and court building.  I can’t speak to all the projects that may or may not seek voter approval, however I see no reason to go to the voters for the new police and court facility....  The board was elected to make financial decisions for the community.  I will not toss a difficult decision back to the residents to avoid making a decision.”

The above exchange concerning the 41-A District Court is a solid example of Lisa Manzella being against something before she was for it.  This is a classic political flip-flop (brought on by pressure and the election of Supervisor Stathakis) and is not the first time Manzella has flip-flopped.

She has repeatedly, and incorrectly, said the 41-A District Court is a money-making proposition for Shelby, even though financial reports show it is a financial drain on our township.  Manzella has said the court (and in fact her $20 million justice center) is needed in the township and any amount of money spent to prop up the court is well worth it.  She has said that any attempt to stop the court from relocating would be met with her firm resistance from her.  She even said a new court will improve the status of the township because “people in Shelby Township deserve nice things” (Source Newspaper, August 24, 2008).


Despite all of her self-promotion political comments about the court being necessary and financially affordable, here is what Manzella wrote in an e-mail response sent to her fellow Trustees as well as to officials in Macomb Township:

“We can’t afford the court, Macomb can...” so said Manzella on April 8, 2010.  Yet, she spends time at televised Board meetings promoting the court, and has rallied her recall group of loudmouths to her side to try and score some political points.  It seems as though Lisa Manzella is not quite sure herself about which direction to take on the court, and so she is trying to have it both ways.  That may very well massage her ego, but it does nothing to help taxpayers who will pay higher fees/bonds/taxes to prop up a 41-A judicial money pit.

The Inside Out believes it is time to let the 41A District Court relocate.  We do not want to subsidize the court with additional tax dollars.  We do not want higher taxes (bonds) to operate this court.  If Macomb Township wants the court, and has the money to build it, we say “sainara.”

Lisa Manzella has shown no clear direction or focus on the court.  She is for it, and then against it.  She has shown no clear position on a public vote, opposing a public vote for years and only supporting one after the public pressure got so intense she had no choice.

Is this leadership?  Is this what we want from our Township Treasurer?

Manzella and “Trust” — DARE and School Crossing Guards
The Inside Out has previously called Lisa Manzella a liar — and for good reason.  Manzella and her Save Shelby/Team Leman recall cadre repeatedly lied about the township’s DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program.  This was one of the many lies their circulated during their failed and fraudulent recall in order to trick people to sign a petition over a zoning dispute.  The issues were unrelated, but that didn’t stop those outsiders hired too circulate petitions from spreading such falsehoods.

During the recall, Manzella and her minions accused Supervisor Stathakis and the Board of eliminating DARE.  The subtext of this was that Mr. Stathakis was forfeiting our children’s future as our kids would no longer have information they need to properly fend off drug dealers.  Their scare tactics may have tricked a few people into signing a recall petition, but the overriding fraudulent atmosphere they created on this backfired.

Manzella and her Save Shelby recall mob then added another layer of liars to this equation.  They said that because the township cancelled DARE (an outright lie) the township was forced, by the Utica Schools, to pay for public school crossing guards.  Or, as Manzella said, the township was “saddled with the crossing guards.”

Such a backhanded attack on crossing guards didn’t sit well with crossing guards, and yet Manzella has persisted in spreading this total liar.  She later claimed that she never said the township was saddled with crossing guards.  Well, here is her e-mail.  Read it and judge for yourself.  Did Manzella write that the township was “saddled” with school crossing guards or not?

Actually, the crossing guards were a service that the public schools had provided for years.  However, given the financial times impacting the schools, and the fact that crossing guards are legally the duty of local municipalities, the schools decided that they could not longer after to provide this service.  So they, reluctantly, were forced to give this responsibility back to Shelby Township (and every other local community).  But that is NOT what the Manzella/Save Shelby recall people said.  They deliberately distorted the truth to trick people into signing recall petitions.

Trustee Paula Filar is the person who really helped focus the issue back on the facts.  Mrs. Filar pointed out how DARE’s demise was greatly exaggerated, and how the crossing guards had nothing to do with the DARE issue at all.  Mrs. Filar stood up to attacks from the recall runts, including Nick Nightingale, who spouted Manzella’s message of lies regarding canceling DARE.

Once the big lie was exposed, Manzella insisted that she never said the township cancelled DARE.  However, Manzella did not just complain about DARE’s eliminating one time.  She said this multiple times, and put it in writing on at least two more occasions.  

Occasion #1 ... claiming the Board voted to eliminate dare in an untelevised work session:

There was NO VOTE TO ELIMINATE DARE, as Manzella wrote, because DARE was not eliminated.  It is still active in the public schools.  This was just another flagrant lie which Manzella, to this day, refuses to acknowledge or apologize for.

Occasion #2 ... linking DARE with the fraudulent Save Shelby/Team Leman recall:

Supervisor Stathakis and the Board eliminating DARE (a flat-out lie) was one of “about 20 bullet points” used by Manzella and her recall crew to trick people into signing recall petitions.  Never mind that the recall petition was about a zoning dispute.  The group simply threw mud around hoping that some would stick and, unfortunately, some people did sign petitions based on false pretenses.

Even though Manzella now claims to never have tried to misrepresent the DARE issue with residents, the facts tell a different story.  Manzella has lied to us in the past, she is lying to us today, and she will undoubtedly lie to us in the future.  This is why Lisa “the liar” Manzella does not deserve to be promoted to the position of Township Treasurer this year.

Manzella and “Trust” — Taxes and Spending
We have documented many times before how Lisa Manzella is the biggest spending Trustee on the Board of Trustees.
• Manzella supported the $20 million justice center, even chairing the committee that came up with this stupid and costly idea.
• Manzella wanted to saddle taxpayers with millions in new bonds without a public vote.
— Macomb Daily, July 7, 2009 —
Manzella also said elected officials should make the decision on the future of a new court building.
“We were elected to do a job,” she said.  “We need to stand on our own two feet.”

• Manzella wanted to spend $50 million on a “campus” scheme just because her political friend, Skip Maccarone, thought it was a good idea.
• Manzella wanted to increase fees paid by residents to the court by 100% more than the judges themselves, to help raise money for the court:
— Macomb Daily, April 23, 2006 —
Sierawski and Chief Judge Maceroni agree to increase fines for traffic tickets an additional $5 per ticket.  That money then would go into the Court’s building fund.  Trustee Manzella said she would have preferred a 100% increase above what the judges recommended.
“I thought $5 was a little light,” Manzella said.  “If we get to June and make some plans to break ground, maybe we can think about $10.”
• When the Board discussed whether or not to put a fence around the parking lot at the new police building (they ultimately voted not to), Manzella said it would be better to spend the money than to save it in the bank.  Manzella’s carefree spending attitude drew sharp criticism from other elected Board members and the general public.

Given her free-spending attitude, can we trust her to effectively monitor our money?

Manzella and “Trust” — Open Meetings
Manzella spent a great deal of time criticizing Supervisor Rick Stathakis and the Board of Trustees for voting in a work session to keep the Shelby Woods North condominiums from going into foreclosure.  Doing so would have been a disaster, both for the residents living there and for the township as a whole.  Manzella used this issue as a political football, tossing it around the township in a bid to demonize anyone who voted to save this development.  She also got a handful of people stirred up by twisting the facts to try and make herself look good at the expense of the rest of the Board.

Residents who watched as Manzella and her group fanned the flames of misinformation found themselves asking this question:
“Did Manzella actually want the development to go into foreclosure so she could blame the Board (and especially Supervisor Stathakis) for doing nothing so she could try and become some kind of hero on Fox 2 News?”

Manzella has been highly critical of Board work sessions, even though she must know the value of such work sessions to the overall operation of the township.  Manzella forgets that it was Supervisor Stathakis who ended the policy (begun by her friend Skip Maccarone) to take votes in work sessions on all important issues, especially those that could be seen as controversial.  The new Stathakis policy says that, with exceptions for emergencies (saving a development from foreclosure), work sessions will be used to discuss issues but all votes will be taken at television at a regular Board meeting.

When Manzella’s friend, Maccarone, was in charge of the township, Manzella believed work sessions were a correct venue to vote on issues.
• Under the previous supervisor, Manzella did not speak up or object to a motion, made in a work session, to spend $20 million of OUR money for her fancy, high-priced justice center.
• Manzella voted, at a work session to approve the misguided $50 million campus plan.
• Manzella seconded a motion and voted, at a work session, to reclassify $789,358 from the township’s Fire Fund as “administrative fees” from the Fire Fund to the General Fund - using this money to help support the Maccarone/Manzella high-spending agenda.

Since each of these decisions involved issues facing taxpayers, voting should have been done at a regular Board meeting where residents could engage in a debate over the motion.  Yet this was not done, probably to try and keep public input to a minimum.

So, even as Manzella has griped about emergency votes at work sessions to save a development from the disastrous impact of foreclosure, she had absolutely no problem voting YES to spend millions of our tax dollars at township work sessions (under Skip Maccarone) when there was no emergency.

Furthermore, when the topic of televising work sessions was raised a couple years ago, Manzella was the very first Trustee to oppose the idea.   She said, on the record, that she did not want work sessions televised because she was afraid that she would not be able to speak freely at televised meetings.  She also said she feared that statements made by her could possibly be used against her.  So much for openness and transparency in government!

Now, in an attempt to become Treasurer, Manzella is using the words trust, dignity and integrity?
• Given her lack of trust, as evidenced by her pack of lies and political flip-flops, is she deserving of a promotion from Trustee to Treasurer?
• Given her vicious attacks on fellow Board members and the general public through her Facebook rants — comparing Supervisor Stathakis to Adolf Hitler, calling people (in writing) a “big fat ass”, telling a voter (in writing) “if I even run for office again in shelby, which is not likely, I certainly don’t want your vote I have no reason to be nice to someone who is not nice to me.  Rick is evil, and he seems to have fooled you.... The man belongs in jail.  I have to be a very nice and kind person, to those deserving (Facebook post March 28, 2011 at 1:45 pm); and using Facebook to smear her fellow Trustees, thus earning a reputation as Shelby’s political cyberbully — is she fit to serve on the Board?  These are but a few of the many Manella’s rants that have been made public.

Manzella claims she wants to take politics out of running the township.  How can someone who has been the MOST POLITICAL Board member — going so far as to support a politically-motivated recall laced with lies — make such a claim?  She realistically can’t, but Manzella is hoping that the voters of Shelby will forget everything she has done and said over the last four years, and just blindly vote to give her a political promotion this year.

The bottom line?  Lisa Manzella lacks integrity as a public official.  No amount of election-year propaganda (or BS) will erase her big-spending record, her hostility toward taxpayers and her angry and spiteful attitude toward other elected officials.

Good luck Lisa — but you’d better prepare to go back to the land appraisal business full time.  Not even your campaign manager, John Johnson, will be able to save you this year.

Given the importance of the 2012 elections, we offer the following:

On Tuesday, August 7th elect 
Trustee Mike Flynn for Shelby Township Treasurer
• A Proud Lifetime Conservative Republican
• Common-Sense Spending Priorities
• Special Interest Fighter
• A True Leader That All Taxpayers Can TRUST!


This is the view of the proud Shelby taxpayers
who publish, and read, the Inside Out.
— Not authorized by any campaign committee

Until next time...