When the Law Is Blind

Truck Driver Calvin Knapp ran a write-in, word-of-mouth campaign last November for the unpaid job of constable of Michigan's Novi township. He won, but the satisfaction of victory was tempered by a $300 fine for having failed to form the proper committees and to file the right reports. Dave Darsky, who ran a losing race for the Berkley school board, contends that his sole campaign expense was maybe "a little extra dog food" for his poodle Abner, who wore a sandwich board proclaiming VOTE FOR DARSKY. HE'LL WORK LIKE A DOG FOR YOUR KIDS. But Darsky too was hit with a $300 fine. So were some 100 others who ran afoul of Michigan's ridiculously rigid 1976 campaign law.

The law requires all candidates to form campaign and finance committees and file a final financial statement. But hundreds of candidates who ran for obscure posts were not even aware of the intricacies of the new law. Many of them now are refusing to pay their fines.

One more wily protester is Oakland University Political Scientist Lawrence Farley, who won an unpaid position on a local charter advisory commission. Honoring the letter of the law, Farley filed reports on "The Nameless Non-Committee for a Non-Candidate for a Non-Existing Advisory Commission." Total campaign expenses: one 130 stamp to mail the form.

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