WARREN, Mich. – The former mayor of Warren has been fined for using the city’s cable channel to promote candidates in 2023, but the city council says the punishment should’ve been more severe.
Former longtime Warren mayor James Fouts was found to have violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act by using the city’s cable program “TV Warren” to endorse political candidates in his June 2023 State of the City address. The city council -- which had long been at odds with Fouts -- brought the claim against the former mayor, expressing that government officials aren’t allowed to use public resources to promote political candidates.
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Fouts used 12 minutes of his address to announce his endorsements, and those he disliked, for that year’s August primary election, according to a Tuesday press release from the Warren City Council. The State of the City address reportedly aired twice a day for several days on the city’s cable channel following its first airing.
The Michigan secretary of state’s office reached an agreement with Fouts in April that ordered the former mayor to pay $750 to the city and another $750 to the state. Councilmembers received that agreement on Monday, May 13.
The city council reports that it was told Fouts’ fines were determined by an estimate of how much it cost to produce the televised 2023 address.
“The city of Warren provided us with an estimated cost for the State of the City address of $3,919.66 and the department reviewed the video and assessed a penalty based on the time used by Mr. Fouts for political activities,” a secretary of state legal analyst reportedly told the Warren City Council in May 2023.
The city council is not content with the fine Fouts paid. Councilmembers argue Fouts is a “repeat offender,” having made a similar violation during his 2016 State of the City address.
“We need tougher laws against politicians that misuse public resources,” council secretary Mindy Moore said. “I am disappointed that the secretary of state did not seek more penalties. He gets to pay a fine and move on for something that has landed others in jail.”
City councilmembers argue the nearly “two weeks of taxpayer-funded political advertising” made by Fouts in the address wasn’t accounted for in the final agreement.
Fouts’ latest term was Warren mayor ended in November 2023, when newly-elected mayor Lori Stone was sworn into office. Fouts had attempted to run for a fifth term, but the courts blocked him due to the city’s new mayoral term limits.
Warren voters in 2020 approved a charter amendment that established term limits for the city mayor: three 4-year terms, or 12 years total. Though Fouts had been in office for 15 years (since 2008), he argued the term limits established during his fourth term didn’t apply to the terms he served prior to 2020.
The city council sued Fouts over his intention to run for a fifth term despite the new term limits, launching a legal battle that moved through the state’s court system.
---> Warren Mayor Fouts bids office farewell after failed attempt at 5th term
On Nov. 8, 2023, the day after Stone was elected as Warren’s new mayor, Fouts wrote on social media that he had been in contact with the new mayor and offered to help her transition into the role. Fouts later said he met with Stone, and expects the city’s first-ever female mayor to do well in her new position.
“I predict that Mayor Stone will have very good relations and support by the Warren Council. Result is she should have many successes in the coming months and years,” Fouts said on social media. “She is likely to be mayor for a long time!”
Fouts’ sentiment comes after years of disarray between him and the city council, with both sides at odds over many issues publicly and legally. Fouts previously said that the city council, a “council from hell,” had sued him and the city on 10 separate occasions.
In his farewell message shared online in November, Fouts didn’t mention the city council, but did express appreciation for his administration and for Warren voters for reelecting him over the years.