http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/23...etta-wilcoxson

Winfrey's assistant said her boss would not go on camera. So we gave her a few days to think about it before saying hello in person.
We wanted the clerk to explain why her staff refused to give her would-be challenger a fair shake.

ELRICK: The Court of Appeals said that your office failed to do its duty.

WINFREY: I haven't seen anything from the Court of Appeals.

Really? The clerk's staff fought for weeks to keep Wilcoxson off the ballot, and then Winfrey does not read the court's order, the one that shut the clerk down and slapped her around?

Check out this language. The judges said Winfrey's staff "failed to comply with their statutory duties."

ELRICK: But it was your staff who invalidated her signatures, many of which were found to be okay, and it was your staff that tried to keep her off the ballot. Don't you run that office?

WINFREY: I do run that office. It was not my staff who tried to keep her off the ballot. We don't do that.

That's not right. Winfrey and her staff not only knocked Wilcoxson off the ballot, they refused to review their decision. It is all written in black and white.

ELRICK: "The Department of Elections either failed to respond or responded by stating it was unable to comply with a request." In other words, your department failed to give her the review that she was entitled to. This is the Court of Appeals ruling.

WINFREY: Certainly she got the review that she was entitled to. Absolutely.

In fact, the judges said they found it "particularly disturbing" that Winfrey's staff refused to give Wilcoxson a "full and fair review."

So Wilcoxson had to fight for her political life. The ballots went out way late. Voters and candidates throughout the city were inconvenienced, and here is the kicker. The Court of Appeals ruled that if Winfrey's staff had just done its job in the first place, this whole mess "may have been avoided."

"Certainly it slows up the process, but people have a right to appeal. They have a right to challenge. That's our law. That's the democratic process," Winfrey said.

The clerk said she was not involved in the decision to toss her opponent off the ballot or to keep fighting in the courts.

In any case, Wilcoxson is back on the ballot, and voters will get to have their say on Tuesday.