Multiple campaign violations alleged in TUSD board race
By Alexis Huicochea, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
And on Tuesday, the district reported another possible campaign violation to the superintendents office for an incident in which a supporter of
The law prohibits the use of school district personnel, equipment, materials, buildings or other resources for the purpose of influencing the outcomes of elections.
The report is the second involving Campos-Fleenor, coming on the heels of one filed last week claiming she inappropriately used a picture from a
The most recent report was filed Monday by TUSD General Counsel
Chief Technology Officer
"We are making every effort to keep our district facilities, resources and staff out of this contentious race," Tolleson told the superintendent's office.
Hicks said he did not consider the press conference, in which he and Campos-Fleenor laid out how funding owed to
"No one said, 'Please vote for me,' or, 'If you vote for us, we'll push this issue,'" Hicks said. "This is a plan that we worked collaboratively on, and it's a plan that I back as a sitting board member. I would like to see the board take it up and move forward with it."
The press conference news release issued by the Campos-Fleenor campaign, however, includes the following quote from TUSD Governing Board member
It also notes that it was a plan that was developed by "candidates
Despite Hicks' denial of wrongdoing, he did issue an apology.
"I apologize for doing it," he said. "People construe things the way they want to construe things. It won't happen again. I will make sure when I speak to anyone, it won't be inside 1010. We'll have to go outside for it."
Like Hicks, Campos-Fleenor argued no campaigning was being done.
"I presented the plan; I asked other board members to come onboard, and rallied the community to join me in lobbying to bring that money to our students," she said.
Regarding the
"I've been supporting this community for a long time," Campos-Fleenor said. "The picture was me giving a check to the principal, and I shared it to show people who I am and what I'm about.
"This was not done as
The incident involving a Darland supporter relates to an email, sent by education advocate
Tolleson said that campaign activity was not permissible. But she had not initially reported the matter to the county because it did not come directly from Darland. However, shortly after the
The listserv has now been reconfigured so emails can only come from TUSD addresses, Tolleson said.
Darland said on Tuesday the incident was unfortunate, but called it an "earnest oversight." Pedersen had the listserv address from an unrelated activity, and did not intend to send the fundraiser flier to TUSD addresses, Darland said. In the future, emails will be checked and double-checked, she added.
Pedersen added that, while it was not intentional, it technically is not a violation because she is not an employee of the district.
"You try and reach as many people as you can," Darland said. "We don't want to violate any laws. It pays to check and check again."
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