Oakland mayor Jean Quan. Party affiliation: democrat, which is never mentioned in this article.
SFGate.com: The campaign to re-elect Oakland Mayor Jean Quan sent letters to city employees at their official city e-mail accounts on Tuesday, informing them of political events and linking them to the mayor’s re-election site, which solicits campaign donations.
The move, ethics experts say, is improper not only because it involves the use of city resources such as e-mail addresses to publicize campaign events, but because employees who received the letters may feel that their jobs could be at risk if they do not participate in the mayor’s re-election activities.
“Obviously, sending out (campaign material) to employees using city e-mail addresses is completely inappropriate,” said Bob Stern, a veteran political expert who for decades served as president of the California Center for Governmental Studies.
The e-mail was sent by Quan’s campaign as a press advisory, inviting the public to “dialogue with roundtables of engaged leaders on hot topics like sustainability, affordability, including equitable development, the technology divide, and promoting arts and culture in Oakland at free events throughout the fall.”
It quotes the mayor: “Oakland is on the rise, and we can only rise together by working with and listening to one another to move our city forward,” and it includes links to her campaign’s Facebook account and Web page, which solicit political donations.
Michael Colbruno, Quan’s campaign adviser and spokesman, said the e-mail was sent only to people who had chosen to be on Quan’s campaign press distribution list.
But at least nine city employees contacted by The Chronicle said they received the e-mail on their city accounts, but had never subscribed to Quan’s campaign website. Recipients included Police Department officials, city bureaucrats, some City Council members and even staffers of council members, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.
Colbruno said the city employees who acknowledged receiving the e-mail must have forgotten or not realized that they’d signed up for press distribution alerts. mail back and say, ‘Remove me from the list.’ “
The e-mail poses potential problems for both Quan and city workers reading the campaign communications at their office desktops. Guidelines from the city attorney’s office specify that “city and other public resources,” including computers and software, “may not be used to campaign or advocate for or against candidates or ballot measures.”
Colbruno said he wasn’t sure how many e-mail addresses were included on Quan’s press list, adding that “it is not illegal” to send e-mails to city accounts.
But the move has raised concerns among ethics experts – and fired up critics in Oakland, where 13 mayoral candidates are vying to unseat Quan.
Joe Tuman, who is running against Quan for mayor, said he was not surprised to learn Quan’s campaign had sent the invitation to city e-mail addresses. “It certainly creates the impression that if you get one of these that you should go because the mayor is the boss – and the boss is doing this meeting,” Tuman said. “Maybe there is something implied if you don’t go.”
Stern said that the move by the mayor’s campaign may possibly involve a “misuse of city funds,” but that issue would be relatively minor.
The more egregious matter is the optics – and ethics – of the city’s top official contacting city employees at their place of work to urge them to attend a function benefiting her mayoral campaign.
“You just don’t do something like that,” Stern said, not because “city employees will resent it,” but because “headlines could result, and it will backfire.” For that reason, he said, most elected officials steer clear of any campaign contact with employees at their official work e-mail addresses.
DCG
