EASTHAMPTON — Should a mayoral candidate be able to promote herself at a city council meeting?
That’s the question Precinct 2 City Councilor Jennifer Hayes raised last week along with concerns about transparency after mayoral candidate and Precinct 3 City Councilor Joy Winnie wore a campaign button promoting herself to a public meeting.
Hayes made a post on her Facebook page that said she has filed an ethics complaint against Winnie. The post drew dozens of comments.
“Is it a crazy, huge infraction? Perhaps not. Is it indicative of the ‘rules don’t apply to us’ culture that permeates aspects of our municipal government? I think yes,” Hayes wrote.
Hayes said she filed the complaint with the state Ethics Commission on Thursday after Winnie wore a “Joy Winnie/Mayor” button at a council meeting last week. Hayes said it was the second time see has seen political material in city chambers in the weeks leading up to the Nov. 7 election.
Michelle Lucier, an attorney and volunteer on Winnie’s campaign committee, said she and Winnie reached out to a special investigator from the state Ethics Commission, who said there was no open complaint against Winnie.
Commission spokeswoman Pauline Nguyen said the office could not confirm or deny that a complaint had been filed.
Lucier said the campaign also sought advice from a state ethics attorney who directed them to a section in the commission’s advisory on public activities by public employees that are generally prohibited by the conflict of interest law.
“A public employee who engages in such political activity, unless the activity is of truly minimal duration of significance (such as wearing a political campaign button to work in a public office), violates the conflict of interest law,” the commission advisory states.
State law requires campaign material such as signs, buttons and stickers to be 150 feet from a polling place on Election Day. City Clerk Barbara LaBombard said other than that, there are no state election regulations regarding “electioneering” in a public building and Easthampton has no municipal restrictions regarding electioneering.
In her Facebook post, Hayes also took a shot at the use of personal email addresses for city matters. Some city officials, including Winnie, use a personal email account. Winnie’s campaign manager Nancy Stenberg said they will not comment on the matter.
“Municipal email addresses matter, public access to information matters, transparent accountability matters,” Hayes wrote. “Open meeting laws, conflict of interest/ethics laws, and the freedom of information act — these are in place to protect everyone’s right to a fair and open government and they apply on the local level as well.”
LaBombard said she has talked with the city’s information technology director about requiring all city councilors to be set up with an Easthampton.org email address, starting with the new term of office in January.
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.