PVCC Puma Press: December 2004

Employees of colleges throughout the district, including Paradise Valley, have allegedly broken the law during the campaign for the $951 million bond measure that passed in the November election under proposition 401.

According to Rep. Linda Gray, R-Glendale, district employees were using the district email system to write emails regarding the bond. Gray said several of these emails violate Arizona Revised Statute 15-1408, the state law that governs community colleges’ fund-raising and campaign tactics.

In accordance with this state law, a community college district is not allowed to use its personnel, equipment, materials, buildings or other resources for the purpose of influencing the outcome of an election.

Therefore, under this law, use of school computers or the district email service to promote the bond was strictly prohibited.

PVCC’s alleged offense in the matter amounts to a Sept. 15 email that Community Relations Coordinator Sue Isackson sent to a coordinator of the bond campaign asking for funds in the amount of $500 to throw a party for the school’s bond awareness citizens’ committee, using a campus computer.

Director of public relations and marketing at PVCC, Rod Fensom said that two aspects of the email are being scrutinized. One is the fact that the email was sent using district resources, a computer on campus. The other is who actually received the $500 from the campaign.

Fensom said the act of receiving the funds was legal because money did not go to the actual school, but rather to an independent citizens’ committee that was not officially affiliated with PVCC and was very strict about meeting off campus and without using district resources.

PVCC president, Dr. Mary K. Kickels, said the question itself was also appropriate. Kickels said the fact that the email was sent as an innocent question makes it irrelevant that it was sent from a desktop in the district.

She said that under the law employees have a right to seek and distribute information about the bond as long as they do not advocate it.

“Now, would you construe a question as an actual intentional act of advocacy? I don’t think so,” Kickels said.

Gray said the question was not an innocent request. “Who are they trying to fool? If someone is asking for money that supports the bond, they are certainly not asking with the intent of helping the measure fail,” Gray said.

Fensom said, however, that district has taken every reasonable step to educate employees on the legal boundaries of bond campaigning. He said the difference between legal and illegal practices is “information versus advocacy.” He points out that informational materials distributed by the district regarding capital planning only discuss the bond package in the sense of what it will bring the campuses, but do not make suggestions or statements directly in favor of it.

Furthermore, there were several meetings meant as instructional discussions for those employees involved in off-campus campaigning that stressed fair campaign practices.

Fensom said that participants in the campaign also used private email addresses for communication.

“We did what we were supposed to do in terms of making it very clear about what can and cannot be done in the political process,” he said.
Gray said she believes there is enough evidence of wrong doing district-wide to request an investigation from the county attorney, but as of Nov. 16, neither Gray nor the district has received any indication of an inquiry into the matter.

Gray said even if there is an investigation one of the problems with the law is that no penalties are attached to it in its present form.

“No one knows what the penalties are or whether it is a misdemeanor or a felony,” Gray said.

Gray said it is frustrating that if it is found that the law has been broken, lack of a punishment still renders it ineffective. She said she also looks forward to going into session so she can change it.

Gray said she would like to see infractions of the community college law receive a similar punishment to K-12 districts that commit an offense of law much like it. Gray said those districts are expected to pay back the amount of money that was raised through illegal campaign activities if they are caught.

Fensom and Kickels both said they are confident and proud of the way the campaign was conducted. Both are also pleased with the results.
Students of the community colleges are not subject to A.R.S. 15-1408 campaigning limitations.