Wills claims postcards were “informational only” but does not want to be “perceived to influence an election”
Politically tainted postcards created by the Yavapai Community College marketing department for individual Governing Board members, which the Blog is told are at the printer’s and were being prepared to send out prior to the November election, have been put on hold. This is according to a letter sent by Yavapai Community College President Penelope Wills dated October 2, 2018.
The Chavalier campaign did not receive actual notice of the decision until late afternoon October 4. Board member candidate Connie Harris gave no indication that such a decision had been made at a debate held at 1 p.m. Thursday, October 4 on the Verde Campus, where the issue of the use of the postcard was raised by Mr. Chevalier.
The decision by Wills to withhold the mailing until after the election was in response to a request from attorney Joseph Montedonico, representing the Chevalier campaign. He wrote to Wills and the Governing Board September 23, 2018 demanding that they cease and desist from sending out the postcards prior to the election.
In his letter to Wills, attorney Montedonico questioned the legal and ethical basis for mailing the postcard just prior to the November election. He suggested, among other things, that the mailing may violate Arizona law regarding the use of public funds to influence the outcome of an election.
When Governing Board member Deb McCasland learned about the postcard, its content and mailing date, she asked that the Board schedule a special meeting to discuss the legality of the mailing in the context of the upcoming election. McCasland indicated that she was concerned about the mailing because it may appear to some voters to be a political postcard supporting the two current members of the Governing Board who are up for election. She sought a full discussion about the issue. She received no response to her request.
On Thursday the Chevalier campaign, after receiving no reply for several days from Wills or the Chair of the Governing Board to attorney Montedonico’s letter, began preparing to bring legal action against the College and the Governing Board in Yavapai Superior Court. (As noted above, the campaign did not learn of the College decision until late Thursday afternoon.) However, in view of Wills decision to withhold the mailing until after the election, the legal action now appears moot.
Wills wrote in her letter to Montedonico “that these mailings were only communication with our constituents and in no way implied any election influence. Out of respect to all of our constituents, we would never want to appear, or be perceived to, influence an election. We believe the best plan of action is not to mail the newsletters at this time.”
Over the past several days, the Chevalier and Wayne Meddaugh campaigns reached out to numerous legislators and others for assistance in stopping the politically tainted postcard from being mailed prior to the election. It is not known whether some of the many persons they contacted may have played an influential role in the final decision made by Wills.
It is noted that Wills says nothing in her letter to attorney Montedonico about consulting the Governing Board. The postcards are supposed to be under the control of the Governing Board members.