TERRE HAUTE — A Vigo County official used a county e-mail system to send out a request for county workers to promote candidates and a political party during the Vigo County Fair.
The June 20 e-mail, which ended with the name of Commissioner President David Decker, was sent from the commissioners’ secretary’s office seeking volunteers to man a Democrat Party booth July 6 to 11, listing available time slots.
“What I would like to know is does anyone have a great idea to help promote our candidates and the Democrat Party and make our presence at this year’s fair even more productive,” Decker said in the e-mail.
The e-mail asks people to call the county commissioners office with times people can serve in the party’s building at the fair, as well as reminding them of a photo and cookout for “Democrat Night.”
“I think that raises some questions and concerns if [a county official] is using his county e-mail account to basically staff a party event and encourage participation by those who receive it,” said Steve Key, legal counsel for Hoosier State Press Association.
“I am not sure where the line is drawn between informational and using taxpayer money and resources to further a political canvassing. It does raise some questions,” Key said.
Vigo County Councilman Brad Anderson, R-4th, said he “doesn’t think it is appropriate to use county e-mail for party-affiliated political things because the e-mail belongs to all of the people of the county, not just one party,” he said. “There are other county officeholders.”
Anderson, a former interim chairman of the Vigo County Republican Party, said other methods, such as party resources, should be used to promote political party activities.
Vigo County’s employee handbook offers a guideline to county employees on what is not an acceptable use of county resources, including “furthering any political or religious purpose.” While Decker, as an elected official, is not subject to the guidelines, the county employee he asked to send out the e-mail does fall under the handbook.
“It was not [the county employee’s] fault,” Decker said. “I didn’t intend that message as an e-mail. I guess a lot of times when we want to contact the different departments, we use [e-mail], so I guess that was just automatic. I never specified not to do it that way nor to do it that way,” Decker said.
“I will take the blame for that because I specifically did not specify not to send that out by e-mail. I did ask [the county employee] to help me. Next time I will specify not to use the county e-mail or equipment or make sure it is not done on county time. I will not make that assumption again,” Decker said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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