Asheville News

Is Asheville City Councilman’s e-mail listing on city Web site improper?

Jason Sandford August 16, 2009

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Can Asheville City Councilman Kelly Miller legally use his campaign e-mail as his contact for official city business? If you go to www.ashevillenc.gov and check out the contact information for individual City Council members, you’ll see their short bios, photos and a contact e-mail.

Miller lists his e-mail as [email protected]. His fellow council members also list personal email addresses: Carl Mumpower lists [email protected], for example, and Robin Cape uses [email protected]. Some also list personal Web sites.

I’m fairly certain that election allow doesn’t allow a candidate to use government funds or facilities for electioneering purposes. Is Miller’s use of [email protected] as his official contact email address on the city government’s Web site a clear-cut case of electioneering and thus, improper? I’m not attorney, so I can’t answer. What do you think?

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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5 Comments

greenashevilleblogspot.com August 17, 2009

also, anyone who works for the Asheville Chamber of Commercial Development should NOT be able to serve on City Council. Can you say WHORE?

Reply
Jeff August 17, 2009

That doesn’t bother me in the least. It’s just an e-mail address. It’s like a phone number.

Reply
FactChecker August 16, 2009

Why doesn’t the city automatically give council members official e-mail addresses and put them on the city’s Web site?

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WNC Observer August 16, 2009

Absolutely inappropriate. However, the issue is more than that it references a campaign website. It would mean that official biz would end up being conducted from a private email.

Shades of Sarah Palin using her yahoo account for state biz here.

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Tim Peck August 16, 2009

Yes. This is clearly a case of electioneering on the part of Miller.

By publishing this email on the city’s website, he is campaigning with taxpayer funds.

His email should read: [email protected]

Reply