* Capitol Fax readers voted 86 percent to 14 percent that Ald. Moore’s campaign kickoff idea to put ads on license plates was a no-go. And now, this…
Just days after announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state, South Side Ald. David Moore was admonished by the city Board of Ethics for using the official government 17th Ward Facebook account to campaign for the statewide office.
In a letter written Monday, two days after his formal campaign announcement, the ethics board warned Moore he faced potential fines for mixing posts about his secretary of state candidacy with posts regarding city services and events in his ward. […]
Moore, in a statement, said he makes it a point to “abide by the rules” and had taken corrective action. But he also indicated he felt singled out by a policy others on the council ignore.
“We were even told in those (ethics) sessions that we couldn’t use our official title. Over the last year, I saw this being ignored many times,” he said.
* From the letter…
- TheInvisibleMan - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 8:28 am:
This must be why most suburban areas don’t have a board of ethics.
If there is nobody to tell you what you are doing is unethical, then it must not be unethical. Or at least that appears to be the concept being applied in these parts.
- JoanP - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 8:41 am:
But, mom, he did it, too.
- Frumpy White Guy - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 8:47 am:
This poor guy won’t be able to get enough signatures to get on the ballot.
- Pizza Man - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 9:00 am:
Dude really? Alderman Moore: close shop and focus on your 17th ward constituients, please.
- Levois J - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 10:12 am:
Well it’s not yet 2022 and things have already gotten interesting for the Sec. Of State race.
- Hannibal Lecter - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 10:58 am:
This is an interesting issue, which I do not necessarily agree with the City’s Board of Ethics. It is not uncommon for the lines to be blurred with respect to the use of political/government resources. Many times, elected officials will use their campaign accounts to fund government services just so that they do not run afoul of any rules prohibiting government resources for political purposes. Facebook pages, however, do not cost any money to create or utilize so there is no ability to make this distinction. Are there ways to make social media accounts only applicable to a government office as opposed to a political candidate that holds that office? It also seems like a waste of money for the Board of Ethics to be focusing on such matters, but I don’t automatically fault the Alderman for making a mistake here, as there is a lot of gray in this area.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 1:14 pm:
It would seem to be pretty simple to know when you are speaking in your official role and when you are acting as a candidate. But apparently not.
- Palos (D) - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 1:44 pm:
Looks like Alderman Moore has the clown car full of gas and on the move.
- Coco - Thursday, May 13, 21 @ 8:59 pm:
Instead of ads on license plates, we should advertise our tourism website, so hopefully more tourism revenue can be generated. www.enjoyILLINOIS.com