Investigation Request – Pinal County Board of Supervisor/Chairperson Cheryl Chase
On Saturday, December 6th, 2014 the “San Tan Valley Polarfest Holiday Parade” event was held in Pinal County. Chairperson of the Board of Supervisors coordinated county resources and staff to operate a float covered with campaign and promotional banners benefiting Ms. Chase. Four Pinal County Public Works Department staff participated in the parade in uniform while being paid by taxpayer dollars – likely on overtime! They drove a Pinal County Public Works semi-truck with a lowboy trailer, which carried a Caterpillar front-end loader. All of which were paid for by Pinal County taxpayers. What other vehicles did they drive that day? It is assumed that Ms. Chase’s assistant Lynn Hurley, coordinated this event and took the photos. Photo’s attached.
Supervisor Cheryl Chase is the elected Board of Supervisor for San Tan Valley. As you can see by the attached pictures, there are several violations of your own code of conduct, ethics and policy concerning political activity.
• Four public works employees who were in uniform and on-duty being paid by taxpayers posed for photos with Ms. Chase while they were holding her election banner which has her campaign website “chase4 supervisor.com” on it.
• One of her campaign banners was attached to the Caterpillar frontend loader which was paid for by Pinal County taxpayers while it was driven through the parade.
Many residents attended the parade and there is little doubt most were voters in Ms. Chase’s district. Ms. Chase brazenly posted these photos on her own political social media site, which raises the question of what other political activities is she requiring county staff to perform for her.
A criminal investigation is already underway by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office to address numerous violations of ARS 11-410. This request for criminal investigation was referred by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. Therefore, I am not asking you to address the obvious criminal violations, but to investigate the violations of your own code of conduct, ethics and numerous policies concerning political activity.
As a former State Legislator and as chair of your board, Ms. Chase is well aware of your own code of conduct, ethics and policies on political activity. Ms. Chase violated several Pinal County Policies, which are in place to ensure violations of the Arizona law do not occur. The Pinal County Board of Supervisors approves and adopts all policies for the employees of the county. These policies also cover the elected officials and their conduct.
Pinal County Policy, entitled “Political Activity,” clearly states when performing duties on behalf of Pinal County, employees must refrain from political activity while on-duty or at public expense.
Pinal County Policy, entitled “Code of Conduct,” states that each employee should use the public resources, property and funds under the employee’s control and responsibility for the public purpose intended by law and not for any private purpose. The Policy also provides that employees have a duty to not, directly or indirectly, use any county resources for the purpose of influencing the outcome of elections including the use of computer equipment, telecommunications, vehicles, travel reimbursement, fax machines, office supplies, mail systems, employee work time, AV equipment and copy machines.
The Pinal County Board of Supervisors should not self-investigate. An outside impartial investigation must be launched on the misconduct and numerous county policy violations.
It’s a sad irony that Ms. Chase makes the time to attend a parade in her neighborhood, yet can rarely be found attending neighborhood meetings where real issues and complaints are discussed. The most often heard complaint in San Tan Valley is that Ms. Chase rarely returns phone calls and appears unable to comprehend the most important issues facing our county, other than adopting rescue dogs.
The Board of Supervisors would be well advised to refer this internal investigation to an outside agency, to ensure an independent, fair and truthful investigation is conducted. Otherwise, whatever action is taken you can not properly defend against likely criticism that you protected your fellow board member and staff. While it is easy to focus on the elected official, it should be noted that county staff have also violated county ethical and code of conduct forbidding this activity. These employees must also be disciplined, otherwise staff in other departments or elected offices could interpret that it is acceptable to gather signatures or put up campaign posters on duty.
You should publicly disclose your investigative findings, along with as any disciplinary actions taken against the elected chair of your board as well as involved county staff. As a resident and taxpayer in Pinal County I merely seek transparency and responsibility of our elected officials.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Kramer