Archive for Thursday, June 19, 2008

Archive for Thursday, June 19, 2008

Review under way

DA candidate may have violated county policy

June 19, 2008

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At a glance

• Tammy Stewart, Democratic candidate for the 14th Judicial District Attorney, lead a meeting at the Craig branch of the Moffat County Libraries Tuesday night.

• Stewart is currently an assistant Moffat County Attorney.

• The Moffat County employee handbook states that county employees are prohibited from campaigning on county property, which includes library facilities.

• Stewart denied the meeting violated county policies, adding that the event was a public forum to collect input about the District Attorney's office.

• As of Wednesday, the Moffat County Human Resources department was reviewing the issue to determine whether the meeting violated county policies.

— The Moffat County Human Resources department is reviewing a meeting conducted Tuesday by 14th Judicial District Attorney candidate Tammy Stewart at the Craig branch of the Moffat County Libraries to determine if the event violated state and county policies.

Stewart is an assistant Moffat County Attorney. The county's employee handbook states that employees are prohibited from campaigning, or "electioneering," on county property.

The policy is based largely on a similar state policy, said Saed Tayyara, Moffat County commissioner.

"Electioneering includes but is not necessarily limited to distributing campaign materials," the policy reads, adding that those materials include flyers and brochures that "support a candidate or political issue."

At the meeting Tuesday, Stewart made available to the public materials listing her years of legal experience. The last page of the packet lists Stewart's contact information and a space for public input, she said, adding that they were created to gather public feedback.

However, the fliers "absolutely" qualify as campaign material, Tayyara said.

When asked whether he believed Stewart's activities violated county rules, he replied, "According to what I read, as far as our policy on political activities, yes."

Stewart said she had read the document outlining the policy.

"I reviewed it again today, just to look at it," she said. "I didn't think I had violated anything.

"All I can do is apologize to the public if it appeared that way," she said. "I won't even come close to that line in the future."

Stewart said she had similar public meetings scheduled in other counties. She has since canceled those meetings, she said, "because I don't even want to take a chance that anything is going to look improper or be improper."

As of Wednesday, the Human Resources department still was reviewing the issue to determine whether the meeting violated county policy, department director Lynnette Running said.

"If it is, it will turn into a personnel issue," she said.

Department officials could have more information on the issue today, Running said.

Stewart said repeatedly that the gathering did not qualify as a campaign event.

The meeting, which about seven people attended, was "an informal meeting to get input from the public," on the District Attorney's office, Stewart said after the meeting Tuesday.

Stewart said previously that she'd chosen to host the meeting at the library because it was an accessible location where people could gather.

Library staff had no knowledge of the meeting until group members arrived Tuesday evening, said Sherry Sampson, Moffat County Libraries interim director.

However, Stewart said, the meeting at the library had been arranged for her ahead of time.

Stewart's opponent, Republican and Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Oldham, said she would not file a complaint against the meeting.

"I just feel that, at this point, it wouldn't be my place," Oldham said. "I just would not want to do that to a candidate that is opposing me."

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