Another fire board election gets ugly in Frenchtown
Wednesday, April 30 2008 @ 09:33 PM MDT
Contributed by: Admin
by John Q. Murray
For the second straight year, the Frenchtown Fire board election turned ugly as it headed into the home stretch.
Two anonymous flyers were widely distributed in the fire district this week in violation of Montana campaign laws.
According to Montana's “Clean Campaign Act” of 2007, all campaign materials must include a statement indicating who paid for the materials and attesting to their accuracy.
Materials distributed within 10 days of the election with information about one's opponents must be given to the opponents before or on the same day that they are distributed.
Four candidates--Glenn Green, Harry Kenck, Ray Winn, and Dee Woods--are running for two positions on the board. Voters go to the polls on Tuesday, May 6.
A green flyer, distributed over the weekend in Missoulian newspaper tubes, carried the names of candidates Harry Kenck and Dee Woods on one side, but did not contain any information regarding their campaign positions. The other side included statements about Glenn Green and Ray Winn that both candidates said misrepresented the facts.
Kenck and Woods said they were not responsible for the anonymous flyers.
The flyer stated: “Glenn Green: His business has been found in violation of fire code. Glenn Green is against fire code enforcement, the best fire protection tool. Is he running for you or himself? Glenn Green is opposed to impact fees that would have new development pay for the cost of growth.”
Green said the flyer did not accurately represent his position and did not tell the whole story about his alleged fire code violation: a burned-out light bulb in his exit sign.
“The fire department does have jurisdiction over maintenance issues and should be helping everyone in fire prevention,” Green said.
The anonymous flyer included the following statements about Ray Winn: “He supported increasing your taxes while in the school board and then resigned. Ray Winn is opposed to impact fees. Ray Winn is opposed to the fire district earning money from wildland fires even though it keeps your taxes down. Who does he want to pay for growth?”
“I did, in fact, as part of the school board, vote for presenting a bond issue to the voters who decided it was appropriate for passage of the bond,” Winn said. He noted that he subsequently resigned from the school board to avoid a conflict of interest while questioning activities at Frenchtown Fire.
Winn also pointed out that he does not oppose all out-of-district wildland firefighting. He said he would keep fire equipment and paid staff in the district during times of high fire danger, with the exception of mutual aid for adjoining districts. “This is what we have a fire department for, protecting our property,” he said.
A yellow flyer was placed on windshields during the Frenchtown Elementary school music concert Monday night, claiming to represent the views of Frenchtown Fire volunteers.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Montana Newspaper Association sent the Chronicle and other member newspapers information about the election laws, and the Chronicle quickly passed that information along to all four candidates.
According to the Montana law: “All communications advocating the success or defeat of a candidate, political party, or ballot issue through any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, direct mailing, poster, handbill, bumper sticker, Internet website, or other form of general political advertising must clearly and conspicuously include the attribution 'paid for by' followed by the name and address of the person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication.”
Campaign materials that include statements about opponents must also include a signed statement that the facts are accurate.
The anonymous flyers distributed on behalf of Kenck and Woods in the Frenchtown Fire campaign did not contain the required disclosures.
The Chronicle followed up Tuesday by asking all candidates if they would agree during the final week of the campaign to follow the Montana Code of Clean Campaigning, which appears in MCA 13-35-301.
The code seeks to identify “basic principles of decency, honesty, and fair play,” and includes the following statements: “I will conduct my campaign without the use of personal vilification, character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on my opposition or his personal or family life. I will not use campaign material of any sort which misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies the facts...Insofar as is possible, I will immediately and publicly repudiate support deriving from any individual or group which resorts, on behalf of my candidacy or in opposition to that of my opponent, to the methods and tactics that I have pledged not to use or condone."
Candidates Green, Winn, and Woods agreed to adopt the code.
Dee Woods said the code is “all well and good,” though she pointed out it is difficult to control the actions of others. “It gets rather interesting when you have people that have political opinions and voice those opinions. I don't know how one can control what they say and do when you are not in their presence,” she said.
Kenck declined to adopt the ethics code. He suggested that in raising the issue the Chronicle was playing a partisan role.
“My interpretation of section (5) may not apply to Dee or myself, as we are not responsible for the material. Frankly John Q., at this point I cannot help but question your motivation in this matter,” he said. “The genie on this one has been out of the bottle for months, and you have been very involved to the point of partisanship. Simply trying to put the cork back in the bottle at this late date may be the wrong move.”
Missoulian district circulation manager Allen Goodwin emphasized that campaign flyers may not be placed in the newspaper tubes, which are private property. “If you want to put something in the paper for the Frenchtown area, you can go through the office and insert a flyer for the paper and pay for it that way,” he said. “But as far as the Missoulian tube, we don't do that.”
Several persons contacted the Chronicle during the past week about alleged campaign violations. Missoula County's top elections official Vicky Zeier said such violations should be reported to the state Commissioner of Political Practices in Helena, 444-2942.
“We've had a couple of calls from Frenchtown already,” said Commissioner Dennis Unsworth. “People can call us here or go to our website and check out the information there. There is a specific prohibition on use of public resources such as fire trucks for political activity and there is a statute that essentially says campaign materials shall not be anonymous.”
The website appears at www.politicalpractices.mt.gov.
Last year's 2007 fire board campaign also became heated and personal, with four candidates running for a single position. In that campaign, Mitchell Hicks defeated Harry Kenck and two other candidates.
Former Assistant to the Chief John Zunski played a vocal and active role in a campaign against Hicks, his neighbor in upper Petty Creek. During a board meeting after the election, Zunski's official staff report included a demand that Hicks resign. Zunski himself subsequently resigned after the meeting.
###
For the second straight year, the Frenchtown Fire board election turned ugly as it headed into the home stretch.
Two anonymous flyers were widely distributed in the fire district this week in violation of Montana campaign laws.
According to Montana's “Clean Campaign Act” of 2007, all campaign materials must include a statement indicating who paid for the materials and attesting to their accuracy.
Materials distributed within 10 days of the election with information about one's opponents must be given to the opponents before or on the same day that they are distributed.
Four candidates--Glenn Green, Harry Kenck, Ray Winn, and Dee Woods--are running for two positions on the board. Voters go to the polls on Tuesday, May 6.
A green flyer, distributed over the weekend in Missoulian newspaper tubes, carried the names of candidates Harry Kenck and Dee Woods on one side, but did not contain any information regarding their campaign positions. The other side included statements about Glenn Green and Ray Winn that both candidates said misrepresented the facts.
Kenck and Woods said they were not responsible for the anonymous flyers.
The flyer stated: “Glenn Green: His business has been found in violation of fire code. Glenn Green is against fire code enforcement, the best fire protection tool. Is he running for you or himself? Glenn Green is opposed to impact fees that would have new development pay for the cost of growth.”
Green said the flyer did not accurately represent his position and did not tell the whole story about his alleged fire code violation: a burned-out light bulb in his exit sign.
“The fire department does have jurisdiction over maintenance issues and should be helping everyone in fire prevention,” Green said.
The anonymous flyer included the following statements about Ray Winn: “He supported increasing your taxes while in the school board and then resigned. Ray Winn is opposed to impact fees. Ray Winn is opposed to the fire district earning money from wildland fires even though it keeps your taxes down. Who does he want to pay for growth?”
“I did, in fact, as part of the school board, vote for presenting a bond issue to the voters who decided it was appropriate for passage of the bond,” Winn said. He noted that he subsequently resigned from the school board to avoid a conflict of interest while questioning activities at Frenchtown Fire.
Winn also pointed out that he does not oppose all out-of-district wildland firefighting. He said he would keep fire equipment and paid staff in the district during times of high fire danger, with the exception of mutual aid for adjoining districts. “This is what we have a fire department for, protecting our property,” he said.
A yellow flyer was placed on windshields during the Frenchtown Elementary school music concert Monday night, claiming to represent the views of Frenchtown Fire volunteers.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Montana Newspaper Association sent the Chronicle and other member newspapers information about the election laws, and the Chronicle quickly passed that information along to all four candidates.
According to the Montana law: “All communications advocating the success or defeat of a candidate, political party, or ballot issue through any broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, direct mailing, poster, handbill, bumper sticker, Internet website, or other form of general political advertising must clearly and conspicuously include the attribution 'paid for by' followed by the name and address of the person who made or financed the expenditure for the communication.”
Campaign materials that include statements about opponents must also include a signed statement that the facts are accurate.
The anonymous flyers distributed on behalf of Kenck and Woods in the Frenchtown Fire campaign did not contain the required disclosures.
The Chronicle followed up Tuesday by asking all candidates if they would agree during the final week of the campaign to follow the Montana Code of Clean Campaigning, which appears in MCA 13-35-301.
The code seeks to identify “basic principles of decency, honesty, and fair play,” and includes the following statements: “I will conduct my campaign without the use of personal vilification, character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on my opposition or his personal or family life. I will not use campaign material of any sort which misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies the facts...Insofar as is possible, I will immediately and publicly repudiate support deriving from any individual or group which resorts, on behalf of my candidacy or in opposition to that of my opponent, to the methods and tactics that I have pledged not to use or condone."
Candidates Green, Winn, and Woods agreed to adopt the code.
Dee Woods said the code is “all well and good,” though she pointed out it is difficult to control the actions of others. “It gets rather interesting when you have people that have political opinions and voice those opinions. I don't know how one can control what they say and do when you are not in their presence,” she said.
Kenck declined to adopt the ethics code. He suggested that in raising the issue the Chronicle was playing a partisan role.
“My interpretation of section (5) may not apply to Dee or myself, as we are not responsible for the material. Frankly John Q., at this point I cannot help but question your motivation in this matter,” he said. “The genie on this one has been out of the bottle for months, and you have been very involved to the point of partisanship. Simply trying to put the cork back in the bottle at this late date may be the wrong move.”
Missoulian district circulation manager Allen Goodwin emphasized that campaign flyers may not be placed in the newspaper tubes, which are private property. “If you want to put something in the paper for the Frenchtown area, you can go through the office and insert a flyer for the paper and pay for it that way,” he said. “But as far as the Missoulian tube, we don't do that.”
Several persons contacted the Chronicle during the past week about alleged campaign violations. Missoula County's top elections official Vicky Zeier said such violations should be reported to the state Commissioner of Political Practices in Helena, 444-2942.
“We've had a couple of calls from Frenchtown already,” said Commissioner Dennis Unsworth. “People can call us here or go to our website and check out the information there. There is a specific prohibition on use of public resources such as fire trucks for political activity and there is a statute that essentially says campaign materials shall not be anonymous.”
The website appears at www.politicalpractices.mt.gov.
Last year's 2007 fire board campaign also became heated and personal, with four candidates running for a single position. In that campaign, Mitchell Hicks defeated Harry Kenck and two other candidates.
Former Assistant to the Chief John Zunski played a vocal and active role in a campaign against Hicks, his neighbor in upper Petty Creek. During a board meeting after the election, Zunski's official staff report included a demand that Hicks resign. Zunski himself subsequently resigned after the meeting.
###
