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My local ANC Commissioner in ANC 2B09, Ed Hanlon, is running for reelection. One of his “achievements” has been getting fellow Commissioners sanctioned for a retweet that Ed claimed was a misuse of DC government resources. https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/178554/
Last I heard an appeal decision from @Vote4DC was pending. But that has not stopped Ed for campaigning for reelection on a message of integrity. Yesterday Ed’s campaign went sent a text message to select neighbors touting Ed as the “moral conscience of the Dupont Circle ANC.”
Given this messaging, you might have expected Ed would be squeaky clean and come nowhere close to creating the appearance that Ed has used DC government resources to support his re-election campaign. Has he?
Ed recently wrote, “I was out Friday morning again with Rodent Control…looking for rat burrows…[a]s ANC Commissioner for SMD 2B09.” He ended with an explicit political appeal, “vote to reelect me as you [sic] ANC Commissioner.” https://groups.io/g/DupontForum/message/20501
Ed’s message links DC Health’s outing to his own efforts as ANC Commissioner and to his reelection efforts. You might think, it’s only words, with no photo, as a photo played a large role in his complaint against his fellow commissioners. You would be wrong again!
Ed’s message includes this photo of him with a worker with a DC Health badge and a DC Health truck. Ed used this photo in an overtly political message. The email's subject line is “Results and Hard Work Matter: The Difference Between ED Hanlon and Kyle Mulhall.”
Maybe you want to give Ed a break because he posted this on a neighborhood forum, not on Twitter, which his fellow Commissioners used. You are again wrong! Ed also posted the photo of him with the DC Health worker and DC Health truck on his campaign’s Twitter account.
In fact, Ed’s campaign account describes the photo as showing “Commissioner ED last week with Rodent Control.” Ed's chosen text links the photo, with a DC Health worker and DC Health truck, to “Commissioner ED,” via an account that he controls and which promotes his candidacy.
The similarity of this behavior to that described in his complaint is striking. He argued that DC Main Streets could be viewed as endorsing Patrick Kennedy because it was listed in the photo caption. His chosen photo includes DC Health, there at Ed's own request.
Is the wording placing Ed “with” Rodent Control a problem? In his complaint, Ed argued that the word “and” “tends to suggest and…may have been intended to suggest to readers” support in the election.
If the conjunctive “and” is a problem, Ed’s use of the associative “with” is no better. Of course, the use of the word "and" with tagged people on Twitter is a function of the Twitter platform. It means nothing. Here, Ed's post deliberately chose to use the word "with."
In the photo, Ed is smiling and giving a thumbs up. Is DC Health’s presence with a smiling, thumbs up Ed meant by Ed to convey support? Ask yourself this: if the photo is not supportive of Ed, why would Ed be disseminating it as part of his campaign?
DC Code states that “no resources of the District of Columbia government...shall be used to support or oppose any candidate for elected office.” Ed knows this law as it was the basis of his complaint against fellow Commissioners!
Prohibited support includes the expenditure of funds, the personal services of employees during their hours of work, and nonpersonal services, including supplies and equipment. Did DC Health expend funds, provide personal services, or use supplies and equipment?
I see both an employee and a truck in Ed's photo. So the answer must be yes. That would make the question whether Ed is liable for including the information and photo, which looks staged to me--"personal services", anyone?--in a message supporting his election and opposing Kyle.
I am not a lawyer, so maybe this isn't a violation. That said, maybe @DCOCF15 or @dcbega would like to investigate. Most of the facts seem clear already, and it seems problematic to have candidates shortly before an election emphasizing their use of DC resources in this way.
Even if this is legal behavior, it seems wrong as matter of ethics. Any “moral conscience of the Dupont Circle ANC” should stay far away from the perception of unethical conduct, especially forms of conduct they themselves are on record complaining about.
This thread is probably too close to the election to matter given early voting, but I hope everyone reading it in ANC 2B09 voted for @kyle_mulhall_DC.
