Washington Finance members fined over referendum mailing

Article Courtesy of the New Milford Spectrum

By Staff Writer Lynda Wellman
Published August 18, 2006

Washington’s six Board of Finance members are each $259.50 poorer because of penalties assessed by the state over a mailing sent last spring.

On Wednesday, the State Elections Enforcement Commission (SEEC), at a special meeting, unanimously adopted a consent agreement that settles a complaint filed in April by Jennifer Tannucci of Bridgewater.

Ms. Iannucci believes a mailing that the finance board sent to non-resident Washington taxpayers regarding Region 12’s April 25 referendum violated state law. The referendum dealt with proposed renovations to the elementary schools in the region’s three towns — Bridgewater, Roxbury and Washington.

William Smith, an SEEC staff attorney, said Wednesday he “negotiated the consent agreement over time,” speaking with all six members of the finance board who signed it - Jack Field, Barbara Brown, John Boyer, Michael Jackson, Craig Schoon and Rexford Swain.

“There has been a penalty to the state of $1,200,” Mr. Smith said. “Each individual paid $200.”

In addition, each finance member has paid the town of Washington $59.50, his or her portion of the cost to Washington to mail the letter that was sent out with absentee ballots and elicited the complaint.

Although they paid the fines, the Board of Finance members insist that “any violation was inadvertent and unintentional.”

On Wednesday, Ms. Iannucci said she is grateful the SEEC “spent the, time and resources to investigate this case.”

“I am pleased with the outcome, as it sends a clear message to town officials, not only in Washington, but also across the state,” she said.

“Our elected representatives must not use their public positions of influence to manipulate the outcome of a referendum, nor use public funds to do so,” Ms. Iannucci stated.

She said she hopes the SEEC decision “will set an example for conduct in future referendums.”

Ms. Iannucci, the head of the Save Our Schools PAC, alleged in her complaint that the Board of Finance “with the approval of its first selectman [Dick Sears], used town taxpayers money” to send a mailing that negatively influenced the referendum.

“We don’t agree it was advocacy,” Mr. Field said Wednesday.

He said the mailings were intended to be neutral, that finance members tried to comply with the law and signed the SEEC agreement to avoid spending money for lawyers in further litigation.

The agreement states that the finance members “do not admit liability” and claim “any violation was inadvertent and unintentional.”

According to the SEEC consent agreement, the commission concluded that some of the content of the mailer paid for with municipal funds warned of “increased taxes and potential conflicts with other important services” and when considered with the entire mailer, “advocates the defeat of the referendum.”

Mr. Field said the payments were made the first week in August.

The SEEC agreement also orders the finance members to “henceforth strictly comply” with the state statute related to the section that authorizes “concise explanatory texts” for public distribution about referendum questions.

Two mailings were actually sent out in April, one to weekenders who live out of town and one to full-time residents.

The second mailing was edited after further consultation with the town attorney.

Ms. Iannucci’s complaint was based on the first mailing to weekenders. The last paragraph in the first mailing, which was dropped in the second mailing, urged voters “to consider both the increase of taxes resulting from the renovation project AND the inevitable increases in the Region 12 and town budgets.”