http://www.katu.com/news/local/128659033.html
Portland schools supt., others fined for violating election law
By Meghan Kalkstein KATU News and KATU.com Staff Published: Aug 30, 2011 at 1:23 AM PDT Last Updated: Aug 30, 2011 at 6:10 AM PDT

PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Public Schools superintendent along with seven other employees are accused of breaking state election laws. An investigator claims they tried to sway voters to approve a huge school construction bond in May.

According to the Oregon attorney general's office, it's against the law for government employees to use public time and money to work on campaign information meant to sway voters.

Documents from the secretary of state's election division show Portland Public Schools employees from the superintendent to the chief financial officer did just that.

Eric Fruits asked the secretary of state elections division to investigate.

"I had no idea about whether it'd be a violation or not, I just asked them to take a look at it," he said Monday night.

Fruits said something didn't seem right about the pamphlet he got in April from Portland Public Schools on the $548 million bond to renovate school buildings.

"It was pretty unambiguous that it was telling people to vote for the bond," he said. "They tried to make it sound like it was just information, but it was so heavily weighted toward telling people they had to vote for it that it seemed to me that it was more advocacy rather than information."

According to the documents, a compliance investigator found eight employees, including Superintendent Carole Smith broke the law. They were either involved in writing, editing or approving fliers. They were also involved in websites and other postings in support of a bond to pay for school improvements and a levy to pay for teaching positions.

"Either they were sloppy and didn't follow the rules, because they didn't know what to do or they just decided it was worth it," Fruits said.

For violating the law the state is fining each employee $75.

"Seventy-five dollars or multiply that by the eight people who had fines, it's nothing," Fruits said. "It's a drop in the bucket. So what it does is it sends a really strong signal that, hey you know what, there’s no penalty for violating these election rules."

The state didn't go after three other employees because it believed they were just following orders. The others can either pay the fine or request a hearing within 20 days.

KATU News tried to contact everyone involved. The people KATU News did reach declined to comment. A spokesman for Portland Public Schools did not call back.

During a special election in May the bond to renovate school buildings was narrowly defeated; however, voters did approve the $57 million levy that covered teacher positions.
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