As you know, I recently interviewed both Mayor Mary and opponent Ryan Moe about their campaigns for Mayor of Apple Valley. While I do not support either candidate and will be voting for “Mickey Mouse” again this year, I must admit that I was absolutely appalled at how Mayor Mary Hamann-Roland chose to use Apple Valley City Staff and City resources to conduct her campaign business. This is certainly something which Apple Valley taxpayers should not be supporting financially and which should lead to an audit of Mayor Mary’s campaign practices using city resources.
I called Mayor Mary on August 25th and asked her if she’d be interested in answering questions related to her campaign. On August 27th, Mayor Mary called me back and informed me that she would look over my questions and I should then send them along to info@cityofapplevalley.org. I took the information down and told her I would get around to it soon while my head spun that the Mayor of Apple Valley was suggesting I contact her via the city’s own e-mail address.
Now, I have interviewed only two other currently sitting candidates for councils in the South Metro and both of those Burnsville councilmembers utilized either personal e-mail addresses or addresses tied to their campaign. Neither had me contact them through their official Burnsville e-mail accounts presumably because that could be misconstrued as using city resources to conduct a campaign. In addition to those two interviews, I contacted several other South Metro cities (Eagan, Farmington, Lakeville, Rosemount) and asked them about staff involvement with political campaigns and guess what I found out? Not one permits city staff to work on campaigns on city time or using city resources. Two of the cities (Eagan and Rosemount) both defer to State Statute 211B.09 which reads:
211B.09 PROHIBITED PUBLIC EMPLOYEE ACTIVITIES.
An employee or official of the state or of a political subdivision may not use official authority or influence to compel a person to apply for membership in or become a member of a political organization, to pay or promise to pay a political contribution, or to take part in political activity. A political subdivision may not impose or enforce additional limitations on the political activities of its employees.
But back to Apple Valley’s Mayor Mary. On September 3rd I received the following e-mail from Charles Grawe the Assistant City Administrator for Apple Valley:
from : Grawe, Charles [CGrawe@ci.apple-valley.mn.us]
to: Bill Roehl [billandkimroehl@gmail.com]
date: Fri, Sep 3, 2010 at 4:21 PM
subject: Questions for Mayoral Candidates
The Mayor asked that I contact you to let you know she has not received the questions for the mayoral candidates. From a previous conversation with you, she believed she would be receiving the questions for completion by Labor Day. She expressed concern that as she does not have the questions, she would not be able to make the Labor Day deadline originally discussed.
Please feel free to forward the questions to this e-mail box when they are ready and I will make sure she receives them.
Thanks for your assistance.
Charles Grawe
Assistant City Administrator
City of Apple Valley
7100 West 147th Street
Apple Valley, MN 55124
(952) 953-2508
According to Apple Valley’s City Clerk, the info@cityofapplevalley.org e-mail address is manned by the Assistant City Administrator and he is the one responsible for disseminating e-mails received via that address. While surprising that such a menial administrative task should be shouldered by a position commanding $98,604 a year it is even more surprising that he has been roped into handling the mayor’s campaign e-mails via taxpayer funded resources such as his city e-mail address and/or info@cityofapplevalley.org–something which at least four other nearby cities forbid. While this is apparently common practice for Apple Valley, not one single person I have talked to believes that Mayor Mary or any member of Apple Valley City Staff, on their own time or not, should be utilizing city resources to conduct campaign business of any kind.
It is clear that Mayor Mary is using taxpayer funds in an inappropriate manner for her campaign and as such an audit of her actions over the last 11 years needs to be done to inform the public of her actions. She has a responsibility to be fiscally responsible, use common sense, and act in a manner which is above board. For someone who is so proud of all the hard work she does to “save” taxpayer dollars by “going green”, it would only make sense that she should have her network of supporters do the dirty work for her campaign, like handle her own personal campaign e-mail instead of having any Apple Valley City Staff member do it for her at great taxpayer expense using taxpayer funded systems. In addition the City of Apple Valley needs to immediately correct this action and ensure that any and all city employees are not using staff time or city resources to conduct campaign business for the mayor or councilmembers.
What do you think about Mayor Mary’s clear misuse of Apple Valley City Staff and City owned property? Do you think that it’s right for her to be utilizing the services of the Assistant City Administrator and a city e-mail address for her campaign when it is clearly not permitted by so many other cities? Do you believe that even if the Assistant Administrator was doing this on his own time that he should have been permitted to use a city e-mail address to do so? Whatever you have to say about Mayor Mary and her choice to utilize city staff and services to conduct her campaign business please comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say.
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September 14th, 2010 at 7:55 am
She shouldn’t do it, and should stop. It’s not appropriate.
But an audit would be an overreaction for something on this scale, and a waste of taxpayer money relative to what’s been done.
September 14th, 2010 at 8:09 am
Tim, normally I would agree with you regarding the audit, but if she is so willing to do this so overtly, one must wonder what other misuses of office shenanigans have been going on, and for how long? Somehow I don’t think that this is an isolated incident or a mistake – she’s been in office long enough and been involved in enough campaigns to “know better”. The only question now is: what are the consequences? A “Now, Mary, don’t do that again” is not enough, in my book.
September 14th, 2010 at 8:11 am
interesting. She should brush up on the legalities of using city resources for her campaign. Doubt she will, but she should.
September 14th, 2010 at 8:21 am
Whit, what are you basing that on? A gut feeling isn’t enough to go on. If there’s more that actually points to something, then fine, but there needs to be more of a pattern than this.
September 14th, 2010 at 8:27 am
I’m sort of with Tim. I’m not a fan the Mayor, I think our planning in Apple Valley stinks, it’s a great example of outdated suburban planning, the central core is a fucking joke.. there is no downtown on and on.
However, I’m not sure this is worth more than getting an apology from the Mayor. I wouldn’t waste too much time on an investigation.
I think she’s really “into” being the Mayor and feels good about her offce. As such, she probably doesn’t see that this is a problem, just like she didn’t get that she wasn’t allowed free access to water park.
She acts like she’s the mayor of big city somewhere and not the bedroom suburb that we are. Thankfully the city, with the exception of the Muni Liquor issue, seems to be well managed, but I think that’s more the finance team and city manager than the mayor.
I would LOVE the chance to vote in some one else. On the other hand I doubt that any really qualified people would want to bother with a job like this for $10,000 a year.
I’m going say it again.. save the taxpayers money and merge these little south of the river cities into one jursidiction to save taxdollars and improve overall services.
September 14th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Tim,
I’m guessing that Whit is referring to the fact that the woman has run for Mayor numerous times over the years and has most likely operated in this manner before. Then she’s probably remembering Waterparkgate as well.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Clearly it is wrong that a sitting Mayor would use city resources for any portion of their re-election campaign. If I was an Apple Valley resident it would concern me that the Mayor didn’t already know that. I imagine if Mayor Mary isn’t savvy enough to understand this about e-mail, she likely is also using other resources for her campaign. I.e. City Computers, City Copy Machines/Printers, City Phone lines.
What really pushes it over the line though is Mayor Mary asking the City Administrator to contact you regarding her campaign. Not only is that wrong, but the City Administrator should know she is not allowed to ask him to do that and should have told her so.
September 14th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Mikeh,
Based on my research with the other cities, only City Managers/Administrators were unable to work on campaigns due to their professional association ethical codes. Whether or not this applies to Assistant City Administrators/Managers I do not know.
One individual I talked to who used to deal with politicians as part of their job mentioned that some individuals on the staff like to “work for the boss,” in their spare time–something which is permissible as long as it is on their own time and not using city resources to complete.
So, while the Assistant City Administrator of Apple Valley can most likely work on the campaign in his spare time, he certainly cannot do it using the city’s network (which he was), the city’s e-mail system (which he was), nor should the mayor be asking that anyone (and this has happened at least one other time this year outside of my interaction with her that I know about) to submit questions about her campaign through the city’s own network/e-mail system/staff.
September 14th, 2010 at 10:31 am
There is NO WAY she’s gonna answer your questions now.
September 14th, 2010 at 11:02 am
Ai yai yai, Mary, you got some splaining to do.
September 14th, 2010 at 11:11 am
I’m remembering the recent situation with the Eden Prairie mayor who submitted (and was paid) expense reports for numerous meetings he did not attend. He got a slap on the wrist, and then decided not to run again. (From the Strib: “Incumbent Mayor Phil Young decided not to seek re-election following a probe of his city expense claims. Prosecutors decided not to charge him with a crime.”)
BUT, I feel the need to point out that the only reason he got in trouble was because of a routine audit. My guess is that Mayor Mary isn’t using any direct funds for her campaign, so it hasn’t been caught. An audit of how employees spend their time, however, would be revealing.
I do agree that an audit seems like an overreaction, but somehow someone needs to get this information into the mainstream press or otherwise cause a big enough fuss about it to instigate change.
Get out your blowhorns!
September 14th, 2010 at 11:23 am
While I sympathize with the Mayor’s low wages (and btw, where does the rest of her income come from), using city staff and city equipment in her campaign is hugely inappropriate. What staff chooses to do in their off-hours is of course their business, but not while on the job, especially because it puts the employee in a sticky corner.
This is an ethics line that any person in government should be very careful not to cross.
September 14th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Wait, so Chuck (Assistant City Administrator) makes $98,604 per year but the mayor only makes $10,000 a year?!?! No wonder she was trying to get into that water park for free!
September 14th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Odd behavior, for sure. Most people in the public sector are anal about separating political activity from official, public activity. Maybe that just gets more diluted at a small town level? Either way, I agree that what’s more odd to me than the use of the city email account was having a city administrator assist. That’s definitely crossing a line.
In the words of Mulch, “Ai yai yai.”
September 14th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
I think we all need to step off the ledge a little on this one. Was the initial phone call taken by the mayor at city hall? If so asking that an email be sent is more appropriate than taking up time in city hall talking on the phone right? I would imagine that all city workers have the ability to answer email from home and on personal time. I don’t see the problem here. Believe me, I am not a fan of Mayor Mary, but this outrage over the campaign and city resources is a non story in my book.
September 14th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Mikey,
1. I called her at the number she provided on her documentation submitted regarding running for reelection. I assume this was her home number.
2. The e-mail reminder was sent from Apple Valley’s network (IP) and via the city’s domain. This is clearly inappropriate ESPECIALLY if the employee was at home. Not only would they be using the network and SMTP but also a VPN paid for by the taxpayers.
September 14th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
I can’t speak for the city, Mikey, but I used to work for the county, and using the county’s email for personal use is a big no-no. For one thing, it leaves it open to virus and worm attack.
September 15th, 2010 at 6:41 am
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September 15th, 2010 at 9:18 am
I hate to go to this level, but sometime people like Mayor Mary are so retarded, the only response is to go all “furious dingdong” on them. At least the rest of us get a chuckle.
September 15th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
Merge all the cities south of the river? Yikes. We could all end up with the Queen mayor!
September 16th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
“Our Mayor Mary” needs to go. The city needs a change of leadership. This is one more reason why. Tell your friends to vote for Ryan Moe.
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