ALAN CHOATE AND CATHY ALLRED - Daily Herald | Posted: Monday, October 30, 2006 11:00 pm
The Utah County Attorney's Office is investigating whether a mailer financed by Lehi Mayor Howard Johnson violates state laws intended to keep public entities from influencing elections.
"All there is to say right now is, 'We'll check into it,' " said deputy county attorney Kent Willis, who added that the mailer was "inappropriate."
Johnson acknowledged that a city employee helped prepare the document, but said no public money was used to mail the flier. He said the flier expresses his personal opinion and doesn't endorse any candidates.
On one side, the mailer advertises a Wednesday campaign event in Lehi.
"Don't miss the Republican Big Red Bus!" it says, and lists the campaign office of state Rep. LaVar Christensen, R-Sandy, as a contact. Christensen is seeking the congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah.
The other side contains a letter from Johnson urging people to support a proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase for Utah County. The increase would pay for commuter rail to Salt Lake County as well as road improvements.
The letter says he offers the encouragement "as a citizen" and is signed, "Howard H. Johnson, mayor." Johnson said his city administrative secretary, Teisha Wilson, wrote the letter and forwarded the materials to Freedom Mailing, which processed the mailing.
The mailer also lists Lehi City Corp. as the return address, although Wilson's instructions said not to do that.
More than 10,000 copies of the flier were mailed to ZIP code 84043 on Friday. The city of Lehi uses Freedom Mailing to mail occasional city notices.
"We just happened to use the city's license because we couldn't find one right away. That's all," Johnson said, referring to the postage permit used by the city when it uses Freedom Mailing. "That was quick and easy, and rather than chasing one down we used that one."
Freedom Mailing owner Bart Hendrickson said Monday that he'd sent a bill to Johnson.
No tax dollars were involved, Johnson said.
"I used their mailer, but they'll never see the bill," Johnson said. "Howard Johnson and a few friends will pay the bill."
He said he was urging support for the sales tax measure as a private citizen, although he did discuss endorsing the sales tax measure with the Lehi City Council.
"I talked with the council about it, and they chose not to endorse the tax thing," Johnson said. Council members expressed discomfort signing an endorsement.
He said he included the bus tour announcement "to save a few dollars" and that it was not an endorsement.
"It doesn't say, 'Vote for them,' " he said. "It just says they're having an open house."
State law prohibits public entities from spending tax money for political purposes or to influence a ballot measure. An elected official, however, can campaign and spend personal money for political purposes, including endorsing or opposing a ballot proposition.
Violating the law is a class B misdemeanor.
Willis, the deputy county attorney, said there were a number of applicable laws that needed to be researched, and he cautioned city officials to make doubly sure that no public funds were spent.
"I think this letter, if the city were paying for it, would clearly violate" the law, Willis said. "They need to make sure individual funds were used."
Chris Jones, the GOP legislative chairman for House District 56, which includes Lehi, said the Republican Party did not know Johnson was sending out fliers advertising the campaign event.
This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.