Judge reverses reprimand for former Johnson County Auditor

IOWA CITY - A Polk County judge has reversed a 2012 reprimand former Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett received for making campaign phone calls on his personal phone in the county auditor's office.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board did not prove Slockett, who served as auditor from 1977 to 2012, wasted county money when he took campaign calls in his office in the Johnson County Administration Building, Fifth Judicial District Judge David Porter wrote in an order this week.

'The court concludes petitioner's conduct was not tantamount to, nor did it require an expenditure of public moneys for political purposes,” Porter wrote. 'Accordingly, respondent's interpretation of Section 68A.505 was in error and, thus, the reprimand cannot stand.”

The Gazette reported in March 2012 Slockett had circulated his re-election petition at work and pressured some employees to sign. A month later, a former Johnson County deputy auditor filed an ethics complaint against Slockett, asserting the elected official had used public resources as part of his re-election campaign.

The ethics board voted 5-0 to issue a letter of reprimand to Slockett for using his personal cellphone to campaign from his office. Slockett lost the Democrat primary election for auditor in June 2012 and left office at the end of that year.

An administrative law judge reversed the reprimand in April 2013, but the ethics and campaign disclosure board rejected that decision.

In May 2015, the ACLU of Iowa filed a lawsuit on Slockett's behalf in Polk County. Porter's Feb. 28 decision follows a hearing in December.

The ACLU of Iowa took up Slockett's case because the organization felt it raised free speech questions, according to a statement released Friday.

'Especially during these uncertain times, when free speech is too often viewed with skepticism, we must ensure that elected officials' speech is not impermissibly censored,” said ACLU staff attorney Joseph Fraioli in the statement.

Slockett could not immediately be reached by The Gazette for comment, but said in the statement, 'This victory demonstrates what I have said for years now and what I was told by the county attorney at the time - that my speech was protected by the First Amendment.

'The Board's actions toward me unjustifiably impugned my character after decades of public service. The ability of elected officials to speak freely to citizens on important public matters is fundamental to our democracy, and I am very pleased with this long sought court victory.”

l Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com