Auditor should know

The Gazette Editorial Board

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What on earth was he thinking?

As commissioner of elections, Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett should know the rules and set the standard for ethical campaign behavior.

Instead, he recently circulated his own re-election petitions around the county office - along with directions for employees to mark their name off a list once they'd seen the petition. When a Gazette reporter called him about it, Slockett insisted there was nothing unethical about doing so.

But besides clear legal prohibitions against campaigning on county time, it should just be common sense that an employer should avoid even appearing to pressure his employees to support his re-election.

Regardless of Slockett's intent, undoubtedly some auditor's office workers felt they had little choice but to show their support for their boss.

An attorney for the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board has apparently since called Slockett to remind him it was inappropriate to circulate the petitions at work, but no disciplinary action is expected. She told a reporter the Johnson County incident was the third time in the past few weeks that she'd gotten similar complaints.

But certainly Slockett, who has been in office since 1977, should have known better than to use public resources for his private benefit.

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