State ethics board reprimands Johnson County auditor

IOWA CITY – Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett illegally used public resources for political purposes, a state ethics panel concluded Thursday.

At the same meeting, board members dismissed a similar complaint against Linn County Auditor Joel Miller.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, which administers the state's campaign and ethics laws, voted 5-0 to issue a letter of reprimand to Slockett, said Megan Tooker, the board's executive director and legal counsel. The vote came after the board discussed the matter in closed session during a meeting in Des Moines.

The reprimand is the least severe civil sanction the board can issue, and it chose that because in the one violation it confirmed, it found Slockett was acting on the advice of the current and past Johnson County attorneys.

Slockett, a Democrat from Iowa City, has been Johnson County's auditor and elections commissioner since 1977.

He said Thursday night he hadn't heard about the decision until contacted by a Gazette reporter and wanted to wait to comment until he had more information.

In April, former deputy auditor Nathan Reckman filed a formal complaint with the board accusing Slockett of:

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[naviga:li]Using his county email account for campaign-related work. The board on Thursday found the email in question did not express advocacy in favor of Slockett's candidacy or against his opponent in the June primary, Travis Weipert, and therefore was not a violation, according to the board's written order.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Circulating his re-election petition at work and pressuring employees to sign it. The board has said state law allows the circulating of a petition in a government office as long as other candidates are given the same opportunity. The board found that other candidates were not given the opportunity and referred the matter to Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness, who has jurisdiction.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Changing a policy in a way that made it easier for a supporter to get Weipert's voter-registration record. The board found this was not a violation.[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Using his work phone to talk with campaign supporters. Slockett acknowledged using his cell phone from his office to work on his campaign and said it's possible some people may have returned calls to his work phone, according to the written order. Slockett said was relying on the advise of the current and a former Johnson County attorney, and those attorneys said during the investigation that they had advised county employees that it is OK to use government resources for political purposes as long as there was no additional cost to the county. The ethics board said state law prohibits that use regardless of whether there is an additional cost. Because Slockett relied on the advice of counsel, the board said it would issue a reprimand, which is the least severe civil sanction.[/naviga:li]

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Slockett has 30 days to ask for what is known as a contested hearing before the board, in which he could provide formal testimony, offer exhibits and call witnesses. He could ask for an administrative law judge to preside.

He is in a tough campaign with Weipert, an accountant and City Council member in Tiffin. The winner of the primary will represent the Democratic Party on the November ballot. There are no other candidates from any party at this time.

Linn County case

The state ethics board has dismissed a complaint against Linn County Auditor Joel Miller.

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board dismissed all three complaints in a hearing conducted this afternoon, said Megan Tooker, the board's director and legal counsel.

“The good news is, it's one less stress occurring for the remainder of the campaign,” said Miller, who faces two challengers in Tuesday's Democratic primary.

The complaint alleged Miller posted campaign-related Twitter messages on county time, sent an email on the county's system seeking to place a political item on the supervisors' agenda, and made political robo-calls received by a county employee at work. The complainant's name is redacted from the copy released by the ethics board.

While he's happy the charge was dismissed, “I'm not happy with the process of people being able to make accusations anonymously and not having to take responsibility for those allegations,” Miller said. “I'm not pleased that's the process, because that allows this to happen on the eve of elections over and over again.”

The Gazette's Steve Gravelle contributed to this report.

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