Letter Sent by Planning Commissioners May Have Violated Campaign Ethics
A letter addressed to residents of Ward 1 and signed by various past and present members of the Parkville Planning Commission may have violated Missouri’s campaign finance law say state officials.
The letter was disseminated on April 3 by Citizens for a Balanced Parkville, Deborah Butcher’s campaign committee. Both the manner in which the letter was delivered and it’s content have come under scrutiny in recent days by city, county and state officials, The Luminary has learned.
The letter’s contents challenge Tom Hutsler, Butcher’s opponent in the election, and his assertions that he “thwarted efforts” to build cell phone towers on his commercial properties in downtown Parkville. Hutsler has said that he has routinely turned down such requests in the past and believes it is a city planning issue.
The letter reads: “As members of the Parkville Planning Commission at our April 9, 2002 meeting we were presented with a proposal for a cell tower to be placed in the English Landing Center. The application was withdrawn. We believe it was because 1) the board thought the cell tower in downtown Parkville would damage the ambience of our beautiful historical town and destroy the view of the river vistas for our downtown and Bluff’s residents and 2) other community members also voiced strong opposition to the project.
“Tom Hutsler attended that meeting on behalf of the ownership of the English Landing Center, who were there to lease the land to the cell tower operator. He is mentioned in the minutes discussing other issues in the English Landing Center. Tom Hutsler never said one word in protest in this cell tower. The minutes reflect the names of many people who spoke out against the cell tower project. Mr. Hutsler was not one of them. Deborah Butcher, and the other people she rallied from the community, strongly voiced that they did not want the cell tower.
The letter was signed by Bill Quitmeier, Rhonda Powers, Harold G. Brown, Al McCormick, Ron Ortiz and George Smith - members of the planning commission at that time - and came with a cover letter from Butcher’s campaign. Ortiz, Brown, McCormick and Quitmeier still serve on the board.
Quitmeier, the city’s longtime former mayor and current member of the Parkville Planning Commission, told The Luminary that he drafted the piece with Butcher and helped distribute it throughout neighborhoods with her. Both Butcher and Quitmeier deny that the piece was placed on mailboxes, which could result in postal fines. Instead, they said, it was affixed to doors.
Officials at the city’s community development department were surprised to learn about the letter on Tuesday. They said official communications by the planning commission are typically processed through their department. The letter, which did not utilize city letterhead, did not claim to be an official communication of the planning commission and no taxpayer funds were used in its creation (Parkville planning commission members serve as volunteers).
Questions have arisen as to whether the letter may have then violated the state’s Sunshine Laws. Quitmeier, a lawyer, headed off that argument.
“There’s no violation of the open meetings law,” Quitmeier told The Luminary. “None. Zip. I believe in the contents of the letter. It’s my recollection of the truth…are we supposed to lie about the city? We wanted to correct the record.”
Tondra Rush, legal counsel for the National Newspaper Association specializing in Freedom of Information laws agreed.
“This is the other end of the spectrum…they’re disseminating information,” Rush said. She said that if the letter was written and passed around on a “daisy chain” it may have exploited a loophole in the law. “If they did all get together, that would be a violation,” she said.
The letter may have violated ethics laws, however.
“Every piece used in campaign literature must state who is paying for it,” said Mike Reed, an investigator of the Missouri Ethics Commission. Reed said that even though the Butcher piece did have a cover letter which clearly stated her campaign committee’s financial involvement, the planning commissioner letter required one, too. He said his opinion did not infer guilt, only that it appeared to be something worthy of investigation.
If the state does find a violation, Butcher’s committee may be subject to fines up to $1,000 but Reed said that was highly unlikely to occur. It would not result in an election nullification or removal of office.
Quitmeier said the letter never would have been written if not for a letter sent the day previous by Parkville resident Dave Williams. In his letter, Williams stated that he was in charge of the cell tower project, not Hutsler and that Hutsler “was at the [April 9, 2002] meeting to oppose it” Meeting minutes do not reflect that claim.
“Deborah’s always been as truthful as can be and hardworking for no vested interest,” Quitmeier said. “Hutsler has too much of a vested interest in downtown.”
Both Butcher and Hutsler received fines from the election board for filing 8-day expense forms late, a procedural gaffe that costs campaigns $100 per day of lateness.