Political mailer may violate campaign finance law
A political mailer that has circulated in Kootenai County sparked numerous complaints over alleged violations of campaign finance laws.
COEUR d’ALENE — Anonymous political mailers related to the Community Library Network trustee race prompted a flurry of complaints this week from residents who say the materials violate Idaho’s campaign finance laws.
The Kootenai County Elections Office confirmed Friday that it has received 16 formal complaints so far about double-sided cards mailed to voters with no indication of who paid for them. The cards were sent via a bulk mail account out of Spokane, but the sender’s identity is unknown at this time.
Idaho law requires direct mailings or any other type of general public political advertising to clearly indicate who is responsible for the communication.
The League of Women Voters of Kootenai County, a nonpartisan group that promotes civic engagement in government, filed one of the complaints.
“We seek to ensure that our government serves the people, not wealthy special interests, by promoting transparency, limiting SuperPACs and eliminating dark money,” the group said in a statement shared Friday with The Press. “The ‘paid for by’ disclosure on political advertising helps give voters an indication of which candidates and parties are willing to follow the law and who is paying to influence our elections.”
The mailer claims that libraries in North Idaho shelve unspecified “pornographic and sexually explicit” material in the children’s section and urges voters to support library trustee candidates Tim Plass and Tom Hanley, who have campaigned on promises to restrict or remove access to books they find objectionable.
The cards also criticized incumbent candidates Regina McCrea and Judy Meyer, claiming they have not removed the unspecified books.
At a library candidate town hall last week, Hanley and Plass denied knowledge of who sent the mailer, though Hanley said he ought to thank the person responsible.
“This one mailer is not an isolated instance,” said the complaint filed by the League of Women Voters, which was submitted to the county elections office, as well as to the Idaho Secretary of State. “It has been purported in recent years that election laws have not been stringently enforced and this lowers trust in elections.”
Kootenai County Clerk Jennifer Locke said her office is forwarding the complaints directly to prosecuting attorney Stanley Mortensen.
In Idaho, violating campaign finance law is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a civil fine of up to $250 for an individual or up to $2,500 for a group or entity.