Womack uses city computer for campaign e-mail; worker removes opponent’s signs
by May 5, 2010 7:42 am 132 views
3rd Congressional District GOP candidate and Rogers Mayor Steve Womack admitted Tuesday that he used city equipment to send a campaign e-mail and that a campaign worker removed the campaign signs of opponents.
The story comes courtesy Ethan Nobles with Benton-based First Arkansas News.
Nobles received photographs of a Womack campaign trailer containing the signs of Bernard Skoch and Sen. Cecile Bledsoe, R-Rogers. Bledsoe, Skoch and Womack are among eight GOP candidates in the GOP primary — held May 18 — for the 3rd Congressional District.
Womack sent an e-mail to the other campaigns to apologize for the sign removals. He said Lewis Kaslow of Bentonville is the worker who mistakenly removed the signs. Womack noted: “He (Kaslow) admitted that at the direction of property owner Benny Westphal, he did, in fact, take down some signs that Benny said were unauthorized and wished to have removed. I want you to know that I had absolutely no knowledge of this situation until alerted by another campaign. Lewis now knows how damaging this can be to a campaign and is truly apologetic for his involvement. I know this man—and he would never intentionally do harm to another campaign and he regrets his participation. He was simply acting at the direction of the owner of the property. … I have directed Lewis to make contact with the campaigns involved and dutifully return the signage for reuse elsewhere. … I apologize for the involvement of one of my campaign volunteers. It was truly an error in judgment — no malice intended.”
However, the apology e-mail was sent from the Rogers mayor’s office using the city-owed computer — a possible violation of Arkansas’ political practices law. Womack admitted to Nobles that he sent the e-mail using the city computer, but said he was off the clock and does not believe he violated the spirit of the act.
Gunner DeLay, also a candidate in the GOP primary for the 3rd District, said he finds troubling Womack’s potential violation of the law.
“No government property can be used for political purposes. He knows that,” DeLay told First Arkansas News.
Link here for the full story and photos of the removed signs.