Links to campaign from city Web site raises questions

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BY LEAH NYLEN
Medill News Service | Saturday, January 13, 2007 | (1 comment(s))

Two Chicago City Council members have links on their official city Web sites that direct viewers to their re-election campaign sites -- a potential violation of state ethics laws.

Each ward has a page on the city's Web site, www.cityofchicago.gov, that lists contact information for the alderman. Some aldermen also include pictures, biographies and links related to city services and departments.

But two aldermen, Madeleine Haithcock, 2nd Ward, and Helen Shiller, 46th Ward, also list their campaign Web sites in the "Related Links" section on their ward pages.

Both Haithcock and Shiller are seeking re-election in the municipal elections on Feb. 27. Haithcock faces at least four challengers, while Shiller is opposed by one other candidate.

Their actions probably violate an Illinois law that prohibits using public resources for political campaigns, according to David Morrison, the deputy executive director for the Illinois Campaign for Public Reform. Although the law covers actions by state employees, Illinois law also requires that all cities have standards at least as tough as the state's, he said.

"There ought to be a city ordinance that says they can't do this," Morrison said. "I should hope if this were brought to the attention of the candidates, they would recognize it was a mistake and take it down right away."

The city's municipal code does not have any regulations addressing this use of the city's Web site, said Jennifer Hoyle, a spokeswoman for the city's law department. The code does have a regulation that requires city property to be used solely for city business, she said.

George Atkins, Shiller's campaign manager, said he decided to place a link to Shiller's campaign site on her city Web site.

"People wanted to see information on the campaign," he said. "(The link gives) them the ability to do that."

Atkins doesn't believe the link is a violation of the ethics standards, and the campaign has no plans to remove it.

Representatives from Haithcock's campaign could not be reached for comment.

Officials from the Chicago Board of Ethics also declined to comment, saying the board would not investigate unless a formal complaint was filed.

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mia wrote on Jan 27, 2007 4:25 PM:

" why would you write an article focusing on these two aldermen, when almost all of the aldermen have a link on their city site to their campaign site? "

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