Quan campaign puts mayor on ethical hot seat Election adviser sends city employees political e-mail to work accounts

Supporter Rosie Bonds holds a sign in support of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan on the steps of Oakland City Hall after Quan filed her official re-election nomination papers with the City Clerk's office. Supporter Rosie Bonds holds a sign in support of Oakland Mayor Jean Quan on the steps of Oakland City Hall after Quan filed her official re-election nomination papers with the City Clerk's office. Photo: Craig Hudson, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Craig Hudson, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close Quan campaign puts mayor on ethical hot seat 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

The campaign to re-elect Oakland Mayor Jean Quan sent letters to city employees at their official city e-mail accounts on Tuesday, informing them of political events and linking them to the mayor's re-election site, which solicits campaign donations.

The move, ethics experts say, is improper not only because it involves the use of city resources such as e-mail addresses to publicize campaign events, but because employees who received the letters may feel that their jobs could be at risk if they do not participate in the mayor's re-election activities.

"Obviously, sending out (campaign material) to employees using city e-mail addresses is completely inappropriate," said Bob Stern, a veteran political expert who for decades served as president of the California Center for Governmental Studies.

The e-mail was sent by Quan's campaign as a press advisory, inviting the public to "dialogue with roundtables of engaged leaders on hot topics like sustainability, affordability, including equitable development, the technology divide, and promoting arts and culture in Oakland at free events throughout the fall."

It quotes the mayor: "Oakland is on the rise, and we can only rise together by working with and listening to one another to move our city forward," and it includes links to her campaign's Facebook account and Web page, which solicit political donations.

Michael Colbruno, Quan's campaign adviser and spokesman, said the e-mail was sent only to people who had chosen to be on Quan's campaign press distribution list.

But at least nine city employees contacted by The Chronicle said they received the e-mail on their city accounts, but had never subscribed to Quan's campaign website. Recipients included Police Department officials, city bureaucrats, some City Council members and even staffers of council members, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity.

Colbruno said the city employees who acknowledged receiving the e-mail must have forgotten or not realized that they'd signed up for press distribution alerts.

"The only people who got it were people who signed up for media notifications," Colbruno said. "If they want to be off they can e-mail back and say, 'Remove me from the list.' "

Potential problems

The e-mail poses potential problems for both Quan and city workers reading the campaign communications at their office desktops. Guidelines from the city attorney's office specify that "city and other public resources," including computers and software, "may not be used to campaign or advocate for or against candidates or ballot measures."

Colbruno said he wasn't sure how many e-mail addresses were included on Quan's press list, adding that "it is not illegal" to send e-mails to city accounts.

But the move has raised concerns among ethics experts - and fired up critics in Oakland, where 13 mayoral candidates are vying to unseat Quan.

Joe Tuman, who is running against Quan for mayor, said he was not surprised to learn Quan's campaign had sent the invitation to city e-mail addresses.

"It certainly creates the impression that if you get one of these that you should go because the mayor is the boss - and the boss is doing this meeting," Tuman said. "Maybe there is something implied if you don't go."

Stern said that the move by the mayor's campaign may possibly involve a "misuse of city funds," but that issue would be relatively minor.

The more egregious matter is the optics - and ethics - of the city's top official contacting city employees at their place of work to urge them to attend a function benefiting her mayoral campaign.

'It will backfire'

"You just don't do something like that," Stern said, not because "city employees will resent it," but because "headlines could result, and it will backfire." For that reason, he said, most elected officials steer clear of any campaign contact with employees at their official work e-mail addresses.

The e-mail informed recipients of several events, the first of which took place Tuesday night at the Ginn House in Preservation Park, where volunteers wearing Quan campaign buttons greeted attendees at the front door, asking them for contact information and how they were willing to help the campaign.

Quan asked attendees how many had gotten the campaign's e-mail and nearly half of the people in the crowd of 60 raised their hands. The other half said they had received a postcard from the campaign.

Oakland ethics guidelines are fuzzy on the legality of the campaign's e-mail to city workers.

The guidelines state that an elected official may send out a campaign newsletter to voters using mail contacts housed in a city e-mail "if the elected official obtained the e-mail and contact information independently of city-owned computer or server systems and the city's e-mail list is not the source of the e-mail contacts."

Campaign challenged

But the e-mail provides links to Quan's campaign sites, which solicit donations - and could constitute a violation of California Government Code Section 3205, which states that a city officer or employee may not solicit campaign contributions from other city officers or employees unless it is part of a solicitation made to a "significant segment of the public."

Quan's campaign has faced challenges with the mayor's lagging polls and lackluster fundraising.

The latest campaign finance reports showed Quan raising just $86,000 for her re-election in the past six months - putting her behind rival candidates, including Oakland Councilwomen Libby Schaaf and Rebecca Kaplan.

Colbruno said the mayor has raised $250,400 to date, but Schaff has raised $226,000 in the past six months, bringing her total fundraising to $350,000 since she jumped into the race late last year.

Kaplan's campaign manager, Jason Overman, said the candidate had raised $101,470 total since entering the race June 5.