Trouble brewing over campaign car on county property

Source: Greeley Tribune, Colo.self storageJuly 27--The race for the next Weld County Sheriff already is heating up, and it's still a year before the election.Weld County Sheriff Bureau Chief Steve Reams, who is one of four candidates for the office in the 2014 election, has started campaigning early by painting all of his family vehicles with "Reams for Sheriff" logos on them. He drives them to and from work, through parades and other events, to get as much publicity for his campaign as he can, he said.One, a bright yellow Ford Festiva with large, black lettering, has been parked sporadically during working hours in the last week at the Weld County Sheriff's Administration Building at 1950 O St., drawing the ire of some residents and county employees.Technically, say Weld County commissioners, it violates county code, which prohibits employees from engaging in any political activity on county property.On Friday, they sent a letter to outgoing Weld Sheriff John Cooke, asking him to stop Reams from parking the lemon-colored sedan in the lot."The board believes Mr. Reams' parking this vehicle on county property during county work hours is a clear violation of (county code)," the letter states. "We have received several complaints from persons who see the parking of the vehicle .... as inappropriate political activity taking place on county property."The board requests of you to ask him to park the vehicle off county property during county work hours."Reams, who was on vacation on Friday, said he had not seen the letter. He said he consulted Cooke about driving the car to work and was given the green light."When I hear the term campaigning, to me that means actively going out and trying to recruit or sway voters," Reams said. "A political sign is not the same thing as an active campaign. ... My goal is not to offend the commissioners, not to find a way to violate county policy, which I don't think I'm doing. I'm trying to be a candidate for office at the same time as balancing a busy work schedule. And I have a First Amendment right to display my freedom of speech."Cooke said Friday that he felt the issue was just a part of petty politics. He said he saw the car as nothing but a giant bumper sticker, the same as many politicians, themselves, put on their cars. It's no different from displaying a sticker for Obama or Romney, or county commissioner."It's a public parking lot. Anybody can park in there, and that's his personal car, and he can drive that to work. What am I going to tell him, 'No, you can't drive your personal car to work?'?" Cooke asked.Cook and Reams both charged that this was th迷你倉 doing of Commissioner Sean Conway, who is on the campaign committee for former Sheriff Cmdr. Margie Martinez, who also is running for Sheriff.Conway said even if Martinez, herself, parked a car like that in the lot, the commissioners would be concerned. Weld County Attorney Bruce Barker said it was against county policy."Those of us who serve as elected officials, and particularly those who are the chief law enforcement officials, should be the ones who go above and beyond in terms of following the law," Conway said. "This has nothing to do with petty politics. It has everything to do with being an elected official and following the rules that we are all expected to follow."Martinez, contacted Friday afternoon, said it's long been known in the Sheriff's office that employees refrain from political activity during election season. Martinez retired this year after more than 30 years in the office."All I remember is in past years, was Pat (Persichino, a former county official) being very adamant, saying, 'Absolutely nothing on county property.' It was like yeah, we know that, we know better."Martinez said she had little to say about Reams' car and hadn't seen it in the lot herself, though she had heard some people question it."I only have control over my actions," she said. "I do think, personally, it's in very poor taste."Reams said he is being very cognizant about his political activity, ensuring that he doesn't come close to using county resources for his campaign."The last thing I want is to be accused of using the county car or time to go out and perform campaign functions, and I've made it a practice to bring my personal car to work in case I need to go to campaign function before or after work, or a luncheon," Reams said.Cooke said he's not sure how he'll respond to the letter from the commissioners. But he would likely not ask Reams to stop driving his car."I'd like to see the letter," he said. "I'd like to see what their argument is that that's campaigning on county property. I'd like to see their justification for that."Barker said the original 1976 county charter required employees to take a leave of absence or resign their positions if they planned to campaign for any political office. That provision was repealed in 2001, he said. While the political activity prohibition pertains to county employees on county property, he said, the county code never defined it as applying to elected officials.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.) Visit the Greeley Tribune (Greeley, Colo.) at www.greeleytribune.com Distributed by MCT Information Services文件倉