The Norman, Okla. mayor violated ethics guidelines she helped write when she agreed to put her name and title on a flier touting a fundraising event for a candidate in this weekend’s Cherokee Nation election.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) – The city attorney in Norman says Mayor Cindy Rosenthal violated ethics guidelines she helped write when she agreed to put her name and title on a flier touting a fundraising event for a candidate in this weekend’s Cherokee Nation election.
City Attorney Jeff Bryant told the City Council on Tuesday that he wasn’t sure whether the violation was intentional, but that he believed it was likely not willful.
According to the Norman Transcript, a city resident complained about a fundraising event flier that listed “Mayor Cindy Simon Rosenthal” as a co-host. Norman’s city code says elected officials cannot use their office to endorse or oppose any candidate for political office.
The city code doesn’t lay out specific consequences for violating the guidelines; a former council member said the intent was to encourage officials to avoid any appearance of a conflict.
“It’s more of a political entanglement than anything else,” former councilman Roger Gallagher said.
Rosenthal apologized to the council and said she was distracted when she approved the use of her name back in April. She said she had just learned she had been a victim of identity theft and that she was not aware that her title as mayor would be used in a flier inviting people to a fundraiser.
The mayor told the newspaper that all correspondence regarding the campaign fundraiser was handled through her email address at her place of employment, not the one at City Hall. The newspaper reported that all of the emails cited, however, showed that messages came from her city email address.
The Cherokee Nation presidential election is Saturday.
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Information from: The Norman Transcript, http://www.normantranscript.com