Haddad makes mistake; attorneys say no laws broken

Councilman Kelly Haddad solicited signatures for his re-election petition from city employees, a violation of city policy, but an opinion by attorneys hired by the city indicate that Haddad may have violated city policy, but he did not break state law.

Haddad obtained about 14 signatures from employees while at city hall Dec. 7. A staff member subsequently told Haddad that city employees were not allowed to sign petitions during work hours. Haddad said he recognized he made a mistake and emailed the city clerk the following message while on his way home from city hall and asked her to forward it to the entire staff:

Vanessa

Can you please distribute this to all.

Staff

On friday afternoon I asked many of you to sign my nomination petition for city council and many of you did. It has been brought to my attention that employee policy forbids you to do so. I would like to thank all of you who signed; however, I have discarded all of the signatures I obtained while at city hall.

Again, thank you for your support.

Regards,

Kelly Haddad
(520) 251-7303

“I made a mistake, and I threw everything away immediately,” Haddad recalled.

He thought it was a non-issue, but it wasn’t.

“Somebody in city hall construed it as intimidating and coercive,” Haddad said, referring to an anonymous email that was sent to the Maricopa Monitor, “which is entirely untrue.”

The Monitor subsequently published an article entitled “Haddad solicited city employees signatures illegally” detailing the state laws governing the alleged acts and the accompanying penalties, which include forfeiture of his public office and both misdemeanor and felony counts.

The councilman said he was “surprised” by the article noting that the paper’s editor, Kathy Hall, did not attempt to contact him before publishing the story.

Hall confirmed that she did not call Haddad, saying “I absolutely did not. If you put something in writing, that is your side of the story.”

“I’m extremely disappointed because I did nothing illegal,” Haddad said. “Was there a violation of employee policy? Yes, there was, and I fully admit it. I made a mistake.”

Bill Sims and Rebecca Lumley, attorneys with Moyes Storey Law Offices, agreed. In a memo dated Dec. 18 to Maricopa’s mayor and City Council, they stated Haddad’s actions “were neither a violation of state law or a crime.”

“We believe Councilmember Haddad did not violate State law but may have unintentionally violated City rules,” the government and municipal law attorneys wrote. “However, Councilmember Haddad took the proper corrective action and thus any violation has been remedied and likely only requires a reminder to staff and elected officials regarding restrictions on political activity on City property.” (Click here to view memo.)

Haddad did not know what might have prompted a city staffer to send an anonymous email about the issue.

“I have no idea,” he said. “That hurts as bad as the article. I don’t believe I’ve ever done anything to anyone to hurt them. It hurts to think that someone thinks that I was being intimidating or coercive. Ask anyone else and they would all tell you I was a gentleman.”

File photo