Election board passes case to prosecutor

By TARA HETTINGER
Tara.Hettinger@newsandtribune.com

May 17, 2008 01:57 am

— The Clark County Election Board voted unanimously to send the case involving allegedly illegal fliers supporting certain Greater Clark County Schools board candidates to the prosecutor.
At Friday’s hearing, the board began by talking to Stacy Wiese, the person who filed the initial complaint in April.
She showed the three members of the board three fliers that had been circulating — Barbara Haas, Rod Pate — who filled in for Donna Ennis, after an audience member expressed concern about her having a conflict of interest with the case — and Abraham Navarro. All were the same flier, but one was sent out in an envelope with Larry Sigler’s name on it, another had Bradford Stewart’s name stamped on it and the final one did not have any name at all.
The flier reads: “Several retired and many active educators plus a myriad of other concerned citizens are anxiously awaiting the May election. Many of these are actively campaigning ... We hope that you will give consideration to those that we are supporting.”
It then lists all the candidates, including one who dropped out of the race, and marks, what it calls “Our Choices,” as James Wesp, Bill Halter, Jerry White and Rebecca Christensen.
Wiese told the board that, according to law, fliers must clearly state who paid for them. She also said listing all the candidates and showing certain ones favored out of those is against slating laws.
Larry Sigler — who is retired, but worked for Greater Clark as a teacher and dean for 36 years — took the stand under oath and told the board he was the only one behind the fliers. He was not seeking any position on the school board.
“I’m solely responsible for the flier. I created it. I was not representing a teachers’ group or any group of any kind,” he said.
He said he had between 1,500 and 1,700 fliers made, costing him around $80. His attorney, David Lewis, said Sigler was not aware of the law.
“There’s been no intent to violate the law,” Lewis said. “He didn’t know what the law is. He’s just a concerned citizen.”
Sigler said after Brad Stewart received the flier, Stewart volunteered to help his cause. Sigler said he gave Stewart about 500 fliers and Stewart stamped his name on those.
“I figured if Larry Sigler was doing this, it was a worthwhile effort,” Steward told the board.
He said before he could finish distributing his share of the fliers, Sigler contacted him around April 2.
“Larry said there may have been some problems and we better stop,” Steward said.
Larry Wilder, an attorney representing school board candidates Robbie Valentine and Ernie Gilbert, who won their respective races, stood and asked the board to drop the issue. He said his clients were victims, since they weren’t the chosen candidates on the flier.
“It’s no harm, no foul,” Wilder said, mentioning that no criminal intent was behind the fliers.
When the board asked the others who were summoned who agreed with Wilder to stand, the majority of those in the audience stood.
Robert Burgan, who also ran for school board but lost to Valentine, said he disagreed.
“My name appeared on that brochure,” he told the board. “I think that the law has been violated clearly. I have been injured, because he (Sigler) didn’t select me.”
Wiese then stood, saying she was only concerned about the board taking action to educate the public, whether that be with prosecution or just making sure everyone knows the law.
The board then talked about their views on the case.
“Although I truly believe that Mr. Sigler had no intention of breaking the law... I’m in favor of moving (the case) on to the prosecutor,” Haas said.
“It could have been devastating if these fliers caused you to lose,” Pate said. “Maybe it should move forward so people will be more educated in the future.”
Navarro said the case seemed like class A misdemeanors “across the board.”
The three then voted in favor of passing the issue on to Prosecutor Steve Stewart’s office.
After the vote, Sigler said he shouldn’t comment, but said he didn’t feel like he could tell his full story to the board in the time allotted to him. He said he was only motivated to make the fliers out of concern for the schools.
His attorney said he doesn’t expect the case to be pursued by the prosecutor.
“This was an innocent mistake. Very few people know about it (the law),” Lewis said. “He’s as solid as a citizen as you’re going to find. He was simply exercising his right to free speech.”
Joan Henderson, Wiese’s attorney, said she’s happy with the outcome.
“This business of let bygones be bygones doesn’t teach our children to obey the laws,” Henderson said. “You can’t sweep things under the rug like that.”
Wiese said this process has caused some people to alienate her, but she said she was just trying to do the right thing.
“Doing the right thing doesn’t always feel good, because it affects people,” she said, as people streamed out of the room, many walking past not acknowledging her. “But saying this didn’t affect the election, it did. It divided the votes and it divided the community. Now this will divide the community, too.”

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