All the brouhaha involving Camp Verde Town Council Joe Butner’s blind-sided attack on a Camp Verde resident last month — alleging criminal activity where there was none — has unleashed a slew of complaints from various factions of the town either supporting Butner or the victim.
There is no doubt that Butner’s actions were underhanded and nasty and that voters should hold him accountable, but rather than focus on Butner’s abuse, Camp Verde residents are airing their grievances against each other using the town’s public process as the means.
One of those opposing Butner’s actions was an appointed official on a town commission who spoke at a subsequent Camp Verde Town Council meeting.
That public statement drew a complaint alleging that the speaker violated the town’s code of conduct.
The complainant filled out a form meant to address violations by elected officials or paid city staff — but curiously, not appointed officials — and, of course, marked down that she did not attempt “to resolve the issue with the appropriate department head,” because why would anyone involved in this petty spat want to resolve anything with communication?
No, the formal complaint is the harsher and meaner way to voice displeasure, so of course that’s how she wanted to go.
One resident who contacted us asked, “I guess once you volunteer to be a commissioner for the Town of Camp Verde you give up all your rights to speak as a private citizen?” Yes. Absolutely. From the moment a person is sworn into appointed or elected office until the moment they resign, die or reach the end of their term, they are public officials. This applies whether they are on the dais in a meeting, speaking to a local organization or getting a midnight snack from their refrigerator.
Elected and appointed office is not a hat one can take off on a whim. If it was, New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer could have claimed he wasn’t an elected official when he hired a call girl in 2008. Even though he wasn’t “acting” as governor, he was still governor, and thus broke the law not just as a individual, but as an elected official, and resigned.
In a similar vein, it also makes no sense for local elected officials to leave their daises and speak to their own public body from the podium during the call to public as “private citizens.” Voters do not mysteriously forget who elected officials are in the 15 feet between dais and podium.
Sometimes local governments led by bad chairs or vice chairs allow this ridiculous political theater and it both insults the intelligence of voters and creates in the minds of officials the erroneous fiction that they can remove themselves from their office when they deem it fit.
Elected and appointed office doesn’t work like a light switch. Council and commission members have the weight of their office and their reputation when they attend non-council meetings or join clubs or associations or speak in public or to private groups.
The implication for voters at those gatherings is now they have the ear of a member of local government, even if officials vehemently deny that their attendance carries any weight. It does by the simple virtue of who they are. That being said, the First Amendment allows elected and appointed officials to say whatever they please. They are not “banned” from speaking in public or private. However, fellow officials or officials on a higher body may decide to penalize them or remove them from their posts if their language or statements violate rules, guidelines or regulations, so officials should consider the ramifications of using their First Amendment rights to win petty fights or advocate for things their post does not permit.
Elected and appointed officials can participate in a slew of clubs and organizations, promote programs or events and meet privately with residents as they see fit, voice objections of other officials beyond the scope of their office, all of which may be legal and proper, but they must never forget that for the length of their term, they are indivisible from their office.
We journalists and voters will hold them accountable whatever their choice, even if that choice is silence when they should speak out.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
