2008-02-13 Board of Ethics Minutes Regular Session

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DILL: And I think in Mr. Yagong's testimony, he pointed out that those inquiries stopped completely as soon as he went to the media and said that he was not running for mayor. You know, there's this political ballgame that is being played in the shadows, you know. And of course as soon as he made it clear, public platform, that he's not running for mayor, those inquiries stopped. And I think in his testimony he said that proved to him that those questions were politically driven. LUM: I would like to see us look at what the State did in 2007about recognizing this campaign —the campaigning aura of this so that the pictures, the candidates' personal pictures, stopped at the time of filing or —the time of the first filing, or the time filing papers are pulled —those kinds of dates, that's just fiddling around. And the rest of the time, as long as it's used for honest, real -- attracting attention to a public meeting, whatever picture, I think the size, the whole promotion sizing-1 think that they're financially probably limited, as long as the clerk —that fund is limited, that DAE fund is limited, they cannot spend all that much on advertising. CHAIR: They're all standard size. LUM: Yup. CHAIR: And they all use standard sizing. LUM: And I happen to think that this mill picture is very effective, but I do recognize that more and more there are images. So I would like to see us follow that pretty much, that 2007 State Legislature focus, from the time either the candidate files or from the time the first papers are, you know— what's the date, they're able to be pulled February or something, from that date on— February 1 S` on, just in respect to political campaigning, that elected officials don't use their own personal pictures. ASHIDA: Actually, Ms. Lum, February Is' is the date that the nomination papers are available- LUM: -- Available. ASHIDA: The state law talks about the time that the candidates actually file, so that may be a later time. I think, if I'm not mistaken, the filing deadline for a County seat is the third week in July. LUM: I personally would rather see it take place —I mean, because somebody can file at the very end, right? ASHIDA: That is correct. LUM: So I would rather see it at the time papers are available, just to make it easier, that it all stops. That's just a personal opinion. I could be— somebody could change my mind on that if there are compelling reasons. But until that time, I don't see it as a problem. A