Stockton Mayor's Typo-Filled Flyer Facing Political Scrutiny
STOCKTON (CBS13) - A Stockton political flyer is pitting the city's police chief against the mayor.
The mayor published the flyer asking citizens for their support in changing the city, but some of the pictures he picked for it are sparking a legal review.
The flyer boasts the positive changes, which Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva says have taken place since taking office. The mailer has plenty of spelling and grammatical errors, but the concern isn't over poor English.
Some feel the flyer is political in nature, and they aren't so sure a picture of Police Chief Eric Jones in uniform should have been used -- not to mention a photo of some of Stockton's finest.
The reason is government code 3206, which states "no officer or employee of a local agency shall participate in political activities of any kind while in uniform."
"Informing the public on what the current crime rates are and what the stats are, that shows a picture of a police officer, no problem," said N. Allen Sawyer, Silva's political organizer.
Sawyer spoke on behalf of the mayor Sunday, insisting the photos were fine to include because the flyer had no political motives.
"It's not asking once in the flier to vote for anything, didn't say anything about taking a position related to an election at all," he said.
But the flyer does ask for citizens to support Silva in building a new Stockton, claiming he's been slandered.
When asked for a comment from Jones, CBS13 received the following statement, reading in part:
"We did not and would not give permission for a photograph of a uniformed employee to be taken or used for the purpose of political activity...a legal review will be done by the city attorney as is standard for points of legal clarification."
Sawyer insists the review will show Silva did nothing wrong.
"We're three years away from an election and it's very customary. Congressmen do it. It's very customary to send updates to your constituents letting them know what's going on," he said.
Related Stories:
