Promoted from the Nashua Microgrok: Does this email, sent by a teachers union representative to district staff using school district electronic mailboxes, sound like electioneering to you?
“You sent around the election stuff on Friday. But some people were missing. Could you check if it was just an oversight? If you don’t have those names, I will check the status with Adam.”
Adam Marcoux is the Nashua Teachers’ Union president. Did he work with union representatives to ensure full coverage for dispersing this “election stuff”?
Here is another email? Does it sound like electioneering to you?
“I’d like to have a union meeting at FMS sometime in the next week or two. I want to talk about the after school meeting grievance we recently lost as well as some of the personal issues we’ve been having. We also need to talk up the election. When does it work for people?”
Not only did union representatives send out an email with candidate recommendations for the upcoming election, but they also met in the schools to discuss the election and hand out campaign materials.
One Republican staff member complained, exposing this criminal activity, after being handed NTU campaign material in an elementary school classroom before school by a union representative. Here’s a copy of what she received.
The electioneering emails above are only two out of forty-two emails that I received. They were sent by union representatives to district staff over a two day period before the 2019 municipal election. Likely there were many more electioneering emails during those last two weeks before the election.
A second Right to Know request was submitted for electioneering emails from two days before the previous 2017 municipal election. At this point, Superintendent Jahmal Mosley refused. Suddenly, he claimed that he no longer knew how to identify emails from union representatives and did not know if those emails were still available; and he refused to look, violating state law, RSA 91-A.
Electioneering is also prohibited by state law, RSA 659:44-a.
RSA 659:44-a Electioneering by Public Employees. –
I.No public employee, as defined in RSA 273-A:1, IX, shall electioneer while in the performance of his or her official duties.
II.No public employee shall use government property or equipment, including, but not limited to, telephones, facsimile machines, vehicles, and computers, for electioneering.
III. For the purposes of this section, “electioneer” means to act in any way specifically designed to influence the vote of a voter on any question or office.
IV. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
Four district contracts prohibit electioneering in staff mailboxes. Keep in mind that union members voted to support each of these contracts.
NTU Contract 2017-2021
Art. 12:3 Distribution of Material – Mail Boxes
Officers or officials of the recognized teacher bargaining agent, and of no other teacher organization which purports to represent teachers for collective bargaining purposes, shall have the right to reasonable use of the school mail boxes for distribution of organizational material provided such materials are in good taste and provided that such materials shall not include campaign organization material related to local, state or national political matters.
Transparency on campaign funding is essential for open and fair elections. But, the unions have failed to file campaign expenditure reports with the City for twelve years, in violation of City ordinance. However, no one in City Hall is willing to enforce these ordinances when it comes to public-sector unions. The fine is $100 per day for failure to report. Each day constitutes a separate offense. That should result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, yet nothing is done.
§ 23-19 Violations and penalties.
[NRO 1975, T. 2, § 604; 10-18-1977 by Ord. No. O-77-199; 12-26-2007 by Ord. No. O-07-128]
A. It shall be unlawful for any candidate, person, or political committee to try to circumvent the filing of an item of value larger than $10 by any means. Any candidate, person, or political committee having been found guilty of such a circumvention shall be guilty of failing to comply.
B. Any candidate, person, or political committee failing to comply with the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a violation, and fined not more than $100 for each day that lack of compliance exists. Each day that lack of compliance exists shall constitute a separate offense.
According to the Nashua Teacher’s Union’s 2018 federal IRS 990 report, president Adam Marcoux and other union representatives have “no reportable compensation” from the organization, even though the union reported paying $226,245 in salaries and benefits for that same year. The union’s contract requires the district to pay the union president’s salary and benefits, which are then reimbursed by the NTU. Other union representatives, such as the union treasurer, were traditionally compensated $12-15K. Previously these salaries were openly listed as “compensation.” Suddenly, there is “no compensation.” Rather strange.
NTU tax reports for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
What can citizens do when:
- The NH AG fails to investigate violations of state law regarding electioneering?
- City officials fail to enforce city ordinances regarding public union campaign expenditure reports?
- The District superintendent refuses to investigate an electioneering complaint? Superintendent Jahmal Mosley doesn’t want to ask difficult or upsetting questions. He complains that he has to work with these union members.
- Union-endorsed school board members refuse to enforce union contracts?
Last year five out of nine board members were union-endorsed. This year eight out of nine board members are union-endorsed. Taxpayer-funded electioneering is apparently quite successful.
The superintendent prefers to ignore criminal activity by the union. The union-endorsed board members refuse to bite the hand that feeds them.
The Nashua school district is now run by organized labor. Public sector unions in Nashua are too powerful to be questioned or investigated.
by Doris Hohensee
