Indiana

Breaking the Law, Breaking the Law

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Has the Center Township Assessor been listening to Judas Priest lately?  You could make the argument that Eugene Akers has.  

As citizens have been going in to appeal their property tax assessments, Akers’ office has been handing out political literature telling them to vote against transferring the Township Assessor’s duties to the County Assessor.

I know this is true because I went to the Office last week and they not only gave me a copy, but made several copies, at my request, to hand out to all my friends.

Here’s the text of the flyer…

JUST SAY NO!

If you wish to retain local representation in Center Township, vote NO on the November 4th General Election Referendum issue:

“Should the assessing duties of the Elected Township Assessor in the township be transferred to the County Assessor?”

Please look for this referendum on the backside of your ballot!

JUST SAY NO!
Thank you for your Support!

There was no disclaimer on the flyer nor was there a disclosure statement as to who paid for it (of course we know who did, it was the taxpayers). 

I wasn’t sure about the legality of this until I called the Indiana State Board of Accounts and was told the agency would take exception to the township assessor paying for political activities out of public funds.

We can have a debate about whether consolidation of the township assessors into the County assessor is a good thing, but it doesn’t help the township assesssors when one of them does really dumb things like this.

It also makes me wonder if someone is stupid enough to engage in blatant politicking on government time, do they really need to keep their job?

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).