ND Human Services Employees Using Gov. Resources To Oppose Ballot Measure
As most of you are probably aware, it is illegal under both North Dakota law and federal law for any government employee to use government resources (e.g. copy machines, computers, email accounts, phones, etc.) for political purposes. Government employees are free to engage in political advocacy on their own time, but the use of tax payer-funded resources for that advocacy is strictly prohibited.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped people opposed to the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative from using government resources to influence voters.
The North Dakota Century Code 16.1-10-02 clearly states:
No person may use any property belonging to or leased by, or any service which is provided to or carried on by, either directly or by contract, the state or any agency, department, bureau, board, commission, or political subdivision thereof, for any political purpose.
And since North Dakota’s human services departments receive federal money Title 18, Part I, Chapter 93, ยง 1913 of U.S. Federal code also applies. That statute states:
No part of the money appropriated by any enactment of Congress shall, in the absence of express authorization by Congress, be used directly or indirectly to pay for any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone, letter, printed or written matter, or other device, intended or designed to influence in any manner a Member of Congress, a jurisdiction, or an official of any government, to favor, adopt, or oppose, by vote or otherwise, any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation, whether before or after the introduction of any bill, measure, or resolution proposing such legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriation; but this shall not prevent officers or employees of the United States or of its departments or agencies from communicating to any such Member or official, at his request, or to Congress or such official, through the proper official channels, requests for any legislation, law, ratification, policy, or appropriations which they deem necessary for the efficient conduct of the public business, or from making any communication whose prohibition by this section might, in the opinion of the Attorney General, violate the Constitution or interfere with the conduct of foreign policy, counter-intelligence, intelligence, or national security activities. Violations of this section shall constitute violations of section 1352 (a) of title 31.
I also have a memo (click here to view it in PDF format) from the Executive Director of North Dakota Human Services Carol Olson which clearly indicates that government employees “cannot take a position on a ballot measure initiated by citizens.” Yet “take a position” on the SPI ballot measure is exactly what North Dakota Human Services employees have done.
First, consider this document printed on ND Human Services letter head which is being distributed by that agency. It is clearly an attempt to convince North Dakota voters to vote against Shared Parenting. It is on official government letter head, it is being distributed using tax-funded printers and the contact information is for government employees using government phone numbers and email addresses.
This is, in my estimation, explicitly illegal.
Further, I’ve also noticed no small amount of letters to the editor from ND Human Services employees in various North Dakota newspapers. How do I know these letters are coming from ND Human Services employees? Because they indicate so in their letters/signatures. Again, this is explicitly illegal. These folks are using their government positions to give their personal opinions more weight with the public.
I also have it on good authority that many Human Services employees have been using their state email addresses to send out long diatribes against Shared Parenting. My sources would like to provide me with more information about this sort of activity, but they’re afraid that they’ll be fired if they do. There are supporters for Shared Parenting in North Dakota’s human services agencies, but they dare not speak up for fear of retribution.
So why are these human services people so against shared parenting? You can read the reasons they give publicly in that document I have linked above, but the reality is that these people oppose it because it means less money and power for them. The federal government funds our state human services agencies based on the amount of child support collected in this state. The more child support that gets collected the more money ND human services gets. Shared Parenting would reduce the amount of child support paid in this state, both by limiting child support to the amount needed for a child’s basic needs and by encouraging more involvement from both parents, so obviously federal funding for ND human services will go down if the SPI passes. The bureaucrats in the human services agencies don’t want that. They want to maximize funding, so they oppose shared parenting.
It’s a cynical, pathetic position to have. But that’s the position they’re going to take, and they won’t hesitate to use their government power and resources to make sure their funding is kept high...even if it means family law policies that encourage single-parent parenting over shared parenting.
So this November 7th, when you go to the polls, vote yes on Measure #3. Don’t let the government bureaucrats bully you. Their motivations are cynical, and based on money rather than the best interests of North Dakota’s families. They will likely get away with their use of government resources to influence voters (no state agency at this point has indicated any willingness to even investigate the matter), but by voting for shared parenting we can show them that their bullying won’t work.
Proof
2Hotel9
Bill Mitchell
pparets
likwidshoe
