SAN ANGELO, TX - Police Chief Candidate Sergeant Travis Griffith addressed concerns regarding an email his wife sent to colleagues with her school district email address at the San Angelo ISD.
The San Angelo ISD told us yesterday that there is an active investigation into the email for electioneering.
Griffith hastily sent an email this morning at 10:30 a.m. calling for a press conference at 11:30 a.m. at Unidad Park to get ahead of the allegation.
He said that on Monday, April 22, the day early voting began, his wife, Vanessa, who was taking a day off from being a school teacher at a local elementary school, emailed co-workers from her phone to them. Vanessa Griffith teaches the fourth grade at Bonham Elementary.
According to Griffith, the email was a plea to vote. It contained information regarding where early voting can be accomplished and that a forum was being held that same night.
“Obviously, she’s my wife, and I love her, and she’s biased,” Griffith said at the press conference. “And those biases’ came through, it was clear.”
He confirmed that San Angelo ISD is now performing a "review."
“We’re going to support that review of the circumstances and know that she didn’t have any ill intent,” he said. “There was no malicious action; she was just trying to get people to vote. Whenever your wife or spouse cares about you, they’re going to support you. That’s what she was trying to do. She wasn’t trying to violate anything.
Travis and Vanessa Griffth in a campaign photo
“We’re going to respect how this follows, and we’re going to trust the Lord through it all,” Griffith continued. “We’re not going to walk in fear; we’re going to walk under the fact that God is right here with us.”
The school district's spokeswoman Molly Turk told us last night that, "San Angelo ISD does not advocate for or against particular political candidates and agree election laws should be followed. We are investigating this allegation."
We made a request to the San Angelo ISD under the Texas Public Information Act to obtain a copy of the email Griffith's wife, Vanessa, sent to colleagues.
Using school district resources for electioneering gained notoriety during the March 2024 Republican Party Primary. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued six school districts for allowing its email servers to relay electioneering messages to vote for one state representative candidate over another, as some state representatives were targeted for defeat for refusing to support Gov. Greg Abbott's school voucher scheme. School districts presumably were not in favor of Abbott's primary challengers and emailed staff saying so.
Watch Griffith's press conference:
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