SAN ANGELO, TX — A copy of the email that Vanessa Griffith, wife of police chief candidate Sergeant Travis Griffith, emailed to a mass email group from her San Angelo ISD email account reveals more than a casual and generic message urging colleagues to vote, as Travis claimed in his 11:30 a.m. press conference today.
The email, leaked to us by a concerned San Angelo ISD teacher, is clearly a plea to vote for her husband.
Travis is in a three-way race to become San Angelo’s next police chief, and voters residing inside the city limits of San Angelo can vote in the May 4 election.
The email, addressed to “Bonham Staff” tells colleagues, “If you didn’t know, my husband is running.” She urges colleagues to call her husband on his cell phone, visit his Facebook page, and provides a direct link to Griffith’s campaign website. She did not include links or cell phone numbers for the other candidates.
Vanessa Griffith's email to colleagues that seemingly violate election code.
San Angelo ISD communications director Molly Turk quickly responded to the email reminding all that “school district officials may not use public resources to advocate for or against particular political candidates and/or groups of candidates.”
A portion of an email from San Angelo ISD comms director Molly Turk admonishing all not to use school resources to advocate for a particular candidate.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took six Texas school districts to task in the days leading up to the March 4, 2024 Republican Primary Election by filing civil lawsuits against those districts for electioneering. He called it election interference.
“I am extremely troubled by this pattern of government officials engaged in illegal electioneering. These are government employees charged with the education of our children. They must respect our laws,” said Paxton following the filing of a lawsuit against Denison and Castleberry ISD. “I will continue to use every legal remedy available to me to stop this unlawful conduct. Elections are the foundation of our republic. They must be free and fair.”
Interestingly, Paxton’s only remedy for policing election code violations are civil lawsuits. Last year, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ordered that the Texas Attorney General, as part of the executive branch, does not have jurisdiction to criminally prosecute election code violations. Instead, the justices ruled, only the local DA can bring criminal charges, as DAs are part of the judicial branch in Texas government. The Texas Constitution has very strict rules about the separation of powers, the justices argued. We have never seen either DA, 51st DA Allison Palmer, or 119th DA John Best, prosecute an election code violation.
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Comments
Pearls clutched!!
Who gives a shit?
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PermalinkAll I see is her asking folks to get out and vote, not necessarily for her baby daddy.
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PermalinkEveryone knows that Travis is the least corrupt and best suited for the job anyways.
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