Ethics complaint filed against St. Louis County Library
ST. LOUIS COUNTY A complaint filed with the Missouri Ethics Commission accuses the St. Louis County library of violating campaign laws by spending public money and using its staff to promote a tax increase referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.
A University City resident, Tom Sullivan, filed the complaint alleging that the library has spent $175,000 for radio ads and brochures that are designed to drum up support for Proposition L.
Sullivan also found that the library's website linked users to a campaign site that promotes the tax increase, a practice that the ethics commission has previously declared as a violation of campaign laws.
And emails that Sullivan obtained from the library indicate that personnel were, at one point, cooperating with a political consulting firm, Sequel LLC, of Clayton, in the firm's request for a list of its patrons, including juveniles, to be used for campaign mailings.
Library Director Charles Pace said the ads and brochures don't violate any campaign laws because they are strictly informational.
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