D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson played loose with the “spirit of the law” when his office mass e-mailed his legislative newsletter last week to more than 1,000 constituents, the candidate vying for his at-large seat claims.
“He’s the only council member who’s in the middle of a campaign and has decided to split hairs and stand behind, ‘It’s not actual mail, it’s e-mail,’ ” lawyer A. Scott Bolden said Wednesday. “It’s pattern and practice of either skirting the law or violating the spirit of the law.”
The D.C. Code prohibits campaigning council members from mailing newsletters or news releases to more than 99 constituents at a time within 90 days of an election. The law is designed to balance the scales for challengers, who are often at a disadvantage with regard to fundraising and resources.
Despite the proliferation of e-mail as a communication tool, the statute makes no mention of electronic distribution. But the question of mail versus e-mail convinced Ward 4 Council Member Adrian Fenty, the front-runner for mayor, to stop e-mailing his weekly newsletter as of June 13 — 90 days prior to the Sept. 12 Democratic primary — citing “regulations within the D.C. Code.”
On Aug. 10, Mendelson’s office e-mailed his August newsletter to roughly 1,000 District residents, said Beverly Wheeler, his chief of staff. The “At-Large Update” included descriptions of 10 bills Mendelson moved during the July 11 Council meeting and a paragraph about Mendelson receiving an award from the American Cancer Society.
“We did check with our general counsel, and there’s just no prohibition on e-mail,” Mendelson said Wednesday. “The correspondence act speaks to postage. We don’t stop government because there’s a campaign. But I understand that a council member with access to postage has an unfair advantage.”
Charlotte Brookins-Hudson, the council’s general counsel, made clear in a June opinion that the law “does not include newsletters sent out by electronic mail.” It only includes “official mail,” which is defined in the D.C. Code as “mail which is either prepaid or postpaid” by the government.
“The law has not caught up with technology,” Brookins-Hudson said.
More on ‘Official Mail’
» “Official mail” under council rules means “correspondence suitable to be mailed at public expense.”
» Exceptions to the law include mailing of hearing notices, committee reports or a member’s schedule of meetings with constituents.
» General counsel also opined that newsletters can be posted to a community listserv or distributed at community meetings.
