Sangamon Valley Public Water District – Did They Just Admit To Violating Election and Ethics Laws?

Champaign Co. (ECWd) –

It appears the Sangamon Valley Public Water District  (SVPWD) got the message in our last article published at 11:42 AM today.  Thirty Seven minutes after posting the article we received a message that the District has changed its press release.

The original press release stated the following:

“SVPWD strongly believes that APPOINTING board members is in the best interest of the District.”

That statement was the key language pointing to alleged electioneering and ethics violations.

The press release now states the following:

“SVPWD’s standard practice has been APPOINTING board members since it’s inception in 1966.”

How special they went from a campaign counterpoint message void of actual facts, to what they think is a factual statement, which we pointed out is the only permitted type of information that they could publish as it relates to a referendum proposition appearing on an election ballot.

The truth of the matter is the SVPWD has no standard practice of appointing as they do not have the power to appoint board members, only the County Board does.

By all indications, they got the message that the law may have been violated, however, that does not negate the fact what they posted initially had all the indicators of being an electioneering violation.

We urge the proper complaints to go forward as it appears their correction of the press release is an acknowledgment of their prior actions being in violation of the law.