An ethics complaint has been filed against Chula Vista city councilmember Jill Galvez that says she used city funds and resources to fund her mayoral campaign. Galvez is running for Mayor of Chula Vista, which includes a crowded field of candidates including fellow Councilmember John McCann and two-time Congressional candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar.
In a letter attached to the ethics complaint, Galvez sent two emails to her constituents, one being a newsletter and the other regarding the recent trash workers strike in Chula Vista. The email address that sent those emails was Galvez’s government email. However, in both emails, they contained a link to Galvez’s mayoral campaign, straight to the donation page. In one of the emails, the link was hidden and labeled as a “Trash Strike Poll”. In the other email, the campaign link was hidden as an RSVP link to a mayoral candidate forum being held in March.
The letter concluded that Galvez used her position has city council member to access a massive amount of emails so that she could solicit donations for her campaign, “Galvez conducted massive Outreach by using City of Chula Vista acquired emails that she would not have otherwise had access to had she not been a councilmember. She acquired personal gain by inserting her personal Mayoral Candidate campaign links. All other candidates have to use campaign funds or volunteers to accomplish that level of direct outreach. Galvez harvested our emails using the City of Chula Vista server for personal gain.”
It seems that Galvez used her position to solicit donations for her campaign. Not only that, she hid the links behind what others thought was a poll on a very serious issue that is ongoing in Chula Vista.
Photo Cred: John Gastaldo
