TLDR: A current Candidate for Paradise Valley Unified School District Governing Board appears to be running a secondary PAC during the 2022 election which he has carried over into the 2023 election while simultaneously violating Arizona laws of installing illegal campaign signs to influence an election.
The First Complaint
On October 6th, 2023, I sent an email to the Maricopa County Elections: Candidate Services & Campaign Finance office to report the illegal signs (image above) installed during the 2023 Paradise Valley Unified School District Bond Election.
Greetings -
I am reporting illegal campaign signs in the Paradise Valley Unified School District area of Phoenix. The image of the sign is attached for reference.
These signs are in violation of ARS 16-1019 C 5 : The sign contains the name and telephone number or website address of the candidate or campaign committee contact person.
Parentsforpv.com is NOT a registered campaign committee with Maricopa County.
I know this because I am the Chairperson of Parents for PV, and I did not authorize these signs nor is the URL provided on the sign the proper contact for Parents for PV.
I do not have the location of all the signs currently on display in Phoenix, but I request they be removed immediately.
Thank you
The County Response
(October 9th, 2023 3:08 PM)
Good afternoon,
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. For us to move forward with processing this complaint, the person, group, or committee that is alleged to have committed a violation must be clearly identified. Without any contact information for the group you named, no action can be taken here.
Please provide any contact information for this group that you can find.
Thank you,
I did not write back but thought it was weird that in the case of a complaint about the lack of contact information, the response is they are unable to move forward due to the lack of contact information. I mean is that NOT the point?
The next email from the County is as follows:
(October 13th, 2023 4:57 PM)
Good afternoon,
We have identified contact information for the group named in your initial complaint. Please accept this email as confirmation that your campaign finance complaint has been received on October 13, 2023. Your assigned complaint number is CF-2023-014. The complaint will be shared with the respondent, and they will be allowed to provide a response to the allegation(s). If a response is received, you will be notified and provided an opportunity to reply to the response. If no response is received, you will be notified when a preliminary decision has been made.
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.
Additional Information
After tweeting about this situation in PV School area I was given additional information about the candidates for the PV School Governing Board during the previous election (2022). I pass this information on to the Maricopa County Elections: Candidate Services & Campaign Finance office as a supplement to my original complaint.
(October 20, 2023, 4:03 PM)
Greetings -
I was passed some information that I think pertains to the PVUSD sign wars situation.
(someone sent me the folder of images from a complaint filed last year during the election)
I also checked the Campaign Finance report.
History on parentsforpv.com
https://www.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?itc=dlp_domain_whois&domain=parentsforpv.com
Creation Date: 2022-04-14T14:58:46Z
If you go to the Maricopa County Campaign Finance search portal
https://recorder.maricopa.gov/Elections/CampaignFinance/candidatesearch.aspx
Search for Eddie Jackson (Candidate 1002341)
Look at his 3rd Quarter Report and scroll down to near the bottom you will see the following entry.
Eddie Jackson - Purchased from GoDaddy.com on the same date
Here are the screenshots of social media posts related to parentsforpv.com during the last election for Paradise Valley USD (2022 election cycle)
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1rTdQ93Qv-whrQprHO1FjA8wpx8_jJxV7?usp=share_link
There are images of Eddie Jackson, Lisa Farr, and Sandra Christensen using the ParentsForPV.com website on signs for all three of them.
In addition to the signs, Sandra printed and put up for her own campaign.
This shows who owns the website ParentsForPV. com - Eddie Jackson
It also shows that 3 governing board candidates were running a second "PAC".
Well, they were running an unregistered PAC - if you track the finances, they fundraised/spent more than the $1200 needed to constitute PAC registration. (it was actually $1300 in 2022)
(they swapped money back and forth between their campaign candidate PACS a few times - and paid for the signs together)
Another indication of PAC like activity is them using the Parents For PV as a title on some of their literature and signs.
As the Chairman of Parents For PV PAC I request you act right now to get these signs removed from the PVUSD jurisdiction.
These illegal signs placed by bad actors are in violation of many Arizona Revised Statutes, and at the very least should be required to remove the signs before any additional irreversible harm is done to the electorate.
Thank you for taking swift action to get these illegal signs removed immediately!
I continued to press Maricopa County Elections to make a decision or provide a response to the complaint:
(October 20, 2023, 8:19 PM)
Greetings -
The same group is now posting up additional illegal signs
(See attached)
This has got to be dealt with immediately.
Continued violations of election law is not acceptable.
Thank you
Response from Maricopa County Elections: Candidate Services & Campaign Finance office:
(October 23, 2023, 10:16 AM)
Good morning,
This supplemental information relating to your initial complaint has been received.
Thank you,
Additional Details
Email I sent.
(October 24, 2023, 3:40 PM)
Just a quick reminder -
These signs are in violation of ARS 16-1019 C 5 : The sign contains the name and telephone number or website address of the candidate or campaign committee contact person.
The website parentsforpv.com does not have the contact information nor a contact person listed on the website, nor is it a registered campaign committee.
Additionally, according to ARS 16-1019 D- These signs need to be removed.
Per the information you provided earlier on October 13, 2023 the contact person was informed of the complaint. It has been more than 24 hours since then.
D. If the city, town or county deems that the placement of a political sign constitutes an emergency, the jurisdiction may immediately relocate the sign. The jurisdiction shall notify the candidate or campaign committee that placed the sign within twenty-four hours after the relocation. If a sign is placed in violation of subsection C of this section and the placement is not deemed to constitute an emergency, the city, town or county may notify the candidate or campaign committee that placed the sign of the violation. If the sign remains in violation at least twenty-four hours after the jurisdiction notified the candidate or campaign committee, the jurisdiction may remove the sign. The jurisdiction shall contact the candidate or campaign committee contact and shall retain the sign for at least ten business days to allow the candidate or campaign committee to retrieve the sign without penalty.
Let's not forget they are in violation of campaign finance law as well. (from https://azsos.gov/elections/campaign-finance/filing-information#pac)
According to A.R.S. § 16-905(C), an entity is required to be registered as a political action committee (PAC) if:
The entity is organized for the primary purpose of influencing the result of an election; AND
The entity knowingly receives contributions or makes expenditures (in any combination) in excess of the current threshold financial level. The current threshold for the 2021-2022 election year is $1,300. For example, receiving a $650 individual contribution check while spending $650 on campaign supplies will trigger the registration requirement.
There is clearly enough evidence of illegally influencing the election.
They should be removed immediately.
Thank you
So What Happens Next
Response from Maricopa County Elections: Candidate Services & Campaign Finance office:
(October 25, 2023, 11:17 AM)
Good morning,
This supplemental information relating to your initial complaint has been received. This complaint is being process in accordance with the process and timeline established by A.R.S. § 16-938 and the Elections Procedures Manual. The complaint has been forwarded to the respondent, and the respondent has 30 days to provide a response. If a response is received, it will be forwarded to you and you will have the opportunity to provide a reply. If no response is received, you will not be notified until a decision is made. A decision cannot be made until the deadline has passed for the respondent to provide a response. It is not a policy of Maricopa County Elections to remove a campaign sign.
Please note that your initial complaint cited an alleged violation of A.R.S. § 16-1019(C)(5) only. If you are alleging a violation of A.R.S. § 16-905(C) as well, a new complaint will need to be submitted. Please provide confirmation that parentsforpv.com is the group you are alleging has violated A.R.S. § 16-905, your full name, and all supplemental information regarding this alleged violation or any other alleged violations in order to open a new complaint.
Following the instructions from the county, I then submitted the additional information in an email which then created a second complaint regarding violation of A.R.S. § 16-905(C) - see this post to track the additional complaint CF-2023-018.
The Response
To read the response from the parentsforpv. com group and continued correspondence with Maricopa County Election to the complaint CF-2023-014, be sure to check out Part 2: the response.
According to the rules outlined in the Election Manual, the County can select its timeline to decide on the complaints.
Unfortunately, the election was over before a decision is reached.
Heck, the 30 days allowed for a response from the accused group or person involved typically means the election is over and the signs have already been removed.
Let the community know what you think about this entire situation in the subscriber chat.
Be sure to read Part 2: the response.