Alaska State Sen. Loki Tobin’s newsletter for her constituents is published with tax dollars. But the Democrat from the urban core of Anchorage (Seat I) uses that newsletter to illegally link to messages where she implores Alaskans to register as Democrats and run for office as Democrats because their party is the better party.
Tobin’s newsletter suggests following her on BlueSky, a new-ish social media site used almost exclusively by Democrats. Here’s what she says:
When you click from her official government-funded newsletter to her BlueSky page, she is found to be responding to a message from New York Democrat Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Tobin asks people to run for office as a Democrat. That’s a campaign activity, specifically prohibited by the Alaska Legislature’s own ethics rules.
That partisan election message is mixed in with state business, such as an announcement about a public comment opportunity and a survey she is conducting — as a sitting senator:
The Legislature’s own rules state that lawmakers may not use a social media account for legislative matters unless they administrate it as an official legislative account.
To mitigate the risk that a personal account would be interpreted as an official account, the rules state:
- Do not make the personal account available to the public; keep your account private.
- Do not designate the personal account as an official or public legislative page.
- Do not make the personal account resemble an official account, or one related to your
legislative office by adding images or graphics, such as the State seal. - Do not include links to legislative email accounts or legislative or caucus websites.
- Do not announce or solicit feedback about legislative matters. Legislative matters may
include announcing a bill’s passage, noticing a constituent or legislative meeting time and
place, and/or discussing sponsored legislation or caucus priorities, for example. - Do not allow a legislative employee to manage the personal account.
- Do not use links to your personal social media in any official legislative communications,
including newsletters or a legislative email signature block.
If a legislator maintains a personal account, follows the mitigation strategies listed above, and
uses it for purely personal reasons, blocking a person, or imposing any other access restriction is
highly unlikely to result in a successful First Amendment challenge.
Tobin is using her social media accounts for both election and campaign information and legislative information and is clearly in violation of the legislative rules. But there will be no consequence, because the rules do not appear to apply to Democrats in the Alaska Legislature.
Read the Legislative Council’s social media rules here.
Easy. She could just use personal accounts. Wouldn’t cost anything.
I do not see the problem.
It is a social media site. Just because one side of the political aisle uses it more than the other is not a problem in my world. Her goal is to get as many people involved as possible, and that includes all social media.
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Now, if she listed bluesky as the only place to communicate, then I have a BIG problem with it.
Operation Occasional Cortex.
I find it sickening that the Democrats spend more time trying to lie, cheat, steal and manipulate than do a honest days work, The most USELESS PEOPLE ON THE PLANET!!!
How many people know this is a major conflict of interest. ??? It’s a grounds for a re call.