‘Rio Nuevo’ Rick Grinnell implicated along with ‘The Phisher King,’ Tyler Vogt, in ‘SpamGate’

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have told you at length about The Phisher King, Tyler Vogt, Tea-Publican troll candidate for the Tucson City Council, who misused and abused a public records request to obtain e-mail addresses from the City of Tucson for a commercial purpose, i.e., to solicit you for campaign contributions. Tyler Vogt goes 'phishing' for your email address (July 23), The Phisher King, Tyler Vogt, spams Tucson, breaks the law (July 25), (Update) The Phisher King, Tyler Vogt, spams Tucson, breaks the law (July 28), (Update) The ethically challenged Phisher King, Tyler Vogt  (August 4), The Phisher King, Tyler Vogt, still spamming Tucson (September 6), and (Update) The Phisher King, Tyler Vogt, still spamming Tucsonans  (September 20).

Now there is a new twist in the saga of The Phisher King. It turns out that Tea-Publican trolls come in pairs. Who knew? "Rio Nuevo" Rick Grinnell, the "Hail Mary pass" GOP write-in candidate for mayor of Tucson is also now spamming the City of Tucson, including city employees while working on the clock — a violation of law. A pair of Tea-Publican troll candidates breaking the law = "SpamGate."

The Pima County Democratic Party has issued this press release:

Pima Democrats Call on City Attorney to Look into Grinnell's Recent Role in “Spam Gate.” 

The Pima County Democratic Party is calling on the Tucson City Attorney’s office to investigate mayoral candidate Rick Grinnell, who has followed in fellow Republican Tyler Vogt's key strokes and spammed city workers with financial solicitations during regular business hours. 

Grinnell’s fund raising letter specifically hit city workers up for cash in violation of the city code (Section 10-18), which forbids such solicitations. Vogt did the same thing earlier this year, after using city worker's time (and taxpayer dollars) to compile an e-mail list based on city correspondence. Campaigns typically take the time to build their own e-mail lists by asking voters nicely if they'd like to receive correspondence. 

This is the latest in a series of legal foibles that have left Republican candidates afoul of the law, with little or no consequences. 

“Apparently, they’re going to keep breaking the law until there are consequences,” said Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers. “They're either breaking campaign finance law, violating the city charter or trying to sneak onto the ballot without enough signatures; at some point they have to be told ‘no.’” 

Grinnell, with two failed elections under his belt, is surely familiar with campaign finance law. 

“At some point they can’t use the ‘we’re-new-to-campaigning-and-don’t-know-the-rules’ defense,” Rogers said. “If Grinnell wins, he'll be new to governing, too. This doesn’t project well on the idea of Mayor Grinnell.”

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