Dear Friends, Our charter provides: “All city elections shall be conducted on a nonpartisan basis. No declaration of candidacy or ballot shall contain any party emblem, sign or designation, and there shall be nothing thereon to indicate any affiliation of the candidate.” A candidate for the City Council has a billboard declaring her party affiliation, and is making the same claims on her campaign Facebook page. It does not appear that her declaration of candidacy contains a party affiliation, nor that the ballot will contain party designation. I have been inundated with calls today demanding that this candidate be disqualified. I’m not sure disqualification of candidates from democratic elections is one of the awesome powers of the City Attorney, but we can leave that discussion for another day. Is anyone aware of any reason why a candidate’s self-professed association with a particular political party in a non-partisan election is problematic absent a party designation on the declaration of candidacy or the ballot? Regards, Jess M. Kane Attorney at Law ROBINETT ǀ KING ELIAS ∙ BUHLINGER ∙ BROWN ∙ KANE 117 W. 5th Street 500 Professional Building P.O. Box 1066 Bartlesville, OK 74005-1066 (918) 336-4132 Office (918) 336-9009 Fax www.robinettking.com<http://www.robinettking.com> ECPA NOTICE: This E-mail (including attachments) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. sections 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any retention, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. Please reply to the sender that you have received the message in error, then delete it.

I’m not, consistent with the First Amendment. When our charter was amended in 2011 to implement non-partisan elections, that right was specifically observed… Section 3.2. - Campaigning for office. Although all City elections shall be non-partisan, candidates shall not be prohibited from advising voters of their political affiliation and may include their political party affiliation in campaign materials, including without limitation signs, mailers, fliers and brochures. 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If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any retention, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication (including any attachments) is strictly prohibited. Please reply to the sender that you have received the message in error, then delete it. From: Jess Kane <jkane@robinettking.com> Sent: Thursday, October 6, 2022 11:44 AM To: oama@lists.imla.org Subject: [Oama] Non-Partisan Elections Dear Friends, Our charter provides: “All city elections shall be conducted on a nonpartisan basis. No declaration of candidacy or ballot shall contain any party emblem, sign or designation, and there shall be nothing thereon to indicate any affiliation of the candidate.” A candidate for the City Council has a billboard declaring her party affiliation, and is making the same claims on her campaign Facebook page. It does not appear that her declaration of candidacy contains a party affiliation, nor that the ballot will contain party designation. I have been inundated with calls today demanding that this candidate be disqualified. I’m not sure disqualification of candidates from democratic elections is one of the awesome powers of the City Attorney, but we can leave that discussion for another day. Is anyone aware of any reason why a candidate’s self-professed association with a particular political party in a non-partisan election is problematic absent a party designation on the declaration of candidacy or the ballot? Regards, Jess M. Kane Attorney at Law ROBINETT ǀ KING ELIAS ∙ BUHLINGER ∙ BROWN ∙ KANE 117 W. 5th Street 500 Professional Building P.O. Box 1066 Bartlesville, OK 74005-1066 (918) 336-4132 Office (918) 336-9009 Fax www.robinettking.com<https://gcc02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.robinettking.com%2F&data=05%7C01%7Cjblair%40cityoftulsa.org%7C9df40f72a882478a6cfc08daa7ba087c%7C79d58ae020484d8c9c598b1b7dfb4204%7C0%7C0%7C638006714702488169%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Lsp89IcCIXIGwVb7qMfC9jpzWG0DA4TIVyJ70XjhB6I%3D&reserved=0> ECPA NOTICE: This E-mail (including attachments) is covered by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. sections 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any retention, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. Please reply to the sender that you have received the message in error, then delete it. 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