Campaign e-mail causes stir in Campton Hills

Tempers are flaring in Campton Hills after a confidential list of taxpayer e-mail addresses was used to send campaign materials to hundreds of voters.

In the Sept. 11 e-mail blast, residents who had previously signed up for electronic police alerts and village news items instead received a message encouraging them to vote "no" in a controversial referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The e-mail, carrying the subject line "Preserve the Village of Campton Hills," also solicited campaign volunteers and directed readers to a political committee Web site.

"It will never happen again," Village Trustee Jim Kopec said Tuesday.

By law, government bodies are prohibited from using public resources to campaign. In this case, the subject matter was a referendum question on whether to dissolve the village of Campton Hills just one year after its incorporation.

Kopec said the e-mail was accidentally sent by a campaign volunteer who also helps out part time with village communications and had access to the addresses. New policies are being put in place to prevent a repeat occurrence, he said.

"It was basically a gung-ho citizen trying to help the cause," Kopec said. "Everything was premature. Nobody had approved anything."

Among those to find the e-mail in his inbox was Steve Burdette, a village resident and incorporation opponent. Burdette said he immediately was concerned about how the political group obtained his personal information.

"I am pretty sensitive about receiving information I didn't ask for," Burdette said. "The list was generated by my tax dollars and it's being used as a political tool."

Burdette took the issue to Campton Hills officials in the form of a Freedom of Information Act request for the village list that includes his e-mail address. The request was rejected, however, because "providing you with this confidential information would constitute an invasion of personal privacy," according to a letter dated Sept. 22 and signed by Village President Patsy Smith, who was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

In the letter, Smith also noted that the list used Sept. 11 was at no point made public "nor did it violate the privacy of the persons in question."

Burdette is appealing the decision.