Boise City Council candidate admits to campaign misstep as public radio volunteer
Officials for Boise State Public Radio are looking at revamping their training for volunteers after Meredith Stead, a candidate for Seat 3 on the Boise City Council, posted pictures of herself volunteering for the station with campaign literature on the table.
The pictures, which have since been removed, show Stead volunteering at booths for Boise State Public Radio set up at the Hyde Park Street Fair and at Art in the Park.
In both pictures, flyers from Stead’s campaign are visible on the table next to literature for Boise State Public Radio and National Public Radio, of which Boise State is a member station.
Stead told the Idaho Statesman via email Tuesday that her campaign flyers were on the table only for the photos and that she hadn’t handed out anything. Tom Michael, general manager for the station, also said he couldn’t confirm that anything had been distributed.
“I volunteered at both Art in the Park and the Hyde Park Street Fair,” Stead said in an email. “At both events I made the mistake of laying out campaign materials so I could take a picture for my campaign page. It was a minor mistake and I’ve since taken time to understand the boundaries I need to have in place so that I can continue to support the organizations I love while running for a seat on the Boise City Council.”
She said she removed the photos so “Boise Public Radio isn’t put in the spotlight.”
Passing out campaign material can make it seem like the station endorsed Stead, Michael said. The station has not endorsed Stead or any other candidate, and Michael said it “never will.”
The station is a nonprofit and gets some of its funding through the Boise State University Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) and is therefore required to abstain from political activity. However, Michael said the station is is tax-exempt under Section 115 of the tax code, which applies to income from public utilities or from “any essential governmental function,” which would mean it does not have the same requirements.
Officials at the station learned about the photos after Jimmy Hallyburton, the other candidate for Seat 3, reached out to officials on the station’s Community Advisory Board over the weekend. Hallyburton told the Statesman that he heard about it from a supporter.
“I didn’t think there was any ill intention there,” Hallyburton said. He runs his own nonprofit, the Boise Bicycle Project, and said it can be difficult to balance campaigning and nonprofit work.
The radio board helps to advise the station and advocate for it in the community. Stead had been on the board since November, but Michael confirmed Wednesday morning that she resigned from her role “to focus on her political campaign.” Laurie Ahern, chairwoman of the board, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Michael said that the board members reached out to him, and he in turn reached out to Stead to talk about what happened.
“She was very apologetic to have put the station in that position,” Michael said.
Michael said he was working with the station’s membership team to put new ethics training in place for volunteers.
Stead, who is a planning and zoning commissioner for the city of Boise, has also resigned from her volunteer role with Leadership Boise, a program through the Boise Metro Chamber that works to encourage leadership in the community. She did not explain why she stepped down from that role.
Bill Connors, president and CEO of the chamber, also did not say why she stepped down. Instead, he said in a voicemail that Stead “did the noble thing,” which he said would protect the Leadership Boise program from “any unnecessary attention during a political campaign.”
“I have complete faith in Meredith,” Connors said.
This story was originally published September 24, 2019 at 6:11 PM.
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