Mayor Becker's spokesman placed on administrative leave after online comments

Mayor Becker's spokesman placed on administrative leave after online comments

(TACstock1/Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — The spokesman for Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker was placed on paid administrative leave Thursday while city officials investigate online comments he allegedly posted criticizing the mayor's campaign opponents.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Art Raymond has admitted to posting comments on Tribune stories under the pseudonym WhiskeyPete from his city office computer. He told the Tribune he wrote the comments to share his personal opinion and that neither city employees nor Becker's campaign knew about the posts or asked him to write them.

Raymond, who worked as a Deseret News reporter before taking a job in Becker's office in the fall of 2010, said he was unavailable for comment Friday.

"(Raymond's) comments don't reflect the spirit of civility and respect that's really a hallmark of Mayor Becker's leadership style," said Helen Langan, the city's communications director.

Langan will serve as Becker's spokeswoman while city officials investigate whether Raymond violated state law and city policy, Langan said. The investigation will "move quickly," she said.

"Obviously, (the mayor) is disappointed in the poor judgement that was used," Langan said.

It's against state law to spend public funds for political purposes. The law defines "political purposes" as "an act done with the intent or in a way to influence or tend to influence, directly or indirectly, any person to refrain from voting or to vote for or against any candidate for public office."

Salt Lake City policy states that "employee use of city electronic communication technology not directly related to city business is prohibited."


(Raymond's) comments don't reflect the spirit of civility and respect that's really a hallmark of Mayor Becker's leadership style.

–Helen Langan


Raymond told the Tribune he only wrote the comments during breaks or lunch, but he also said he does not have any designated times for lunch or breaks. He also said he'd worked hard to distinguish his personal opinions from his work as the mayor's spokesman and believes his opinions are protected as free speech under the First Amendment.

Langan said Raymond has "otherwise had a great track record of work for the city."

Salt Lake City Council Chairman Luke Garrott, who is running against Becker for mayor, issued a statement Friday accusing Raymond of "playing both sides of the game," and that "the line between the mayor's office and (Becker's) campaign has been blurred for months."

"When you see city announcements immediately followed by campaign messages on the same issue, it's not hard to sense the coordination," Garrott said.

Garrott also pointed a finger at Becker's chief of staff, David Everitt, who he said "has been heard around City Hall saying that everything they do must be considered though a campaign lens."

Langan said Garrott's accusations are untrue.

"It's a bright white line that we all know we're not to cross," she said.

Matt Lyon, spokesman for Becker's campaign, said the campaign had no knowledge of Raymond's comments.

"We understand how people who are close to candidates get frustrated about political spin or misuse of facts," Lyon said, "but we certainly don't support, condone or encourage those actions."


This is new legal ground; it's untested. The Supreme Court in recent years has broadly interpreted the First Amendment.

–Tim Chambless


Tim Chambless, a University of Utah political science professor affiliated with the Hinkley Institute of Politics, said it's difficult to predict the legal outcome of the investigation.

"This is new legal ground; it's untested," Chambless said. "The Supreme Court in recent years has broadly interpreted the First Amendment."

However, while Raymond's comments were "legally questionable," Chambless said, they're also "borderline unethical."

"We want our public servants, whether they're elected or appointed staff that are paid for by the taxpayer dollar, to be totally transparent, open and honest," he said. "So statements that are made to the news media … should contain the name of the actual person who is expressing his or her concerns about public policy issues."

With less than two weeks until the primary election and recent polls showing a high number of undecided voters, Raymond's actions could harm Becker's re-election campaign, Chambless said.

Salt Lake Tribune Editor & Publisher Terry Orme said the newspaper realized 'WhiskeyPete' was registered under Raymond's name and that comments were posted with an Internet Protocol address registered to Salt Lake City government.

"This controversy does not help the incumbent mayor," he said. "It causes additional doubt in the minds of voters."

Salt Lake Tribune Editor and Publisher Terry Orme said after the newspaper realized WhiskeyPete was registered under Raymond's name and that comments were posted with an Internet Protocol address registered to Salt Lake City government, the newsroom engaged in a debate that lasted multiple days.

Orme said he and other editors had to weigh the newspaper's duty to report Raymond's actions with the risk of "chilling" free debate in the online comment section, which holds a presumption of anonymity.

"We didn't take it lightly," he said. "We looked at the potential seriousness of what had happened … and we thought that the possible ethical — even possible legal — breaches of what apparently had occurred in those comments was information that our readers should be made aware of.

"We think we did the right thing," Orme said.

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahPolitics
Katie McKellar

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast