A Web site that was launched last year as a place to post positive news about Keller has endorsed three candidates for city council.
Steve Trine said he and his wife Linda fully fund and maintain the Web site, www.positivelykeller.com, soliciting contributors to post articles about the city. The site was launched last year after Linda Trine began reading and participating in Councilman Jim Carson’s www.kellercitylimits.com blog, which is also the temporarily online home of Carson’s re-election campaign. That site was started more than two years ago, partly to support a drive to stop funding a new library in Town Center without voter approval.
"Positively Keller got started because a lot of people were approaching me and others, who got involved trying to put together information about Keller that was a little bit more on the positive side," said Steve Trine, a former council member. "And how to get things right and make things work for the better."
The site features articles by Keller residents on the community and some of the issues. During this election season, the site has also endorsed three challengers in the Keller City Council races.
"We set it up and got it going," Trine said. "That kind of dovetailed in an effort to try and identify and promote candidates." But he said the candidates are not directly connected to the production of the site.
Trine said his site does endorse the candidates but does not actively campaign for them. He stressed that the site doesn’t raise funds directly and that most of the articles address issues rather than candidates.
However, under the "get involved" tab, the site says: "We need people willing to put up campaign signs, donate time and donate money." Then it asks visitors to click on links to the three candidates’ sites.
According to guidelines on political committees published by the Texas Ethics Commission, once a political group forms and before it spends or collects $500, it must appoint a campaign treasurer. That person is responsible to file financial reports on contributions and expenditures made during the campaign. Even if a group formed prior to the election season, prior collections and expenditures apply toward the $500 threshold. A treasurer is required to be appointed before a group reaches the threshold.
There are two basic classifications for political committees. General-purpose committees do not specifically endorse named candidates for named offices or specific positions on issues. Special-purpose committees specify named candidates for named offices, or endorse a specific position on issues.
While appointment of a campaign treasurer is required before a group reaches the financial threshold, it is a group’s actions that makes it a political committee rather than appointment of a treasurer.
It’s unclear if Positively Keller qualifies as a political committee under the Texas Ethics Commission guidelines. If the group as a whole does not directly contribute funding (or less than $500 total) to any campaign, it would not qualify. While three specific candidates are endorsed on the site, if expenditures to provide those links does not meet the $500 requirement for filing, it would also likely be exempt from having to file as a political committee.
City Secretary Sheila Stephens said that as of Monday, no political committees had filed in the May 10 election. The filing deadlines match those of candidates who plan to collect and/or spend $500 or more for election or re-election. The next filing deadline is today.
The Positively Keller has gone beyond the Web site, if only in name.
A letter was sent out last week to some Keller voters, paid for by an individual, supporting the same three candidates in the election. It also carries the message, "Visit PositivelyKeller.com." The return address listed was for one of the endorsed candidate’s campaigns. It was at least the second recent letter to be somehow linked to the Web site.
"After the misrepresentations in the first letter they put out, I’m not surprised by this one – amazed, but not surprised," said Monty Snow, a contributor to Keller City Limits. "They’ve attributed words to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that seem to have vanished into thin air. They put words in the mayor’s mouth that he never said. They seem to think Keller voters bumped their heads when they fell off the turnip wagon and are too dizzy to check the facts."
Snow said a statement in the letter that suggests that the current council is a creation of Carson is erroneous, too, because when Carson has voted against something he is often the lone dissenter.
Titled "An open letter to Keller," the letter has quotes from Keller citizens, a former mayor and a former city employee. One particular quote, attributed to Rocky Top Ranch owner Doug Newton, says: "I concur with Mayor Pat McGrail’s comments in the Keller Citizen and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I believe the present Council is an embarrassment to our proud city."
McGrail said the way the statement is written makes it seem like he has said the council is an embarrassment. He said he never said that, but rather that he has expressed embarrassment that the Clean Fleet Vehicle Policy was initially rejected when it seemed like only a benefit to the city.
He said he also doesn’t want his name used to suggest that he is endorsing or campaigning against any of the council candidates.
"I feel it is incumbent upon myself to not take sides in the election," McGrail said. "Whoever in fact gets elected, I want to be able to work with and hopefully earn their respect." A divided council would not benefit the citizens, he said.
One thing is clear, if it hasn’t been yet: the Internet is a powerful tool in small-town politics. Many of the council candidates have Web sites of their own.
"We’ve seen the impact that blogs and Internet activity have had on the city," Trine said. "We wanted to put together a forum where the approach was, 'What can we do for Keller?’ and try to keep the information as accurate and unbiased as possible."
He said one problem with Web sites is that sometimes it’s hard to check the validity of information presented. "A lot of opinions are stated and a lot of ideas are thrown out as fact," he said. "We just try to be relatively clean about what we’re saying and what the actual facts are."
www.hlhoa.com/Candidate_Responses.html
TX Ethics Commission www.ethics.state.tx.us