Assembly Representative Lee Snodgrass and Board of Education President Kay Eggert Weigh In On Ed Ruffolo’s Campaign

Earlier today I reached out to Ed Ruffolo both by phone and email seeking clarification from him regarding the virtual campaign event he held 03/03/2021. I also reached out to Board of Education member Jim Bowman via email seeking comment from him regarding his role in the event. Thus far, neither of them have responded.

According to Lee Snodgrass’s office, however, Mr. Ruffolo has decided to actively seek office.

Because Representative Snodgrass had posted a facebook comment that gave the appearance of promoting Ed Ruffolo’s candidacy, I reached out to her office for clarification. I spoke with her staffer Fawn George who, after speaking with Lee Snodgrass, got back to me and stated that the facebook comment was simply promoting the fact that Ed Ruffolo was an active candidate but she is not “necessarily” endorsing him at this point.

Somewhat oddly, Fawn stated that Representative Snodgrass’s post was in response to one of her friends having attended a League of Women Voters event that Ed had also attended. I had to correct her that the event was not a League of Women Voters event but instead a private campaign event that was not open to the public.

I asked her what Lee Snodgrass’s opinion was on the ethics of Ed Ruffolo trying to remove his name from the ballot, telling people he wasn’t going to be campaigning, and not participating in the League of Women Voters candidate forum which would have been the one main public forum that people would have had to get to know the candidates, but then turning around and holding a private event that the public couldn’t participate in. 

Fawn state that Mr. Ruffolo had tried to get off the ballot, but since he could not he had recently decided to run. She could not speak for him or how he chooses to run his campaign. She added that Representative Snodgrass believes that being as transparent as possible is usually the best way to go and what she prefers to do herself.

I asked Fawn if Representative Snodgrass thought it was okay to promote Ed after he said one thing and is now doing another.

Fawn stated again that Representative Snodgrass is “not endorsing his behavior or…saying that that is okay. She’s just saying, ‘Hey, he’s in the race.’”

I also spoke with Appleton Area School District Board of Education President Kay Eggert over the phone. [And I would like to add that I very much appreciate that she was willing to talk to me.]

I asked her if Ed Ruffolo is campaigning. Is Board member Jim Bowman involved? Is the Board of Education involved?

She stated that the Board would not be involved in any campaign activity; however, individual members, in their own time and outside of their capacity as Board members, do not lose their First Amendment rights and are allowed to be individually involved in things. Individually, they can support a specific candidate and vote how they want.

I told her that, in the past, multiple parents had asked if the Board recruits candidates and had essentially been told that, no, the Board does not recruit or seek out candidates. I wanted to know if they were telling these parents that the Board does not recruit while at the same time Board members were, as individuals, recruiting and seeking people to serve as candidates.

Her experience was that she had sometimes told friends she thought they would enjoy being on the Board, but those people never ran. [I would not necessarily expect her to be able to comment on these types of activities on the parts of other Board members.]

I pointed out that the District and the Board of Education have had a lot of issues this last year such as the optics of having so many Appleton Education Foundation donors and volunteers on the Board of Education, not holding any listening sessions for parents, and now being at the point where 27% of high schoolers are failing at least one class and parents are very upset. On top of that, we now have this situation where Mr. Ruffolo told the community that he wouldn’t be campaigning, but now he seems to be campaigning and a member of the Board seems to be assisting him.

Kay did not know whether it was truthful or accurate that a Board member was involved.

I told her that I had contacted Jim Bowman but that he had not gotten back to me. I then went on to describe the type of involvement in the campaign event that Jim has been alleged to have had.

Kay then stated that if Jim participated on his own time and as an individual then it would not be a violation or illegal. He has the right to do that.

I agreed that was true, but I wondered from an ethical standpoint if Kay thought this situation looked good. Did she think that it reflected well on Jim, Ed, or the Board as a whole for this meeting to be happening behind closed doors that the public is not privy to–particularly after Mr. Ruffolo said that he would not be campaigning.

Kay wouldn’t weigh in on that and said it was a question to ask Ed.

I asked her if she, personally, would be comfortable doing something like that. Would it feel ethical to her to act that way?

Kay answered that there are times when you think that you would never do something or that your kids would never do something but then you find out otherwise. Sometimes you’re surprised by the things your kids do and not happy with it. She didn’t want to say what she would do if she were Ed Ruffolo. She didn’t want to speculate or predict.

So, that is where things stand at this moment. Per Representative Snodgrass’s office, Ed Ruffolo has decided to actively seek office, and, per, Kay Eggert it is acceptable for Board of Education members to participate in his campaign as long as it is on their own time and they are not acting in their capacity as Board of Education members.