An email sent to a UNC faculty listserv might have not only violated state campaign finance laws, but is also making administrators aware of a possible security breach.
Gov. Bev Perdue’s re-election campaign sent an email regarding a fundraiser in Chapel Hill to the University’s physics and astronomy faculty listserv last week.
The email included details for the fundraiser, hosted by professor Joe DeSimone, a link for faculty to make contributions of up to $4,000 to Perdue’s campaign and names of other donors — some of whom are prominent members of the University.
Hugon Karwowski, one of the physics professors who received the email, said he sent a complaint to University officials after consulting with his colleagues.
“This is a clear violation of North Carolina statute,” Karwowski said. “This is a tricky situation because it includes the best and the brightest. I don’t know if they knew their names were being used for something inappropriate.”
Campaigns are prohibited from using state property to secure support for or to oppose any candidate or issue in an election, according to N.C. General Statute. It is also illegal for a state employee to coerce another state employee to contribute to a political candidate or party.
David Parker, deputy general counsel for the University, said he spoke with Stephanie Austin, who sent the email for Perdue’s campaign, and DeSimone to determine if any University policies had been violated.
DeSimone had shared his email contacts, which included the listserv email addresses, with the campaign and only meant for the email to be sent to individual addresses, Parker said.
“My conclusion is that it was inadvertent and did not violate University policy,” he said. “If the invitation had come from DeSimone’s email address, that would be a clear violation of policy.”
