How Canyon County’s prosecutor says a commissioner seeking re-election broke a state law

The Canyon County prosecutor believes County Commissioner Leslie Van Beek violated state law by using the county’s print shop to print materials for her reelection campaign.

Prosecuting Attorney Bryan Taylor sent a preliminary investigation into Van Beek to an outside prosecutor, Justin Coleman from Nez Perce County. Taylor believes that Van Beek violated Idaho’s Public Integrity in Elections Act. State law requires a judge to appoint an outside prosecutor in cases where he has a conflict of interest, like investigating the his own county commissioners. The law also requires that Taylor have a “reason to believe” Van Beek violated it but not to do an extensive investigation.

The law prohibits a public official from using public property or resources to advocate for or against a candidate.

Van Beek said she believes using the county print services for her campaign were legal and said other county offices and officials had used it in the past.

Van Beek, first elected in 2018, is seeking reelection for County Commission Seat 1 and faces two challengers in the May 21 Republican primary, Pam Blacker Wagoner and Theresa Denham. Wagoner is a substitute teacher from Caldwell, and Denham is a business consultant and real estate agent from Middleton.

Commissioners are elected county-wide. The primary winner will likely be elected in the November general election in the overwhelmingly Republican county, where no Democrats hold elected state or county offices. The winner would serve a two-year term. Commissioners make an annual salary of $112,360.

According to the Idaho Secretary of State’s campaign finance portal, Van Beek spent $299 on March 25 and $199 on March 28 at the Canyon County Print Shop for “Literature, Brochures, Printing.” Invoices obtained by the Statesman show that she spent $399 on April 1 and $199 on April 8. That’s nearly $1,100 in all.

The Canyon County print shop is for “official county use” and “is not available to the public,” Taylor wrote in his letter on Friday to Coleman, which the Idaho Statesman obtained. He also said the print shop order form is located only in the Canyon County employee web portal, which requires county employee identification to open.

The print shop is operated by the county’s Information Technology Department, which does not have any information about a print shop on its public website.

“It appears that Van Beek used her position as a commissioner to gain access to a service that is not available to the public, including her primary election opponents,” Taylor wrote.

The Public Integrity in Elections Act makes it “against the public policy of the state of Idaho for public funds, resources or property to be used to advocate for or against a candidate or ballot measure” and defines “funds, resources and property” as “goods, services, equipment,” etc. and “other items of intangible property or facilities provided to or for the benefit of a candidate.”

Van Beek said her use of the county print shop was not against the law.

She told the Statesman that she understood that using the print shop was legal as long as she paid market rate prices. In an email to the Statesman, Van Beek added that in March, she “asked if anyone knew of a good print shop. I was informed that county employees were able to use the print shop and reimburse the county for time and materials. I confirmed again and was assured that the print shop was available and that other (elected officials) had used it in the past, some for the purpose of printing campaign materials.”

In an email to Van Beek provided to the Statesman, Greg Rast, the county’s chief operating officer, said county entities have used the print shop for noncounty business. He said the Canyon County Ambulance District used the printer for brochures and advertisements related to the upcoming levy election.

“County employees have been accommodated and must go through the IT Business Manager and CIO for approval and placed as low priority, and all charges are invoiced to the individual for payment,” Rast said in the email.

Van Beek said she did not ask for any discounts and said her print services should be done during regular hours and not prioritized over other work.

Idaho law says a public official or employee who participates in an activity that violates the public integrity law could face a $250 fine, and any public official who knowingly violates the law faces up to $1,500.

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