Flyers were handed out with the website: popul.us/vnc. The very first page announces that the website is “The Official Channel of the Venice Neighborhood Council.”, a claim which is repeated later on in the website. The website may be found at
http://popu.us/vnc. A pdf of the entire website is submitted along with this challenge.
This “official channel” endorsed George Francisco, (Vice President), Matthew Royce (Chair of LUPC), Matt Kline (Outreach officer), as well as the following Community Officers: William Hawkins, and Sunny Bak. The following successful candidates took further affirmative steps to use the “Official Channel of the Venice Neighborhood Council”: Evan White (Communications Officer) and Matt Shaw (Community Officer).
This conduct is explicitly prohibited by Article IX (A) of the 2016 Neighborhood Council Election Manual which warns that “[T[he use of . . . any other official Neighborhood Council designation created by the Department is prohibited for use on candidate materials. IX (A)(3) points out that “[The purpose of this provision is to prevent candidates or supporters of candidates from campaigning under the expressed or implied endorsement or authorization of the City, a City department, or a Neighborhood Council and prevent voter confusion.”