Several Red Bank citizens have reached out to state and county election officials with concerns about a lack of transparency in campaign signs for two city commission candidates, along with other signs related to recent property tax increases that appeared in yards around the city this month.
Their concerns highlight candidates’ and citizens’ confusion concerning what information candidates and groups are required to include on campaign materials, which materials require that information and which agency is responsible for enforcing those requirements.
Residents reported to the Hamilton County Election Commission and Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance that campaign signs for candidates Jeff Price and Katy Mena-Berkeley did not include the names of their campaign treasurers, as required by state law.
“My opinion is that Red Bank residents deserve transparency,” Drake Pertuit, one of the residents who contacted election officials, said in an email. “Whether it stems from ignorance or disregard is not the issue. What matters is that Mr. Price has consistently failed to meet even the most basic financial disclosure requirements across multiple campaigns.”
At a commission meeting before the 2022 elections, a citizen expressed similar concerns that campaign flyers advocating for the election of Price and two other candidates, Dari Owens and Commissioner Jamie Fairbanks-Harvey, did not include a disclaimer stating who paid for them.