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Berea City Councilmember calls out 'toxic campaign of hate' in Berea

Richmond Register - 11/5/2022

Nov. 5—Startzman appeals to fellow councilmembers for civility in politics, expresses concerns about illegal campaign committee

Berea City Councilmember Katie Startzman made a heartfelt request of her colleagues Tuesday night during the council's regularly scheduled meeting.

Startzman implored her fellow councilmembers to disassociate themselves from a local campaign that is promoting a slate of conservative candidates for Berea City Council.

The councilmember, who was first elected in 2022, is currently running for reelection alongside her fellow seven incumbents and three others. The Berea City Council race is nonpartisan.

In her remarks, Startzman mentioned a number of campaign signs promoting several candidates for Berea City Council and said she had concerns about the organization responsible for the signs and its leader.

Startzman never named the organization or leader in her comments on Tuesday.

However, in a follow up post on the councilmember's Facebook page, Startzman named a local Facebook group called the "Berea Moderates" as well as "Team Berea." The Berea Moderates Facebook page lists Jacqueline (Jacque) Bowling as one of its administrators.

The organization is responsible for the Team Berea signs which are currently posted in the city. The signs feature the names of current city councilmembers Jim Davis, Jerry Little, Teresa Scenters, Ronnie Terrill and Cora Jane Wilson. Berea City Council candidates Rebecca McClure Isaacs and David Rowlette are also listed on the sign. The phrase "paid for by concerned citizens" in small type is also featured.

The Berea Moderates group, a private Facebook page which has 1,600 members, was created in 2016 and lists its administrators on Facebook as Bowling, Anthony Acton and Tom Savage.

In her comments on Tuesday, Startzman mentioned the organizers of the campaign had broken laws in regards to the Team Berea signs.

In 2021, an investigation conducted by the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance (KREF) did find Team Berea and Berea Moderates, led by Bowling, broke three campaign laws when it erected and paid for the Team Berea signs in 2020, as well as postcards, and newspaper advertising on behalf of some candidates for Berea City Council.

A copy of the conciliation agreement with KREF reads as follows in regards to the investigation findings:

"Found to have committed three violations of KRS 121.190(1) by including an incorrect 'paid for by' disclaimer on the above-mentioned signs, postcards, and newspaper advertising. Additionally, it was recommended that 'Berea Moderates' violated KRS 121.015(d) and KRS 121.180(6)(d), by failing to register as a contributing organization and report its expenditures in 2020 on its 'Team Berea' signs. It was further recommended that the Registry refer the violations to the Executive Director and General Counsel for conciliation."

The conciliation agreement also shed light on the specific actions Bowling committed through the Team Berea and Berea Moderates in regards to the 2020 Berea City Council election.

The investigation into the complaint indicated that Berea Moderates had purchased three kinds of political advertising related to the Team Berea slogan and a list of Berea Moderates-supported candidates. The advertising purchased by the group included the Team Berea signs, postcards, and a newspaper advertisement in the Berea Citizen.

According to KREF documentation, Bowling and the Berea Moderates purchased 22 campaign signs for $583 in 2020. The order was placed under the name "Team Berea" and completed by a local sign shop. KREF subpoenaed the shop and discovered that "five or six people picked up" the sign orders after two print runs.

KREF investigators also discovered Facebook posts by Bowling which showed she distributed the signs in "strategic places or high traffic areas."

In her testimony to KREF investigators, Bowling said none of the recommended candidates were involved in the purchase or distribution of the advertising. However, a post to Berea Moderates Facebook page revealed at least two of the 2020 candidates were aware of the group's efforts and either mentioned the Team Berea slogan or were seen distributing the signs.

Bowling, as administrator of the Berea Moderates group, was fined $350 and signed a conciliation agreement in which she admitted the violations and agreed to register Berea Moderates through the Registry's Kentucky Finance Management System as a contributing organization or permanent committee. Bowling also signed an agreement that she would report the organization's contributions and expenditures for 2020.

As Startzman pointed out in her comments, despite being fined for violating campaign laws in 2020, Team Berea signs have been placed around the city in 2022.

A search by the Register on KREF's site revealed neither Team Berea, Berea Moderates, nor Concerned Citizens have registered with KREF — a violation of the agreement signed by Bowling in November 2021.

When Bowling signed the KREF conciliation agreement she included several handwritten remarks.

Under her signature, a typed line reads: "Jacqueline Bowling, Administrator of Berea Moderates." Bowling wrote "FaceBook page" beside the Berea Moderate type.

A handwritten note on the bottom of the document, also says, "I am signing this under duress and I am not admitting by signing this on any wrong doing. This is filled with false accusations based on heresay."

Startzman said she was greatly troubled by Bowling and the Berea Moderates failure to comply with the conciliation agreement and Kentucky law.

"The fine has been paid, but the behavior has not shifted," the councilmember said Tuesday.

In a follow-up posted on Startzman's Facebook page, the councilmember elaborated her concerns.

"What I fail to understand is the apparent lack of regard these folks have for Kentucky law, as the agreement specified how Team Berea should file with the state for both historical work they did to support candidates as well as any future support. They have not done this and are flouting the law by re-using these same problematic signs this campaign cycle," the post stated.

During her comments on Tuesday night, Startzman accused the group of ratcheting up "a toxic campaign of hate," against certain incumbents, other candidates for office, as well as family members of public officials.

Recent posts from the Berea Moderates page were emailed to the Register. Two posts include photos of current councilmembers and appears to mock their college education in relation to their current careers. Other posts emailed to the newspaper featured a family member of a current councilmember. The family member openly accused the Berea Moderates page of constant harassment. The post also requests the admins of the page remove pictures of juvenile family members that had been posted in the group that contained derogative comments towards the juveniles.

"This is wrong," Startzman said. "This is unacceptable, and I challenge those of you who are on this slate to speak out against this."

In her follow-up post on Facebook, Startzman wrote: "While some Team Berea council candidates say they didn't ask to be involved in Team Berea, I feel sure that if my candidacy was being supported by an organization like Team Berea, I would demand my name be removed from the signs or that they follow the law. I really don't understand why five of my colleagues and two new candidates allowed themselves to align with this problematic group/individual."

The councilmember expressed frustration with the rhetoric of the organization and noted others in Berea were concerned.

"I've heard from many citizens over the last two weeks, on both sides of the aisle, stating how tired they are of the toxic hate that this group and individual is spewing all over our city. I'm tired of it at meetings, I'm tired of it on social media, I'm tired of people boycotting my business [The Native Bagel and Nightjar],' Startzman said. "And I know by speaking out, by wanting something better for our city, I will probably be further targeted. But sometimes being a leader means sticking your neck out when real consequences could come from that. Maybe I won't get reelected. I don't know."

The councilmember made a plea to her fellow councilmembers to reject the endorsement of the organization and serve all Bereans.

"I urge my colleagues who are finding support from this individual and her social media crew to withdraw their support from that body and say we are a community that values collaboration, we can work with people who are not the same as us, and we all want to move Berea forward instead of continuing the cycle of sniping, and this cancer of this...hateful perspective," Startzman said.

The councilmember said she hated to "lift up something contentious" but felt compelled to speak up. Startzman noted when she was first elected, she was eager to serve alongside her colleagues in a professional and respectful manner and she was honored to have served alongside her fellow councilmembers the past two years.

"I hope you hear my comments in the spirit in which they are intended, because I really value the role of all of you on council, and I don't want any of us to not be here in the future. But I also feel like we all need to respect each other as colleagues and professionals, and say, 'This is the line that we are drawing in the sand,'" Startzman concluded.

Of the seven other councilmembers present at the meeting, Ronnie Terrill was the only one to address Startzman's remarks.

Terrill accused Startzman of not observing the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of meetings. The councilmember said he took issue with Startzman's alleged behavior due to the fact his father was a veteran and believed the flag should be honored.

In a Facebook comment regarding Terrill's comment about the Pledge of Allegiance, Startzman said she does stand for the pledge and also puts her hand over her heart.

"I have never stayed sitting for the pledge," she wrote.

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