Councilman Used Emails For Veterans Program To Promote Campaign Event

MILTON, GA -- The incumbent running in a contested race on the Milton City Council used a database of emails collected as part of the city's veterans memorial recognition program to inform those residents about an upcoming fundraiser for his re-election campaign. That's according to the city of Milton, which sounded the alarm late Thursday evening to residents.

Bill Lusk, who is running for an additional four-year term for the District 2, Post 1 seat, is in hot water after he used personal emails provided for the city's annual veterans marker program -- an initiative he's been instrumental in promoting -- to inform residents about the fundraiser he was hosting in his bid to defeat challenger Laura Bentley.

Milton was notified on Friday, Oct. 13 by a citizen who received the "political solicitation," said city spokesperson Shannon Ferguson (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

Since the city of Milton did not send the email, Ferguson said she is unaware as to how many received the note. However, she did tell Patch that an audit shows there are 298 unique email addresses registered with the veterans marker program through the city.

These emails, she added, would have been shared with the Milton Veterans Memorial Markers Inc. "as part of the community partnership for the implementation portion of the markers," namely creating the makers, mapping/communicating their locations, installing and subsequently removing them.

Each year, the city asks the public to submit names to add to its registry of service men and women who live in Milton. Historically, these names have been turned over to Lusk and the nonprofit, and they create the markers for placement as part of the city's Memorial Day ceremony. Milton's role in the program, Ferguson added, is solely collecting the names as part of an application process through the local newspaper or online through its website.

In a statement emailed Friday afternoon, Lusk said the distribution was an "honest oversight on my part resulting from my efforts" with the program.

"I began that program more than 10 years ago, solely at my expense," he said. "Over time, some people applied to the city of Milton for inclusion in the program. The city forwarded those applications to me. I contacted the applicants during the course of fabricating the crosses and as a result, accumulated email addresses which I included in my contacts. I used my complete contact list to send out invitations to my campaign events. I did not use a city email list. I have removed all applicable names from my contact list."

For its part, the city in its message sent Thursday said that it's taken "immediate steps" to inform program participants of the situation and to "ensure that these email addresses will no longer be used for any purpose other than for their intended purpose."

Ferguson added that in the meantime, all information sharing with this and other community partners have been suspended indefinitely. She also said Lusk and the Milton Veterans Memorial Markers were asked in writing to purge these emails from their database and halt any further use of these addresses for any purpose.

Additionally, the online veterans marker registration form available on Milton's website has been removed until the city completes a comprehensive review of all policies and procedures associated with community partnerships and the sharing of program participants’ information. City staff members are working with the city attorney to review any policies and procedures related to the program. Once that's wrapped up, the city will work with its communications team to update the public and community partners on what it has unearthed throughout the process.

"We are committed to good governance and transparency in all that we do, whether this matter specifically or any city service or program," she added.

Image via city of Milton