UPDATED: Idaho Government Website Links to Raul Labrador Donation Request

 

Campaigning on a government website, Raul?

UPDATE Dec. 5, 6:08 a.m. MST:  
The Associated Press has picked up this story. And here is elaboration from the Spokesman Review:

Daily Kos, a liberal political website, noted the link in an article Wednesday morning, suggesting the state was improperly using its website to drum up donations for Labrador. Less than an hour after Gov. Butch Otter’s office was alerted to the issue by a Spokesman-Review reporter, the link had been changed. According to the Internet Archive’s “Wayback Machine,” the mistaken link had been live for more than two years. “We made a mistake,” said Bill Farnsworth, manager of the Access Idaho contract for the state Department of Administration.”

 UPDATE Dec. 3, 11:14 a.m. MST: 
Betsy Russell of the Spokesman Review picked up this story Eye On Boise: Link to Labrador campaign donations page removed from Idaho’s state website

An article on the website Daily Kos today charges that Idaho’s official state website is being improperly used to drum up donations to GOP Rep. Raul Labrador. The article notes that a list of links to news for various government officials, including Idaho’s congressional delegation, links to their official page of press releases – except for Labrador’s, which links to his campaign site. The page that pops up has a prominent red button saying, “DONATE TODAY.”

UPDATE Dec. 3, 10:37 a.m. MST:  
Dan Popkey is on things. They just changed it. I saved two JPEGs of the original scourcecode. One appears below. And thank you Kevin Wilson for providing the archive.

The site was last archived by the Wayback Machine on June 25, 2014. At that time (and in previous archives) the link pointed to labrador4idaho.com. Here's a link to the archived copy of the page: https://web.archive.org/web/20140625044238/http://www.idaho.gov/government/news_release.html

Idaho statutes prohibit use of government facilities, websites, etc. for campaign purposes. But if you go to the official site for the state of Idaho, and click on the link for press releases, a surprise ensues. Here is the link: http://www.idaho.gov/government/news_release.html and it shows: Press Releases State Elected Officials Governor, C.L. "Butch" Otter State Controller, Brandon Woolf Attorney General, Lawrence Wasden Treasurer, State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Luna Congressional Delegation Senator Mike Crapo Senator James E. Risch Representative Raúl Labrador Representative Mike Simpson

Image capture of the Sourcecode from 9:14 a.m.

... among other things. Try using the original link above, and click on Representative Raúl Labrador. The other officials have links to their press releases as officials and the related activites and news as they represent all citizens. But the link for Congressman Labrador goes to his campaign website: http://www.labrador4idaho.com/ And one of the first things you see is a big, red DONATE NOW button. This is clearly a violation. I wonder how long this "mistake" has been there. Who is accountable? Idaho Governor Butch Otter should investigate.