The Idaho Attorney General’s Office determined that Eric Smallwood, board chair of Twin Falls School District, violated the Public Integrity in Elections Act for comments he made at a staff meeting in January when he spoke about the importance of electing pro-education candidates in the May primary.
Deputy Attorney General Jeff Nye warned Smallwood in an April 23 letter that he violated the law and asked him to cease and desist from similar conduct.
“If we are asked to review your future conduct and find a violation of the act, we will seek a civil penalty as well as attorney fees to recoup the public expense of enforcement,” Nye wrote.
Smallwood told EdNews on Wednesday that he has no comment.
The Public Integrity in Elections Act prohibits public officials from using public funds or property to advocate for or against any candidate or ballot measure.
As EdNews previously reported, Smallwood on Jan. 5 spoke at a district staff meeting on school property and encouraged attendees to vote in the May primary election. Without mentioning specific candidates or legislators, he said there are “quite a few” legislators who don’t support public education.
He mentioned low voter turnout in the 2024 primary and cited two election figures: one election was decided by 782 votes and another by 1,247 votes. According to election results, those figures match up with the elections of Twin Falls Republicans Rep. David Leavitt and Sen. Josh Kohl, respectively.
“You may not have named them, but your message was clear: the staff should support public education by participating in the Republican primary and voting against the candidates who won the two races you cited from 2024,” Nye wrote.
Days after Smallwood’s presentation, Leavitt and Kohl, along with Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld and Rep. Clint Hostetler, all Republicans from Twin Falls, signed a complaint to Attorney General Raúl Labrador alleging the violation. All four are facing primary challengers in May.
According to Nye’s letter, the relevant question is not whether Smallwood named a candidate, but whether his presentation, taken as a whole, constituted advocacy for or against a candidate.
“In your public position as the school board chairman in the Twin Falls School District, you requested a meeting to discuss the upcoming primary, held the meeting on public property, made the meeting mandatory for public educators, provided a breakfast at the school district’s expense, and then used that opportunity to advocate against two candidates in Twin Falls County,” Nye wrote.
The letter also notes the connection to the local and state teachers’ unions — the Twin Falls Education Association and the Idaho Education Association. At the same time as Smallwood’s presentation, the IEA was running its “May Matters” campaign, which stresses the importance of the May primary election.
“The campaign has talking points with striking similarities to your own,” Nye wrote to Smallwood.
READ: Full transcript of Eric Smallwood’s comments
Nye said the unions are free to exercise their First Amendment rights, but as a trustee Smallwood cannot “circumvent the law” by coordinating with the organizations to advocate against candidates.
The letter comes after the Legislature this year cracked down on teachers’ unions.
Gov. Brad Little in April signed a bill, HB 516, that prohibits public schools from using taxpayer resources to accommodate teachers’ unions.
Lawmakers passed the bill in the final days of the session using a procedure called “radiator capping,” where a bill is replaced with another, bypassing the normal legislative process.
Hostetler in March debated in favor of the bill. He said teachers’ union dues support the National Education Association’s “very leftist” ideology.
“Taxpayer dollars belong in the schools for the children, for the purpose of learning, not for the association,” he said.
