State Senate Candidate Hit for Campaign Emails to MNPS Employees

Would-be state senator Howard Jones has been blasting mass emails asking for donations to his fellow Metro Nashville Public Schools employees in violation of school policy.

Jones is running for the District 19 seat currently held by state Sen. Thelma Harper; state Rep. Brenda Gilmore is also running.

Jones, a Baptist minister and assistant principal at John F. Kennedy Middle School, has been sending emails from his campaign account to staff at many, if not all, schools in the district — although apparently none to anyone in the administration and central offices.

"I have not received any emails from this campaign nor heard of others who have before receiving your email," said MNPS spokesperson Olivia Brown when contacted on Friday.

But employees of H.G. Hill Middle, Gower Elementary, West End Middle and J.T. Moore Middle schools — many of whom do not live in Jones's district — all confirmed getting the emails and said they had heard of teachers at other schools getting them too. None had signed up for the email blasts, although each email from Jones' campaign says at the bottom, "You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website, on social media networks, or because you are a friend of the campaign."

The emails started in mid-June and have been coming about once a week, with messages like:

If there has every been a time for change in Nashville, Tennessee, it is now. We can have better Education, a Stronger Economy for all, and Efficient Housing with safe Communities. It's going to take all of us Connecting in Unity to build better communities together.

I am asking you personally to join this movement by donating your time and at least a $10 recurring donation to WIN for families and our future.

We must all donate to this cause: become a $10 or more monthly donor to our campaign today. We can and We Will Win Together.

The emails also include a link to donate, which, if clicked, takes one to an ActBlue online donation page:

But there are two big problems with this. First, MNPS sent out an email in March reminding employees that the district's policies prohibit employees from "using the network for financial or commercial gain, advertising, or political lobbying." A different policy prohibits distribution of campaign materials or messaging from candidates for office to students or staff.

Second, Jones has not registered his campaign — and thus his campaign treasurer — with the state, meaning he's currently accepting donations in violation of the state's campaign finance laws. Janet Williams with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance said someone would have to file a formal complaint against Jones before any possible fines or penalties could be assessed.

"It just depends on the situation," Williams said. "We always try to give people the opportunity to file an appointment of treasurer and correct things before taking action."

Jones has had a while to file the paperwork — according to the campaign's Facebook page, he held a kickoff event on May 1.

Meanwhile, the campaign won't be sending anymore emails to any MPNS email addresses, according to Brown.

"The district does have a couple of policies that prohibit campaigning on district property or staff using district resources or time for political activity (Facility Use Policy and Employee Advocacy and Community Involvement Policy). Our district email accounts are public record and we do occasionally have a campaign that will send emails," Brown said. "We are following our typical response by notifying the campaign of our policy and blocking the campaign email account from sending to our email addresses."

Jones has not returned a request for comment; we'll update the post if he does.

An earlier version of this story said Jones currently works at Martin Luther King, Jr. Magnet School. That is incorrect, he worked there in the past.