St. Louis County Government: Internal Investigation Of Mistaken Email Link Complete

Press release from the St. Louis County Government:

March 11, 2022

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MO (March 11, 2022) - As the Department of Public Health announced previously, on Jan. 10 a DPH employee sent an email that mistakenly included a link to a campaign website where people could sign up to receive a newsletter. The email was sent to a constituent who had inquired about COVID-19 testing in the community. It contained information and several links to materials on COVID-19 topics, including masking, testing and vaccinations, before listing the campaign link at the end. As DPH has stated, the inclusion of that link was a mistake on the employee’s part and never should have occurred. The employee involved believed the link allowed recipients to sign up for information from a government office – not a political campaign. DPH launched a personnel investigation into the matter, which has now been concluded.

In the course of its investigation, DPH discovered that a second employee who works on community outreach copied the information in the first email and emailed it to 52 community members and sent copies to 33 others. Again, the emails contained information about COVID-19, including advice and several links regarding masking and testing, but also included the campaign link at the end. The second employee also was unaware that the link led to a campaign website.

Both employees acknowledged that they made a mistake in sharing a link that they had not fully identified, and both affirmed that they understand the County’s policy banning campaign activity. The investigation concluded that the matter involved a mistake by the first employee that was exacerbated by a mistake by the second employee. No evidence of anyone intentionally distributing the link or encouraging the distribution of the link was found.

DPH’s mission is to improve public health and protect the residents of St. Louis County. DPH does not engage in political activities and apologizes for these mistakes. DPH has reminded all employees about the need to follow the County employee code of conduct, which bars employees from conducting any political activity on the job.

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This press release was produced by the St. Louis County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.