A recent ruling by a Casa Grande attorney whitewashed Councilmember Allen Skillicorn’s actions attacking a voter, even when it turned out the attacks were false. This is inconsistent with prior precedent from a 2018 incident involving much less egregious behavior.

In 2018 a Town Council member disagreed with a voter’s opinion on a tax issue. The council member accused the voter of appearing often before Town Council to voice criticism.

The councilmember was wrong. That voter never spoke at any council meeting. The council member confused the voter with a different voter. The council member gave a tepid response via social media but refused to apologize directly.

An ethics charge was filed. The ethics officer found numerous violations by the council member, including eroding “public confidence in the Town government.”

Compare this with the recent opinion by a different ethics officer. Councilmember Allen Skillicorn accused a voter of making death threats against him through letters in this newspaper. Skillicorn published his charges in a press release, then used an Illinois public relations friend to repeat his charges on the internet through a faux media publication.

Skillicorn later learned that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office found the letters were not threatening. Skillicorn earlier pledged to follow the MCSO’s conclusions. Has he followed his pledge? No. Skillicorn refuses to apologize to the voter he falsely accused of threatening him. He refuses to rescind the false press release or to help remove or amend the false internet “news” report.

Skillicorn’s actions are worse than the 2018 incident involving the other councilmember, but the outcome is different. The Case Grande attorney found no ethics violations by Skillicorn. There was no remorse by Skillicorn, and no accountability for not correcting his false allegations about a voter.

Perhaps this is the new precedent.