UPDATED: FOTAZ President David Lind Reacts FOTAZ Members: Was FOTAZ Mailing List Also Released for Political Purposes? 12:10PM: I just spoke with FOTAZ President David Lind concerning allegations that the FOTAZ mailing list was accessed for a campaign mail-out. Lind, a Roy supporter, states that FOTAZ determined several months ago to not get involved in the upcoming mayor's race and that no one has ever approached him about using their list. "If our mailing list was accessed and used, then I am very unhappy about it," he said. "If it was used at all, it was used improperly." **** Once again, according to my sources, the mailing list of a non-profit, city-wide organization may have been released for political purposes. Several members of FOTAZ (or Friends of the Alexandria Zoo) have reported that they recently received a mail-out from Delores Brewer's mayoral campaign. The mail-out apparently addresses Brewer's work with the Alexandria Zoo. It is important to note that non-profit organizations are barred from engaging in political campaigning. Read about this on the Internal Revenue Service's website. One FOTAZ member put it this way, "I didn't realize that when I or any of my family members signed up for any city activities or programs such as the soccer association or the zoo that we were giving permission for our names/addresses to be released to Brewer." FOTAZ describes itself:

Friends of the Alexandria Zoo is a non-profit organization dedicated to the continuing improvement of the Alexandria Zoological Park, humane, aesthetically tasteful and education exhibits; addition of new animals to encourage conservation of valuable wildlife; and promotion of cultural and educational services for the community and its schools and to encourage economic development.

This entry was posted by Blogger, on Wednesday, November 01, 2006.