Boulder City Councilmember Taishya Adams was cleared of any wrongdoing after an investigation into her behavior on Instagram. She had blocked three Jewish residents from her Instagram accounts and last month, a special counsel from Fort Collins was assigned to the investigation after Rachel Amaru and Aaron Brooks filed an official complaint letter.
They alleged that Adams was violating the law by utilizing an Instagram account for official city business and also blocking resident constituents from accessing her accounts. Fort Collins Deputy City Attorney Stefanie Boster led the investigation and determined that Adams’ two Instagram accounts were not official government accounts and thus Adams has the right to block any users.
The report states that “the Code provided in relevant part that, ‘A public official or employee shall not: … Use, or authorize the use of, his or her title, the name ‘City of Boulder,’ or the city’s logo in a manner that suggests impropriety, favoritism, or bias by the city or the official or employee.’”
“None of the documents identified by the Complainants indicate that this Instagram account is the official government account of Councilmember Adams administered by the City of Boulder,” Bolster wrote. “Rather, Councilmember Adams appears to administer the ‘@adamsforboulder’ Instagram account herself both for campaign purposes and to repost content originally posted by the City of Boulder on its social media account.”
The complaint also alleged that Adams discriminated against Amaru for rescinding her registration to attend a book group that was led by Adams. Bolster said the book club was not “carried out as part of her role as a councilmember.”
Bolster concluded that the two Instagram accounts run by Councilmember Adams were private accounts that were not sanctioned by the City of Boulder. The complaint alleged that Adams’ promotion of city council activities on her “@taishyasky” account means that she cannot legally block Boulder residents from accessing the account.
In response to that allegation, Bolster wrote that “the Code of Conduct allows a Councilmember to advocate, as a Councilmember, on any topic, including political candidates and ballot measures.”
