Fanwood Facebook page features people wearing Colleen Mahr t-shirts

The official Facebook page for the Borough of Fanwood includes numerous photos of residents wearing t-shirts supporting the re-election of Mayor Colleen Mahr, something that could be interpreted as using government resources for political gain.

Mahr posted on the photo on her personal Facebook page that “30 years of celebrating earth day was supported by the Fanwood democratic committee who will be on the ballot with me on June 4th .. find us under column B Peoples First Democrats ..we need your support.”

She included a link to the Fanwood Democrats website.

The following day, Fanwood’s official government site shared Mahr’s campaign post.

Council President Tom Kranz told the New Jersey Globe that he runs the local Facebook page along with a consultant paid for by the borough.  He didn’t recall who shared the post.

Mahr is unopposed in the June 4 Democratic primary and no Republican has filed to run against her in the general election.  She is facing a fight over seats on the Democratic County Committee after declining to run on the Union County Democratic organization line.

The Fanwood race is part of a larger chessboard where Mahr hopes to win enough seats across the county to mount a challenge to Union County Democratic chairman Nicholas Scutari when the party elections are held next month.  Scutari beat Mahr by a wide margin when they faced off last year in a special election to replace the late Jerry Green.

There are several photos on the site of individuals wearing Team Mahr shirts.  There is one of Mahr wearing her own campaign shirt.

Few rules exist when it comes to the intersection of government and social media, and it’s even murkier when official business and political agendas are mixed during election season.

Kranz, a Democrat allied with Mahr, said that the borough has no rules for what goes on their Facebook page, even though tax dollars are used to maintain it.  He said there are no guidelines for preserving records like deleted Facebook posts and comments.