The Logo, the List, and the Press Conference

Grant none of the three as framed - but distinguish whose rules apply.

• Your constraints are governmental, not 501(c)(3). As a health department employee you may not use public funds, staff time, facilities, or the agency's brand to intervene in a ballot measure campaign, and many jurisdictions extend this through state ethics or campaign-finance law. Federal funding can add Hatch Act considerations. Rules vary by jurisdiction, so request a written legal opinion rather than relying on a general recollection.
• The coalition partners' constraints are different. A 501(c)(3) may engage in ballot-measure advocacy - that is lobbying, not prohibited political campaign intervention - within its substantial-part limits. Their 9–5 vote is permissible for them, which is why the activity can proceed without you as its face.

Request by request:

1. Press conference - no, if it is a campaign event with a “vote yes” call. Acceptable alternative: a technical briefing or a public forum where you present health data without advocating a vote.
2. Logo - no. It implies official departmental endorsement and misappropriates a public entity's identity.
3. Email list - no. Subscribers consented to nutrition information, not political advocacy; using a public list for campaign purposes raises both consent and public-records problems.

Say no early, in writing, with the reason and an alternative, so the coalition can plan nine weeks out rather than discovering the gap in week eight.

Legitimate, well-documented activities:

• Publish a health-impact brief on sugar-sweetened beverages: consumption patterns in the city, dental and cardiometabolic outcomes, and the local burden by neighborhood. Data, not a voting recommendation.
• Present technical testimony at council or public hearings if your agency's policy allows, clearly framed as technical expertise on health effects and revenue use - with no statement for or against the measure.
• Convene and staff the coalition as a neutral coordinator, ensuring minutes distinguish coalition positions from departmental positions.
• Provide the same data and technical assistance to any requester, including opponents - this protects both fairness and the agency's credibility.
• Ensure no departmental communication names or implicitly references the measure, and keep a clear record of time and resources spent.

Guardrails to build now: a written decision memo (what staff may and may not do during the election period), a review step for any coalition material that might be attributed to the department, and a reminder that the coalition's own campaign communications should not list the department as an endorser.

If the board of health pushes back, the answer is that the department's long-term ability to be heard on the next measure depends on being seen as a technical resource rather than a campaign actor.

The claim: overstates the evidence, and credibility is the asset at stake.

Price elasticity for sugar-sweetened beverages clusters around −1.0 to −1.3 for purchases. A $0.02/oz tax raises retail price roughly 15–20%, implying purchase declines in the neighborhood of 15–25% for taxed beverages - not a third. Purchases are also not consumption: substitution to untaxed beverages, cross-border shopping, and industry absorption of the tax all attenuate the effect.

Recommended action: ask the coalition to replace the claim with a range and a citation, and offer to draft the sentence. Do not lend your name to a number you cannot defend; an overstated claim invites a counterattack that discredits the accurate parts of the message. Stronger, defensible framing emphasizes the revenue and school-meal access, which are certain, alongside a modest consumption effect.

The foundation member: disclose the conflict in the coalition minutes, materials, and any public-facing list of members. Ask the organization to recuse from decisions about campaign spending, message framing on pricing, and any lobbying contacts with retailers. Transparency converts a vulnerability into evidence of good governance. Also check whether other members have undisclosed commercial ties before the campaign launches, not after a reporter asks.