Chandler City Councilmember Jane Poston is batting down allegations of being involved in an FBI public corruption investigation. Poston defended her past business dealings with the Chandler Law Enforcement Association (CLEA) in the wake of an email leak suggesting an FBI probe was in play. In a sit-down with ABC15, she stressed her disbelief about the investigation, stating, "I adamantly do not believe that investigation is happening. There is absolutely no reason to believe that is happening," as ABC15 reported.
While the FBI maintains its policy of neither confirming nor denying ongoing investigations, the allegations took root after ABC15 obtained an email from former Police Chief Sean Duggan to City Manager Joshua Wright, hinting at an investigation into Poston and CLEA's former president Michael Collins. In response to the email from November, Poston told Arizona's Family, "Since then, not a single person has to quickly be contacted about anything. CLEA hasn't been contacted. None of the City has been contacted. I haven't been contacted. My company hasn't been contacted."
Poston, who co-owns J2 Media with her husband Jason, confirmed that prior to her taking office in January, their company had been contracted for video, website, and public relations work by the police union. However, she declined to disclose financial details, telling ABC15, "No. Talking about the money that a business chooses to spend with my company isn’t an appropriate conversation for me to have about any business." This comes in light of the union's spending increase to over $150,000 in recent years on advertising and promotion, a surge evidenced by publicly filed tax forms.
At a recent city council meeting, where a new contract between the city and police union was to decisively be voted on, Poston actively participated and sought advice from City Attorney Kelly Schwab on whether a recusal was necessary. Schwab advised her "at that time that if any matters came before the council about the organization that you had a contract with then, that would present as a conflict of interest," as Schwab confirmed in the council meeting, as reported by Arizona's Family.
Facing health challenges, including recovery from a double mastectomy, Poston had been attending meetings virtually but decided to show in person to the critical council session. She emphasized that her collaboration with CLEA ceased in December 2022, before taking her council seat, an assertion backed by Schwab, who concluded that Poston did not have a legal conflict of interest regarding the police union contract. This storyline continues to unfold, with ABC15 promising to release more details from Poston's interview in the coming days.
