Mayoral hopeful quits job rather than end campaign

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Inspired by his teenage daughter, Jeff Francom chose to quit his job last week rather than end his campaign for Saratoga Springs mayor.

At 5 p.m. Sept. 15, three hours before the polls officially closed for Saratoga Springs' primary election, Francom got a call from his employers at Edward Jones. The financial-services firm's Midwest regional office had a few questions for Francom about the political office he'd been seeking.

Francom said company officials told him they had received a letter and one of his campaign fliers. They read him the flyer and asked questions about the time commitments the position would require. Francom said he asked to see the letter and inquired who had written it, but both requests were denied.

According to Francom, the company asked him to drop out of the race. And after he finished second in the municipal primary and advanced to the Nov. 3 general election, the company became more insistent, he said.

"Over the next couple of days, (the company) and I had numerous discussions," Francom said, "after which they insisted I drop out, supposedly over what was written in that letter."

Company officials later denied having received a letter. In a statement to the Deseret News, Edward Jones spokeswoman Regina DeLuca-Imral said Francom's "employment was terminated for failing to cooperate with the firm during the course of a compliance inquiry into his outside activities."

Francom said he verbally cleared his candidacy with his compliance officer and a business-development official, a legal requirement of the company, before he began campaigning. According to Francom, neither thought his campaign was a problem but agreed he would have to disclose the position in writing if he won, because he would receive a salary.

Francom said he even asked the Saratoga Springs city recorder to fax the firm a statement outlining the job requirements, time commitments and monthly stipend.

"They found that to be fairly irrelevant," he said.

Francom said the company again asked him to drop out of the race or resign his position with the firm. He told them he could issue a news release stating his company asked him to serve his community in other ways. But Francom said the company did not want to be mentioned in the news release and suggested he say he had personal issues, additional job responsibilities or that he needed to attend to family matters.