Watershed has distanced itself from Marvin Rees’s election campaign after a post from his official Twitter account prompted complaints it appeared to show its support – which would be illegal.
Charities are banned from endorsing or funding political candidates, including Mr Rees who is standing to be reelected as Bristol mayor against eight other hopefuls next Thursday.
A tweet from his account on Wednesday morning (April 28), which has since been deleted, included a quote from Dick Penny, CEO of the city’s flagship arts venue from 1998 to 2018, backing the Labour incumbent as “inspiring” and showing “extraordinary city leadership”.
Beneath Mr Penny’s photo was his name and the word “Watershed”.
A spokesperson for Mr Rees’s campaign says all endorsements are in a personal capacity.
But the post sparked complaints on Twitter that it could be in breach of charity law and Charity Commission guidance.
Amid the uproar, Watershed tweeted a statement which said: “We have received a few tweets about former Watershed managing director Dick Penny’s endorsement of a Bristol mayoral candidate.
“Dick does not work for @wshed in any capacity, we were not aware of the endorsement and as a charity we do not endorse any candidate.”
Shortly afterwards, a revised tweet was posted on the mayor’s feed removing the word “Watershed” beneath Mr Penny’s picture.
In it, Mr Rees wrote: “Proud of this personal endorsement from Dick, who led @wshed for 20 years.
“Culture's key to our economy, boosted by #Bristol Channel 4 win, and crucial to rebuilding.
“From the Beacon to expanding Bottleyard and getting an Arena at no cost to the taxpayer, we're getting stuff done.”
The original post was not taken down until the following day despite calls for it to be deleted because it had been retweeted at least a dozen times into other users’ timelines and liked by at least 34 people, whereas as of Friday morning the updated version had been shared only three times.
The furore came less than a week after another tweet posted by Mr Rees’s account with an endorsement from an apparent charity worker was also deleted.
The post, which included backing for the candidate from Ruth Pitter, “equalities manager of Voscur”, was removed when the organisation’s CEO Sandra Meadows revealed to people who complained that Ms Pitter had not worked there for three years.
Responding to the mayor’s original tweet highlighting Mr Penny’s support on Wednesday, @TRESAcic wrote: “Given charity law, is the intention to remove the previous image that puts the Watershed in a difficult position? (As per the tweet implicating @voscur that was removed?)”
@Bristol_people posted: “Still need to DELETE this Marvin. Laws are laws.”
@tpuddle tweeted: “According to their website, @wshed is also a charity, so should not be endorsing a political candidate.
“Is Marvin going to try to get any more charities involved?”
When the replacement tweet was posted, @gravytrainbrit replied: “Let's play spot the difference.
“Here's one Rees tweeted earlier which was potentially in breach of electoral rules & jeopardised Watershed charitable status.
“When do we get the apology tweet Marvin?”
Some Twitter users were under the impression that Mr Penny still worked for Watershed because he left his role as chief executive officer in August 2018 to take charge of subsidiary company Watershed Ventures, but he parted company with the venue completely in March last year.
Asked to comment, a spokesperson for Mr Rees’s campaign said: “We are delighted at how many endorsements Marvin has received from Bristolians.
“They all recognise the delivery Marvin has brought to the city and the importance of his re-election.
“All endorsements are in a personal capacity.”
