City of Costa Mesa staff is diligently working to facilitate a fair and impartial election process.

Today, City staff became aware of a picture that was posted on a Facebook page that was photo-shopped or altered in some method.

The picture is of a candidate for City Council and the City’s Police Chief and Fire Chief.

The altered picture now includes a campaign sign supporting certain candidates as well as a statement at the top of the picture that implies political endorsement.

To be clear, the Police Chief and Fire Chief did not approve this altered picture and they do not endorse any candidates.

The Executive Management Team of the City, including the Police Chief and Fire Chief, do not get involved in local elections or endorse candidates.

It would be inappropriate and a violation of our professional ethics to do so.

The City is asking that the individual responsible for falsely implying that the City’s Police and Fire Chiefs have endorsed any candidates to cease and desist from any further action that wrongly implies this or any similar statement.