Updated 09/​06/​2009

elect​stephaniehodges​.com is ded­i­cated to deliv­er­ing prac­ti­cal and respon­si­ble con­tent and resources to help peo­ple under­stand the issues fac­ing Maryland’s 32^nd dis­trict and where Stephanie stands on those issues. We have devel­oped this detailed site-​​wide dis­clo­sure pol­icy to guide our com­mit­tee and all of our communications.

elect​stephaniehodges​.com gives tips, advice and answers to ques­tions about issues and dis­trict ser­vices. Our inter­nal and exter­nal experts, con­trib­u­tors and blog­gers give advice that may not nec­es­sar­ily rep­re­sent the views of the com­mit­tee. We encour­age open com­mu­ni­ca­tion and the flow of ideas.

Of course, we will endeavor to dis­close whether the author has a com­mer­cial inter­est in any of the infor­ma­tion or ser­vices men­tioned in the arti­cle. elect​stephaniehodges​.com has always striven to oper­ate with the high­est lev­els of integrity and trans­parency. Here are the key com­po­nents of our dis­clo­sure policy:

Disclosure/​Conflict-​​of-​​Interest

We endeavor to com­ply with the following:

1. When an inter­nal or exter­nal writer or blog­ger pub­lishes a col­umn or arti­cle on our behalf that includes infor­ma­tion about a prod­uct or ser­vice, if applic­a­ble, the fact that they have a com­mer­cial inter­est in that prod­uct or ser­vice is required to be dis­closed at the end of the arti­cle. Our writ­ers are directed to dis­close any rela­tion­ship with a source that may com­pro­mise their objec­tiv­ity.
2. Our writ­ers are instructed not to give pref­er­en­tial treat­ment to any out­side resource (pub­li­ca­tion, video, affil­i­ate, Web site), based on their rela­tion­ship with the per­son or com­pany who authors or owns that resource.
3. Some of the con­tent found on our site is pro­vided by out­side pub­li­ca­tions. These arti­cles should typ­i­cally have clearly iden­ti­fi­able logos and/​or labels indi­cat­ing their source. We can­not be respon­si­ble for any com­mer­cial inter­est that a writer from an out­side pub­li­ca­tion may have had when they wrote the arti­cle.
4. When we col­lect infor­ma­tion from you dur­ing a reg­is­tra­tion, how we use that infor­ma­tion is sub­ject to our Pri­vacy Pol­icy and Terms of Use Agreement.

Con­trib­u­tors

Some con­trib­u­tors to elect​stephaniehodges​.com have the oppor­tu­nity to par­tic­i­pate in a pro­gram that allows them to earn a pay­ment from elect​stephaniehodges​.com, based on cer­tain met­rics that are impor­tant to our com­mit­tee. Those met­rics could include page views, vis­i­tors, or other met­rics as des­ig­nated from time to time.

Con­clu­sion

We have designed our dis­clo­sure pol­icy to serve our com­mu­nity and our staff fairly. You should remem­ber to con­sider every piece of infor­ma­tion you receive, not as a de facto rec­om­men­da­tion, but as an idea for fur­ther con­sid­er­a­tion. Our dis­clo­sure pol­icy does not relieve indi­vid­u­als from tak­ing respon­si­bil­ity for their own deci­sions. Due dili­gence and crit­i­cal thought are crucial.

If you’d like to offer us any feed­back on our dis­clo­sure pol­icy, please con­tact us using the Con­tact Us link.