McDonald is taking care of his friends

Erin Neff

Thursday, July 15, 1999 | 11:25 a.m.

Las Vegas City Council members all have at least two trusted friends working on their staffs, but Councilman Michael McDonald has gone a step further by snagging good-paying city jobs for two other pals.

Besides the two friends who make up his official ward liaison staff, McDonald has, according to city sources, pressured the Neighborhood Services Department to hire two more of his political allies.

Nathan Taylor, who worked on McDonald's latest campaign and even spoke for the councilman when he was absent at a May debate, was hired June 28 to work in Neighborhood Services.

"He was suggested by the councilman," said a high-ranking city official familiar with the hiring who wished to remain anonymous. "(McDonald) said, 'I want (Taylor) in that position.' "

Council members are allowed to hire their own staff but have no role or responsibility in hiring employees for other city offices. Las Vegas is chartered as a strong city manager form of government, leaving politicians out of the city's internal decisions.

McDonald said he has never suggested a friend be hired for a city job.

"That all comes from the city," McDonald said.

But those familiar with the city's hiring process say that although department heads or the city manager have the final say to hire candidates for nonunion positions, McDonald has influenced the process.

He is known to call department heads and managers with his personnel requests prefaced with the words, "I need" or "I want."

"McDonald's really been the only one who abuses it," the source said. "We have tried to rein him in a little."

Employees in the Neighborhood Services Department say Taylor's recent hiring has lowered morale and brought with it talk of "cronyism."

Throughout Las Vegas city history, mayors and council members have an unwritten tradition of influencing "appointive" staff hirings.

Former Mayor Jan Laverty Jones was believed to be influential in the hiring of Ann Holland as deputy city manager. Holland worked for Jones' husband, Richard Schuetz, and was considered a friend of the couple's when she was hired for the $100,000 a year job in March 1998. Holland resigned four months ago.

Employees at all levels of the city's hierarchy have discussed McDonald's ability to get his friends hired. However, none wished to be identified because they said they feared McDonald's ability to affect the firing process as well.

City Hall insiders point to the abrupt resignation of former City Manager Larry Barton in 1997 as an example of McDonald's influence on personnel matters. McDonald disagreed with Barton on a number of issues. McDonald has denied having any influence on Barton's departure.

"There's a word for it -- cronyism," said one Neighborhood Services employee. "Since (Taylor) started working, I've seen him for about 5 minutes."

Taylor, who makes $35,000 a year, replaced Devin Livziey -- another of McDonald's friends who left Neighborhood Services to work on McDonald's campaign.

Another of McDonald's close allies, Robert Hyde, works with Taylor and has been seen frequently by the media in McDonald's office, home and campaign headquarters. He makes $41,524 a year. City Council members make $37,525 and the mayor earns $49,325.

Hyde is often in McDonald's 10th-floor office, at times eating lunch and socializing with the councilman or his ward liaisons.

Both Taylor and Hyde are in "appointive" positions and did not have to go through the contractual procedures governing union jobs. Appointive employees do not have to take tests or possess specific skills or experience to get a city job.

Human Resources Director Rick Anderson said roughly 250 of the city's 2,900 employees are appointive. Those positions are filled by department heads and the city manager and are not subject to union involvement.

Although Neighborhood Services Director Sharon Segerblom says the decision to hire Taylor was hers alone, some in her department say McDonald holds a subtle power over her.

Amid growing concern for the city's lack of response to neighborhood issues, McDonald and Councilman Gary Reese sponsored a proposal to create the Neighborhood Services department in 1995.

Segerblom had already been working for the city four years but received a pay raise and her own department when she was tapped as Neighborhood Services Director.

Meeting requests?

Some say Segerblom "owes" her department to McDonald and Reese, and as a result, is obliged to meet their requests.

But Segerblom denies being pressured to hire Taylor. She says she had observed Taylor's work with state Sen. Mark James' office and liked what she saw.

"His specialty is being able to work for citizens," Segerblom said. "I wanted somebody young and enthusiastic."

She would not discuss how she knew Taylor was interested in the job.

Both Taylor and Hyde work in the department's Bel Aire neighborhood outreach office on Pennwood Avenue in McDonald's ward.

Numerous attempts by phone and in person to reach either man for comment were unsuccessful.

Taylor is responsible for filing a weekly work report. According to two such reports obtained by the Sun, his typical work day includes just one or two tasks.

The following is Taylor's work report for the July 5 through 9.

* Monday, July 5: "Holiday."

* Tuesday, July 6: "Worked with Sheila at Bel Aire office; code enforcement issues."

* Wednesday, July 7: "Worked with Lisa Lopez on planning issues, and neighborhood development notices. Met with Jim Richards at Jim's Auto on W. Charleston to discuss some code enforcement issues; Sheila assisted me with explaining possible violations in regards to signs. Went to Bel Aire office to set up computer and files. Left work at 4 p.m. for a personal meeting, and filled out a leave slip."

* Thursday, July 8: "Observed Addah processing bond applications and learned the manner in which the bonds are granted. I also reviewed the application files for Nevada Power and Southwest Gas."

* Friday, July 9: "I was briefed by Franklin Simpson on the Weed and Seed program; I received the National Institute of Justice Research Brief along with the national Evaluation of the Weed & Seed program. Franklin walked me through the various services provided by the program and gave me all related materials."

McDonald denies that he influenced Segerblom to hire Taylor.

"On my campaign, we didn't say, 'OK, who needs a job?' "

Council members do have carte blanche control in hiring their own staffs, a freedom McDonald and others have used to bring people onto the city payroll with whom they have previously established a comfort level.

For example, Mayor Oscar Goodman's new staff liaisons are Chris Castro and Stephanie Boixo. Both make $45,000 a year. Castro worked on Goodman's campaign and Boixo is a family friend.

When McDonald was elected in 1995, he hired his high school friend, Rick Henry, as his assistant and then added his UNLV fraternity brother Doug Rankin to the payroll.

Henry, who makes $59,999, took a leave of absence from his city job to manage McDonald's recent campaign. Rankin, who makes $43,415, also worked on the campaign at night and on weekends.

Henry is classified as a Management Analyst II, and Rankin as a Management Analyst I. The difference in classification involves experience level and job duties.

Hyde -- also a Management Analyst I -- was seen at McDonald's headquarters and at his home during the work day several times during the campaign.

"When I was hired (elected), I went to ex-political officials and they told me it's important to always have someone to watch your back," McDonald said.

Both Henry and Rankin appear next to McDonald in a framed photo in his office taken the night he upset Councilman Frank Hawkins for the Ward 1 seat in 1995.

Henry worked for him for free for a month in 1995 and proved he had the skills and knowledge of the community to do the job, McDonald said.

"I couldn't find someone in a 20-minute interview," McDonald said. "My idea was to govern back in the neighborhoods, and these guys helped me do it."

When Councilman Larry Brown was elected in 1997, he brought Patrick Smith with him from the Las Vegas Valley Water District, where both worked. Smith makes $39,028 a year as Brown's ward liaison. Brown's secretary, Laurie Kruse, makes $53,524.

Brown's staff also includes William Price, who is paid $8.50 an hour on a part-time basis.

Hiring their own

"When I came on board, it was my understanding that the council members could hire their own staffs," City Manager Virginia Valentine said.

Section 3.020 of the city's charter states: "The mayor and councilmen may recommend such executive assistants and employees as they may require, to be appointed by the city manager subject to the ratification of the city council."

Technically, Valentine said, all of the council's staff members are "her" employees.

"What we have done is let them make those decisions as a result of past practices that had been the custom," Valentine said.

Lynette Boggs McDonald, who was sworn in Monday as Ward 2 councilwoman, has hired former planning department spokeswoman Sonya Douglass and Philip Oviatt to her staff. Gia Rodriguez, who was former City Councilman Arnie Adamsen's secretary, will stay on as Boggs McDonald's secretary.

Douglass will make $36,000 and Oviatt will make $35,000. Rodriguez makes $54,490.

Councilman Gary Reese's secretary, Loretta Hall, makes $68,693 annually. Susie Martinez is his liaison who specializes in the Hispanic community. She makes $54,260. Lawrence Weekly, who makes $46,952, specializes in the predominantly black area of West Las Vegas.

In addition to Henry and Rankin, McDonald also has a secretary -- Mary Schoenfeld -- who makes $45,517.

Valentine said the council members and mayor wanted to continue the tradition of hiring their own staff.

Commission different

Clark County commissioners, who make $54,000 a year, don't have that same luxury.

"There's no mechanism where a commissioner can hire someone," Thom Reilly, the county's director of administrative services, said.

Commissioners do have input in the hiring of their executive assistants. Each of the seven commissioners has one executive assistant.

The county also has 19 analysts who work in Neighborhood Services. Each of those analysts is assigned as a liaison to one of the county's advisory councils.

As a result, some of the analysts handle issues specific to one particular geographic region -- and thus work frequently with a particular commissioner, Reilly said.

In the city, the individual council members also receive some assistance in their wards from the Neighborhood Services staff. However, only McDonald's friends have shown up on that department's payroll.

McDonald's Ward 1 also is the smallest both in terms of geography and population in the city.

"I have a good corps," McDonald said of his immediate staff. "When I need someone, I hire them here. I don't hire them through Neighborhood Services or other jobs."

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