County wants to pull politics from newsletter

Adrienne Packer

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2002 | 9:57 a.m.

Clark County administrators are looking at revamping policies regarding the government center's newsletter to quash any perceptions that elected officials use the county-generated "Sandstone" as a political tool.

If a draft policy is approved, the county newsletter will no longer be published after candidate filing dates during election years that involve county offices.

The new policy, which has yet to be reviewed by Clark County commissioners, comes just one month after administrators prohibited elected officials from appearing on the county's Channel 4 after filing for candidacy or re-election.

"We always had the intention of looking at Sandstone and address the perception that it is used as a political tool," Gwen Castaldi, the county's public communications director, said Wednesday. "This goes hand in hand with similar issues with Channel 4."

Concerns about whether commissioners' appearances on Channel 4 programs gave them an unfair advantage during election years were brought about last fall by Pete O'Neil, an Independent Party candidate for Congress.

O'Neil argued that Commissioner Dario Herrera's 30-second spot on the county's new prescription drug program amounted to free publicity and his opponents did not have the same access to the station.

Herrera said Wednesday he has no qualms about either policy. In fact, he said, he would rather the county stop publishing Sandstone -- a quarterly newsletter that promotes commissioners' work in their districts.

"I'd like to do away with it altogether," Herrera said. People would "prefer their tax dollars to be used for other needs and services."

The new policy will be reviewed by commissioners but can be signed off by County Manager Thom Reilly without board approval.