Aide failed to disclose extra income

Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 7:27 a.m.

The assistant to former Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates broke county policy by not disclosing that she received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign money from her boss, county officials have confirmed.

Atkinson Gates, whose large campaign payments to her relatives are under investigation by Metro Police, paid her longtime assistant, Donna Sawyer, $46,725 in campaign funds during the commissioner's 2004 reelection race.

At the same time, Sawyer was earning a county salary of $62,670.

County policy bars employees from outside employment unless it has been approved by a department head after it has been determined that there is no conflict of interest.

Clark County Human Resources Director Raymond Visconti said last month that he could not say whether Sawyer filed the required disclosure form because the information was a confidential personnel matter.

County officials said Tuesday, however, that Visconti was incorrect. Such disclosure forms are public information, they said.

Sawyer never filed such a form, a violation of county policy.

Erik Pappa, a county spokesman, would not discuss what disciplinary action, if any, might be taken, saying that is a confidential personnel issue.

It is highly unusual for elected officials' public staffers to simultaneously be on their campaign payrolls, primarily because of the potential conflict of interest. If an individual draws a campaign salary while on the public payroll, questions inevitably arise about whether he or she is acting in a political or governmental capacity at any given time.

To avoid that problem, elected officials' aides typically volunteer their evening and weekend hours to work on their bosses' campaigns, or take a leave of absence from their public job to devote themselves to the campaigns.

Sawyer, a county employee since 1993, is now an administrative assistant in the county's Family Services Department. She could not be reached for comment.