Hughes staffer resigns for ethics violations

PALMER — A staffer for Rep. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, resigned at Hughes’ request Friday on the heels of a ruling from the state Legislative Ethics Committee.

Karen Sawyer was chief of staff for Hughes’ predecessor, the late Carl Gatto, and had served as a legislative aide for Hughes since she took over, Hughes said Friday evening.

“Karen was contrite in our meeting this morning and acknowledged her lapse in judgment,” Hughes says in a press release. “It is sad, personally, because she is such a beloved person in our district who worked diligently for Palmer and the Mat-Su Valley all these years.”

The rulings, also announced in a Friday press release, say that Sawyer — while serving as Gatto’s chief of staff — allowed David Heckert, Alaska director for an organization called Stop Islamization of America, to work out of Gatto’s office in 2011.

The committee found that Sawyer loaned Heckert her laptop computer and Internet card, that she set up a phone for him under her family plan and that she loaned him a key to the Wasilla Legislative Information Office while she was out of the state. On Aug. 3, 2011, Heckert went so far as to hold what was purportedly a meeting to talk about legislation, which was essentially a SIOA fundraiser at the legislative office.

“The participant sign-in sheet was an SIOA sign-in sheet. Mr. Heckert asked for donations of money and airline miles for an SIOA conference planned in October. Cupcakes and cookies were available for participants that had a symbol on them that reflected SIOA philosophy,” Legislative Ethics Committee Chair Herman Walker Jr. writes in the ruling.

It was around this time that Gatto sponsored and pushed for the passage of House Bill 88, a bill to ban the implementation of foreign laws in Alaska. Though broadly constructed, most everybody at the time assumed it was an attempt, like had been made in other states, to ban Islamic or Sharia law.

“The committee determined that Ms. Sawyer lost sight of the purpose of HB 88 and became personally and obsessively involved with SIOA and its mission,” Walker wrote. Later, he notes that “the committee determined that Ms. Sawyer was unable to distinguish where the bright line should be drawn between promoting HB 88 and activities related to SIOA’s agenda to promote their organization and its mission.”

The committee also found that while SIOA pushed for the passage of HB 88, the organization was interested in it more as a means to bolster its own reputation than for what it would do for the state.

The committee’s final recommendation was that Sawyer be terminated and “never be re-employed by the Legislature again.”

The committee gave Hughes the option of terminating Sawyer, taking some other action or letting the committee act for her. Hughes, in a press release, says she chose to act herself.

“We must uphold the public trust and stand on a higher moral and ethical ground,” Hughes says in the release. “It is unfortunate. These violations took place before I assumed my role as District 13’s representative. I complied with the committee’s findings as soon as I learned of them. Once the committee ruling was published, I acted immediately to comply by asking for Ms. Sawyer’s resignation. I will not tolerate ethical lapses by my staffers who serve our district. We must work in our constituent’s best interests, within the rules.”

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.