Akers owes Clark County over $50K, but he’s giving money away

The man who administers a program teaching small-business people how to get contracts from Clark County, the same guy who owes the county $57,874, managed to scrape enough dough together to make $5,665 in campaign donations to mostly county candidates.

Tom Akers doesn’t seem like someone who should be teaching anybody good business practices, as clearly he doesn’t have a clue.

In case you missed it, Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Ben Botkin’s Jan. 11 investigation into Akers was a jaw-dropping doozy to those of us interested in wasteful tax dollars.

Botkin detailed how, despite owing the county nearly $58,000, county officials gave Akers & Associates a two-year contract for $227,550 — without any competitive bidding.

The commissioners approved that contract in July, oblivious that six days earlier county attorneys gave Akers a final notice to pay rent owed to the county or they would sue. That lawsuit was filed in October at the insistence of Aviation Director Rosemary Vassiliadis, who ran out of patience with Akers’ nonpayment.

Is it a failure to communicate or a failure to perform background checks?

For $227,550, Akers runs the county’s Business Opportunity and Workforce Development Program, which he proposed to the county in 2007. The county liked his proposal, and he developed the program to teach small-business and disadvantaged business people how to nab mainly county contracts.

The county website said it’s a federally funded program administered by Akers. “Small business owners who sign up for the BOWD program receive professional guidance and support as they build capacity to compete for government contracts through a combination of classroom sessions, mentoring, coaching and County relationship-building activities.”

At a recent class, he told his audience that personal relationships matter most.

He practiced that philosophy making $5,665 in political contributions to politicians since 2011.

His largest total contributions were to Recorder Debbie Conway, who received $1,965 in cash and in-kind contributions.

His second-largest contribution was $1,000 to Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly.

Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams received $750 while Regent Cedric Crear got $550.

Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani took in $500 from Akers last year, Commissioners Steve Sisolak and Larry Brown each got $250.

Treasurer Kate Marshall, running for secretary of state in 2014, received a token $100.

In the world of campaign contributions, these are picayune sums.

But if you owed the Internal Revenue Service money — as Akers did — would campaign dollars be your priority? If you hadn’t paid state taxes on your employees unemployment, would campaign giving top the list? If you owed a $64,000 judgment to another landlord, would padding politicians war chests be your priority?

Initially, Akers said he likes to help candidates who support his priorities and suggested the money was going to support those causes, inferring the politicians were donating to nonprofits he believed in.

When told that no such donations could be seen on Conway’s campaign reports and that he could have received tax deductions if he gave that $5,665 directly to nonprofits, he said he had misspoken.

Then he said, “I support the people who support the causes I am passionate about,” he said, citing youth and small business as his passions. He went on to describe some of his charitable donations, both cash and noncash.

When asked why he didn’t pay his debts before donating to politicians and nonprofits, Akers said had made arrangements to pay his various debts to the county and the IRS, which has been slapping liens against him since 1994.

Actually, the county is forcing him to pay up.

Shortly before Botkin’s story ran, county officials finally took fast action to get some of their money back. The county will pay him $9,500 a month under his contract, but then he has to sign the check over to the county until his debt is paid off.

So the county pays him $227,500 and he gives the county part of that money back. I don’t see that as paying the county back. I see that as getting a sweetheart deal on a $57,874 debt.

Loan sharks and bankers: Can you cut me a deal where you give me more money so I can pay my debt back to you?

Akers and county officials have been chummy — dating all the way back to the 1990s, when he helped the county create TV shows, according to Botkin. Akers was on the county payroll for a year as the overseer of a business development center.

Then in 1994, he won a county contract for an economic study of disparity trends.

A cursory records check shows IRS liens starting in 1994. Shouldn’t that have been a red flag for anyone vetting Akers? Do personal relationships mean no one vetted him?

His current business was one he proposed to the county in 2007. That started with a no-bid contract and so did the renewal in 2009.

In 2012, he competed with four companies and won another contract. That contract required competitive bidding because it was federal. Somehow, despite his financial woes, Akers won that one too.

Last year’s contract was a reversion to the county’s no-bid standard.

Tom Akers is pleasant, but does he really have the skills to administer this county program when his past actions show he doesn’t pay his taxes on time and his priorities are campaign donations and charitable donations rather than debt repayment?

He said he’s embarrassed by this public revelation of his finances.

He should be. So should the officials who let all this slide.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Thursdays. Email her at jmorrison@reviewjournal.com or leave a message at 702-383-0275. Find her on Twitter @janeannmorrison.