We at EDAWN are very worried about these knuckleheads

Picon Press has obtained a salacious email from former County Manager Katy Simon Holland to a city councilwoman. This email is rather shocking as it originates from her EDAWN account, where she serves as a Senior Strategic Advisor and includes a copy to the CEO of EDWAN. As our readers may recall, Katy also served on the Washoe County School Board of Trustees and has been involved in marketing and consulting locally.

The email, part of a public records response from the City of Sparks last week, was sent by Katy Simon Holland on May 24, 2022, to Sparks Councilwoman Charlene Bybee. The email is titled “A Favor” and is an ask from Katy to Councilwoman Bybee for her support of four school board candidates. In the email, Katy claims that EDAWN cannot “openly advocate for any candidates as an organization” yet the email is from her edawn.org account with her title and contact information for EDAWN. We don’t know about our readers, however using your employers resources for political activity would probably land anyone else in hot water.

The email refers to Bybee as an EDAWN board member, however Picon cannot establish that she currently sits on the board. Based on the nature of the email, we assume Katy is asking Charlene to use her influence on the other boards she sits on as a result of her elected position.

Katy Simon Holland truthfully points out that the lone conservative trustee on the school board cannot get any item on the agenda currently. She fears, and rightfully so, that a second conservative board member would be able to get items of their choosing on the agenda. The ability to get agenda items before any board is critical, without a second, board members who do not fall in line with the majority of the board are silenced and ostracized. Picon has seen this with Jeanne Herman, Washoe County Commissioner, as well. Certainly Jeff Church has fallen victim as well. Washoe County is split 50/50 between democrats and republicans, yet Church is the sole republican on the current board. Many see the board as needing to represent all of the community, not just those they agree with.

Councilwoman Bybee, in her response to Katy, included, “I too am concerned about Mr. Beadles and his influence on the election.” Has the Councilwoman expressed, officially, what her concerns are? As an elected official we would think she has a duty to report election concerns, especially given her apparent naming of Mr. Beadles in the email. The clear assertion from the Councilwoman is that she thinks Mr. Beadles has committed some wrongdoing, yet Picon has failed to locate any evidence of campaign finance violations or any of violation of the law by Mr. Beadles. We hope she will enlighten our readers as to her concerns.

Picon reached out Councilwoman Bybee and EDAWN CEO, Mike Kazmierski for comment. Mr. Kazmierski responded immediately and said, “EDAWN is a 501c6 non-profit and while we can support or endorse candidates or issues (like a Chamber) we only support or oppose issues generally related to economic development” and “however, our board determines the issues we support and we do not publicly endorse or oppose any candidate.” He also confirmed that EDAWN receives about 20% of its funding from government tax dollars. We also found no reference in EDAWNS publications that indicate the election of school board trustees is part of their mission or focus.

Picon is still gathering more information, to include whether this email constitutes an ethics violation with the State of Nevada, whether it violates campaign finance law, federal laws regarding non-profits or other Nevada Law regarding elections. We also asked Mr. Kazmierski to comment regarding the content of the email.

We will keep our readers posted on the additional information we receive.

Credit to Reno News and Review for the image of Simon from their work.

img20220917_23175594 by Picon Press Media LLC on Scribd