EAO 480

Title 15 of the Election Code does not prohibit an officeholder from using political contributions to compensate a county employee for vacation time that the employee was unable to take due to carrying out his or her county responsibilities on assignments connected with the activities of the officeholder’s office. The officeholder may use personal funds to make the payment to compensate the employee for the lost vacation time and may seek reimbursement from political contributions provided that the expenditure from personal funds is reported as required by title 15 of the Election Code. The court employee may accept the compensation at issue under section 36.10(a)(2) of the Penal Code.