The woman, who Workman's office did not name, will draw a salary of $18 an hour. Mayoral spokesman Ted Phillips says the job is part time. The employee will work from home on an "as needed" basis, Phillips said. The office doesn't plan to spend more than $2,000 a year on the post. "It's not a traditional law clerk position," he said. "This is just to ensure we get the help we need."

The mayor's law clerk will be paid more than those in comparable jobs in the District Attorney's Office, where second-year law students make $12 to $14 an hour as law clerks. The mayor's law clerk will also make more than comparable employees in the state Attorney General's Office, where they are paid $10.92, according to the office.

Workman already has been criticized for high salaries in her office, where she pays several of her appointed aides more than $100,000. To be fair, the DA's office has the most employees in the county making more than $100,000, though those salaries are set by the county personnel division.

Phillips says Deputy Mayor Alan Dayton's staff is short because of job changes. Phillips adds that the law clerk's salary was set by the mayor's office based on salary criteria for a secretary with legal experience.

The mayor's legal counsel, Greg Curtis, who also is the House majority leader, resigned from his county post after admitting he took state mileage reimbursement while driving a county-owned and -fueled SUV during this year's legislative session. Curtis maintains it was a mistake.

- Thomas Burr