Opinion:

Ethics, A Burning Question For Politicians And Voters In 2006

So Difficult For Some To Understand, Others Profoundly Indifferent

by Johnny Gunn

While Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman believes the public business of the city isn't public, Secretary of State Dean Heller doesn't really give a hoot whether or not politicians lie and cheat on their "Official" forms filed with his office. It took some serious screaming to get the City of Las Vegas to come forth with documentation for the Attorney General's investigation of alleged wrong doing regarding land transactions, golf courses, and present and former city officials. City business is public business. It's not the domain of King Oscar I. An attorney-client relationship between the city attorney and the mayor simply doesn't exist. The relationship is between those in the city drawing taxes as wages and those that have paid those taxes, and that relationship needs to be public in all respects.

Nevada law on the other hand requires those in public office to file what is called Contributions and Expenses Report and Financial Disclosure Statement with the Secretary of State. Our current SOS feels he has no responsibility to even look at the reports. No one in the Secretary of State's office from Dean Heller on down has a responsibility to look at the reports as they are filed. According to Heller, the Secretary "is charged only with the enforcement of the requirement to file" the statements. Heller insists that it is the duty of the Nevada Commission on Ethics to do enforcement and investigative work. Heller's office won't even accept a claim of alleged election law violation.

A letter of complaint was sent to Heller by Chuck Muth, representing Citizen Outreach, asking Heller to investigate the alleged election law violations that were well publicized dealing with rock concert tickets and NASCAR sky box seats. Heller's blatant arrogance in his answer to Muth is appalling: "We note that the only information you cited to in your complaint as evidence of the alleged violation was media articles, which our office does not generally consider to be sufficient information to initiate an investigation." Heller doesn't seem to have much of a memory any more. He fined Assemblyman Chad Christensen thousands of dollars following the 2004 election cycle based on media information.

It may come as a surprise to you, Mr. Heller, but the American free press is responsible for finding more political skullduggery than all the Secretaries of State in the Union combined.

Heller is correct when he says it is the responsibility of the Ethics Commission to accept campaign expense and financial report complaint forms, but our burning question here is simply this: If you collect the reports, Mr. Heller, and don't look at them, and the Ethics Commission collects any complaints that might arise as long as they aren't media generated, can anyone ever be found out of compliance with the law?

The Ethics Commission is at http://ethics.nv.gov and on their home page you will find under forms the correct way to file a complaint. The complaint form just about wipes out any possibility of a private citizen filing a complaint against any politician or political party. The complaint should be a call for an investigation. The form demands proof of the violation. Once again the politicians that wrote the laws dealing with campaign finance in Nevada were simply protecting themselves and future generations of Silver State politicos.

Nevadans will be electing every seat in the state Assembly and many in the Senate this November. It's time now to go to every person seeking a seat and demand that they work, nay strive to rewrite the campaign finance laws in the state. Violators actually look at the laws with complete impudence because they know they won't be brought before any legal bench; forms that say "under penalty of perjury" on them and are filled with lies and misrepresentations are signed knowingly; and at least one political party has been refusing to even fill out the required forms, simply filing blank forms. Remember, Secretary Heller says his only job is to collect the forms. Who gives a damn if there's anything written on them?

The Legislative Counsel Bureau is already working on proposed bills to be brought before the 2007 Legislature, and now would be a good time to start a letter writing campaign aimed at both the Secretary of State and the Nevada Commission on Ethics to get either or both agencies to ask for campaign reform legislation. We need C&E Reports that can be read and understood, we need campaign finance statements that are read, and we need an agency that is given the authority to check and verify every campaign finance report that is filed. It is the only way to stop the thieves from running the government.

Nevada Commission on Ethics

The commission consists of eight members: four appointed by the Legislative Commission and four appointed by the Governor (see NRS 281.455). The web site is http://ethics.nv.gov, and in Carson City they can be reached at 3476 Executive Pointer Way, Suite 10, 775-687-5469, and in Las Vegas the commission offices are at 2030 East Sahara Avenue, Suite 125, 702-486-7250.

Commission Members

• Caren Jenkins, Esq. Chairman
• Mark A. Hutchison, Esq. Vice Chairman
• Rick R. Hsu, Esq.
• George M. Keele, Esq.
• William Flangas, P.E.
• James Kosinski, Esq.
• Timothy Cashman
• Randall V. Capurro
• Stacy Woodbury Executive Director

Secretary of State

Dean Heller 775-684-5703 http://www.sos.state.nv.us

In Carson City the offices are at 101 North Carson Street, Suite 3, 775-684-5708, and in Las Vegas the office is at 555 East Washington Avenue.

The only way that campaign finance reform, election law reform will take place is if these people understand that you are as angry as you have ever been over being lied to and stolen from. Demand changes and demand that they begin with the government agencies that are supposed to be responsible for upholding the laws as pitiful as they presently are.

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Cartoon by Thomas Nast, April 12, 1874