Omer Khan/Las Vegas Raiders
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak delivers the State of the State Address at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.
Tuesday, April 12, 2022 | 5:53 p.m.
Gov. Steve Sisolak’s security team will increase from five to eight officers after an increase in verbal attacks on elected officials.
The Board of Examiners approved Tuesday an item from the Department of Public Safety to allocate $373,051 to fund three positions in the dignitary protection services to protect the governor and the first family.
The funds will come from contingency funds of the Interim Finance Committee, which will determine final approval May 5.
The Board of Examiners, which is made up of Sisolak, Attorney General Aaron Ford and Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, did not have any discussion on the agenda item, other than to clarify if Sisolak could vote on the item and if there was a conflict of interest.
After general counsel determined there was no conflict of interest, the three voted unanimously in favor.
A memo dated March 31 from the Nevada Department of Public Safety provided in the meeting’s agenda packet said the need for three more security officers comes in light of “recent nationally noted events of violence toward political leaders … “including incidences in Nevada.”
In February, Sisolak and first lady Kathy Sisolak were threatened by two men at a Las Vegas restaurant, with one of the men yelling, “We should string you up on a lamp post. You are running into a patriot now.”
Then on March 28, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who is running for governor against Sisolak, was berated at a public event, when a man followed him around the venue calling him a “piece of garbage” and asking Lombardo where his “Nazi uniform” was.
“The political climate in America today is more polarizing than at any time in recent history,” Curtis Palmer from the Department of Safety wrote in the memo. “This climate has elevated the threat level posed to our political leaders.”
