Tuesday, April 2, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
COMMON CAUSE Nevada is asking its Washington headquarters to put some heat on Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev.
Ellen Nelson, executive director of the government watchdog group's Nevada chapter, wants the national office to pursue possible ethics charges in the House against Ensign.
In a March 20 letter to Common Cause President Ann McBride, Nelson cites newspaper reports questioning Ensign's involvement in a Jean land deal affecting casinos owned by his father's company, and his prolific efforts to raise campaign funds from Capitol Hill special interests.
Nelson tells McBride the land deal, reported March 7 by the SUN, smacks of a conflict of interest.
Top Las Vegas Ensign aide Sonia Joya says the congressman has "no reason" to comment at this time on Nelson's efforts.
"He doesn't comment on hypothetical, what-if situations," Joya says.
Ensign already has acknowledged erring by not disclosing his ties to his father's company, Circus Circus Enterprises, which owns the two Jean casinos, Nevada Landing and Gold Strike, near the land in question.
The freshman congressman withdrew public support for the transaction after Circus Circus lodged objections to it.
Consolidated Freightways Inc., a nationwide trucking firm, says it still wants to buy 25 acres of real estate owned by the Bureau of Land Management near the Interstate 15 off-ramp in Jean so it can move its Las Vegas tractor trailer yard there. The purchase is on hold in part because of Ensign's withdrawal of support.
The story has made headlines in The Hill, which is widely read by Ensign's colleagues in Congress.
In recent weeks, Ensign also has been criticized in the national press for using his seat on the influential House Ways and Means Committee to raise money from health, energy and banking lobbyists.
Ensign is ranked at the top of his freshman class in reeling in contributions from Washington political action committees.
Nelson compares Ensign's plight to that of Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., who's been criticized by Common Cause in Washington.
Earlier this month, McBride asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Shuster for steering lobbying business to his former longtime chief of staff. The ex-aide was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by her clients to influence legislation in the House Transportation Committee, chaired by Shuster. She also solicited campaign contributions for Shuster from those same interests.
"It appears that the activities of Rep. Ensign are not that different from those of Rep. Shuster, and likewise may call for an investigation by the House Ethics Committee," Nelson writes.
A spokesman for McBride says the Washington office is studying the concerns raised in Nelson's letter and will make a decision soon on whether to pursue a complaint.
Stay tuned, friends.
* It's the court deposition that Alliance Gaming Corp., the state's largest slot route operator, doesn't want anyone to see.
Under wraps for five years, the sworn testimony of ex-Alliance Gaming internal auditor Diane Beck has surfaced publicly in a new court case against the slot route giant.
And it raises questions about the company's ability to account for the performance of its slot machines distributed to taverns around Nevada.
I've got a copy of the deposition, but more importantly, so does Richard Moreno, who's currently locked in a bitter legal dispute with Alliance Gaming.
Moreno, a former tavern owner, believes the deposition may prove to be a big break in his case.
At the very least, Beck's potentially explosive testimony should attract the attention of the State Gaming Control Board.
It's sure to enlighten the board about Alliance Gaming's business practices.
But the board better hurry.
Alliance's lawyers are moving for a protective order to keep the deposition under seal. A hearing is set in District Court Wednesday.
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