Wednesday, March 12, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Coffin, D-Las Vegas, said Ensign libeled him in advertisements in which the state senator was accused of filing fraudulent travel vouchers during the 1989 Legislature.
According to the advertisements, Coffin billed the state $216 for trips he took to Las Vegas in 1989 when the actual cost was $80. Ensign said in a statement released by a press aide Tuesday that he would not retract the advertisements.
"I stand by everything that was said in our campaign brochures," Ensign's statement said. "It was all true and can be documented by the press and public record."
Ensign said the facts show Coffin "knowingly overbilled the Nevada taxpayers by over $4,000" that year.
While Coffin billed the state for more than the actual cost of the trips, so did virtually every other lawmaker, according to Lorne Malkiewich, the Legislature's top administrator.
"What he did was appropriate," Malkiewich said. "It was not my understanding of fraudulent."
Malkiewich said rules in effect at the time allowed legislators to bill for travel on a per-mile basis. Round-trip airline tickets to Las Vegas were inexpensive then and the mileage reimbursement checks legislators received exceeded the ticket costs.
Because of criticism over the billing practice, Malkiewich said legislators changed their travel policies in 1991. Now, lawmakers are reimbursed for the exact cost of airline trips. They receive a maximum $6,800 for travel during the legislative session.
Coffin said he will wait for a formal written response from Ensign before he decides whether to go forward with a lawsuit. He said he wrote Ensign on Feb. 14 and requested a retraction. He met with Ensign again on Feb. 28 in Las Vegas.
"He is digging a deeper hole for himself," Coffin said of Ensign's response. "Man-to-man he should be able to retract what is an obvious false statement. But he is letting his lawyers run it."
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