Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 9:47 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- The state Ethics Commission on Thursday denied a request to refund a $473 penalty assessed against E. Louis Overstreet, who was accused of filing a frivolous ethics complaint against a Clark County school board member.
But Overstreet isn't giving up his fight. He says he will ask the commission to re-consider its decision.
"I can't believe it," he said when informed of the unanimous ruling by ethics commissioners made during a meeting in Reno.
In 1999 the Ethics Commission ordered Overstreet to pay the money to the Clark County School District as reimbursement for the time spent by a lawyer defending School Board member Susan Brager, who was cleared of any wrongdoing.
U.S. District Judge David Hagen recently ruled the commission did not have the authority to impose a fine on those who file vexatious or false complaints against a public official. He enjoined the commission from enforcing that section of the law.
Hagen invalidated a $5,000 fine levied against political activist Sam Dehne for filing a complaint against Reno Mayor Jeff Griffin. Dehne and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada had filed the federal court suit that resulted in the decision. The commission in October decided not to appeal that ruling.
Executive Director Polly Hamilton of the commission said it felt that Hagen's order was prospective, meaning that it applied only to cases from that date forward. And the vote rejecting the request of Overstreet at the meeting in Reno was unanimous, she said.
In 1999 Overstreet vowed not to pay the penalty, but Hamilton said the fine has been paid.
Overstreet could not be reached for comment.
Overstreet had initially filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission, charging that Brager had unilaterally awarded a consultant's contract for $85,000 without School Board approval.
The commission found that Overstreet tried to misuse the commission because he was angry at Brager because he was not selected as the construction consultant. It found that the School Board had met and approved the award of the contract to Resolution Management and Leland Pace.
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