Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Effort to fire police union boss reveals conflict over collective bargaining legislation

The executive board of Nevada’s most powerful police union began efforts to fire its longtime leader this week, exposing a messy internal battle over collective bargaining legislation and labor politics.

In a union memo obtained today by the Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Police Protective Association treasurer Scott Nicholas listed at least eight transgressions allegedly committed by Executive Director Chris Collins, who was asked to step down from his job on Saturday by the union’s full board. The most notable was a purported scheme to use anti-union legislation for Collins’ own gain.

Attempts to reach Collins, Nicholas and other board representatives were unsuccessful today.

Collins, whose attempted ousting comes in the middle of a GOP-fueled legislative session fraught with bills that aim to limit union power, is accused of willfully neglecting to speak out against a proposed law that would weaken collective bargaining power for police, firefighters and other local government employees.

“Assembly Bill 182 is likely to be remembered as the most important bill... for the LVPPA and other collective bargaining groups to defeat,” Nicholas’ memo says, scolding Collins for staying quiet at its introductory hearing March 25. “Your failure to publicly oppose this bill at the hearing level is unacceptable and inexcusable.”

Among the four-page list of grievances, Nicholas also accuses Collins of making plans to siphon LVPPA members to competing labor group Combined Law Enforcement of Nevada, which Collins founded in 2009.

“You directly could benefit from the demise of the LVPPA,” Nicholas tells Collins in the memo.

The union boss was also criticized for allegedly giving raises to his wife, who serves as an attorney for the group, without first getting approval from the board.

The board further accuses Collins of wasting $150,000 in membership dues to bolster the withering campaign of Larry Burns, who made an unsuccessful bid for sheriff last year. Burns was the union’s pick for the coveted seat, but he ultimately lost to agency favorite Joe Lombardo.​

He also neglected to let Nicholas carry out an independent financial audit for the union, the memo says.

Read the entire memo below.

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