Friday, April 25, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The secretary of state's office is investigating whether Las Vegas City Councilman Matthew Callister violated a state election law by not disclosing $10,000 in contributions from the Howard Hughes Corp.
Callister said he did not include the contributions on his campaign finance report this week because he decided to return the money to the development company.
But a state campaign law indicates that any contribution "rendered to" a candidate must be reported. Pamela Crowell, deputy secretary of state for elections, said Thursday that "rendered to" is synonymous with "given to."
Secretary of State Dean Heller faxed a letter to Callister Thursday asking him to provide materials and answer a series of questions regarding the contributions by 5 p.m. Monday. Crowell said a ruling on the matter would be made quickly.
In the letter, Heller said, "It is the opinion of this office that the checks issued to your campaign became contributions when rendered to you."
Callister said today he doesn't think he violated the law.
"I believe I have the right to reject a contribution," he said. "I didn't intentionally violate the law."
Callister said that if, for example, he sent out a general solicitation letter and received a contribution from convicted mobster John Gotti, he should have the right to return the money and not report that he received a contribution from such a person.
"I shouldn't have to report it if I don't cash it and deposit it and use it," he said. "This is a tempest in a teapot."
The contributions came to light Wednesday when Callister's chief opponent, Larry Brown, questioned why they were not reported. Brown said he knew of the donations because Hughes had declined to support his campaign and told him it had contributed to Callister in February.
Callister said he decided not to accept the contributions because Hughes comes before the City Council so often concerning its Summerlin and Summerlin West developments, which are in his Ward 4. Callister returned the six checks Wednesday evening, two days after the reporting deadline.
"We make almost weekly decisions involving (Hughes developments)," Callister said. "I am lobbied by Summerlin or Hughes corporation officials almost weekly. I simply did not feel comfortable accepting such a substantial contribution from a large developer with whom I have not seen eye to eye on issues such as building new schools."
Callister said he also felt uncomfortable accepting the Hughes donation just a few weeks before voting to approve the company's massive Summerlin West development.
"It seemed odd that they sent me such a large contribution before a controversial vote," he said.
Political observers say Callister's handling of the Hughes contributions is not that unusual, but Crowell said to her knowledge the secretary of state's office has not investigated such an issue in the past.
Meanwhile, Hughes issued a news release Thursday to emphasize that Callister actively solicited the contributions from the company.
"Responding to a Jan. 21, 1997, written request and several verbal requests from Councilman Matthew Callister for financial support for his upcoming City Council race, the Political Affairs Committee of the Howard Hughes Corp. approved a contribution totaling $10,000 to Mr. Callister," the release states.
"Keeping with a long-standing policy of distributing the checks through the three entities which undertake the company's extensive activity in Southern Nevada, six checks in the total amount of $10,000 were written from the three accounts."
Those checks were delivered to Callister's campaign headquarters on Feb. 7, according to the Hughes release.
The Hughes release says that on March 4, Callister requested a meeting with John Goolsby, president and chief executive officer of Hughes, and requested additional support from the company.
"Specifically, he requested an additional company campaign contribution, a personal contribution from Mr. Goolsby, as well as Mr. Goolsby's appearance at a fund-raising event and the company's assistance in obtaining the endorsement of the Government Affairs Committee of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce."
Callister acknowledged that he solicited a contribution from Hughes in writing, but he denied asking verbally for additional contributions after the $10,000 arrived. He said he met with Goolsby to ask for his help in securing the Chamber of Commerce endorsement, but did not ask for a personal contribution.
The Chamber of Commerce has endorsed Brown, a water district official, in the Ward 4 race.
The secretary of state's office is investigating a complaint that billboard companies donating space to Brown undervalued their in-kind contributions to keep them under the $5,000 limit for the primary election.
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