Friday ethics hearing crucial to Jones' future

Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones faces a critical test Friday in her Democratic bid to become governor.

The fate of her candidacy may rest on the outcome of an all-day Nevada Ethics Commission hearing in Las Vegas that will consider whether the mayor's conduct related to a City Council vote last May violated ethics laws.

The ethics panel is examining whether Jones should have disclosed her political and financial ties to Boyd Gaming Group executives William Boyd and Perry Whitt before voting to deny an application last May to build a restaurant called Nick's Fishmarket in the city.

The Boyd executives -- who are involved in a trust that loaned the mayor's husband, Richard Schuetz, $4.3 million in a land deal -- opposed the restaurant. Jones also received campaign contributions from Boyd Gaming.

What piqued the interest of the Ethics Commission was a phone call Jones made to Boyd four days before the vote in which she allegedly solicited a contribution for her campaign for governor and talked about the restaurant vote.

The commission stirred up controversy in political circles by agreeing to hold the hearing a little more than two weeks before the Sept. 1 primary election.

Questions have been raised that the panel is being used by Jones nemesis Steve Miller, a former city councilman who lost to Jones in the 1991 mayor's race. Miller, who is suing Jones over his defeat, lodged the complaint with the commission.

Word also has been bandied about that strategists for Republican businessman Kenny Guinn, who anticipates meeting Jones in the general election, may have figured in the commission's ironic decision to hold Friday's hearing at the City Council chambers, which is well-suited for the media.

Conceivably, hard-charging commission Chairwoman Mary Boetsch could be sitting in judgment of Jones in the mayor's own chair.

Both Boetsch and the Guinn campaign denied there was any back-room dealing to embarrass Jones.

Boetsch -- a Reno lawyer who has been criticized for her sometimes abrasive and condescending demeanor during ethics hearings -- seems genuinely concerned about the political ramifications of conducting Friday's session in the middle of the governor's race.

At a closed hearing in Reno last month, it was Boetsch who suggested: "There is a problem here.

"The problem is there is an election," she said, "and this commission is thoroughly sick and tired of being used by people to thwart other people's election plans, and I don't want that to happen here. That is not fair."

This week, Boetsch said she was confident the commission was on solid ground in moving ahead with the hearing.

"We've been down this road before," she said. "You might wish that people had better motives. But sometimes, the timing has nothing to do with the motivation of a request for an opinion. It has to do with when the events happened."

In this case, the City Council vote didn't take place until May 26, one week after Jones had filed for governor.

Boetsch said she wanted the ethical questions resolved quickly out of deference to Jones. Friday's date, the panel's regularly scheduled meeting this month, was not opposed by the mayor.

Still, County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates, a Jones ally who has felt the commission's sting, suspects someone is playing games in the Jones case.

"They (the commissioners) are a political pawn," Gates charged. "They allow themselves to be manipulated. I find it extremely interesting that they drag it out for me for 10 months and then within two months, they have a hearing for the mayor in the middle of the campaign for governor."

Added Gates: "The new tool now for hurting someone's career is the Ethics Commission."

Upon the advice of her lawyers, Jones, who has denied wrongdoing, and her top aides declined to be interviewed prior to the hearing.

Her strategists privately are putting out the spin that the mayor views the hearing as an opportunity to clear her name and give her political momentum heading into the general election.

But one veteran political consultant not affiliated with any campaign for governor said Jones will be hurt just by the fact that a hearing takes place.

"There is no way for her to win," the consultant said. "Having your ethics challenged at this level makes you a loser no matter what happens."

If the mayor is hit with an ethics violation, it will be very difficult for her to overcome in the governor's race, the politico said.

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