Jones looking ahead as seventh ethics probe ends

Cleared once more of alleged ethical lapses, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones is back to devoting attention to her Democratic bid for governor two weeks from the primary.

"This opens the door for me to focus my energy on issues -- issues of education, child care, health care, economic diversification, growth and crime," Jones said Sunday, after having time to reflect on her latest bout with the Nevada Ethics Commission.

"The public is getting tired of all the throwing of stones and the negativity, and it's interested in hearing about the issues that affect Nevada going into the 21st century."

Jones said she was elated that the Ethics Commission on Friday absolved her of wrongdoing for the seventh time in four years.

"I commend the commission for taking the time, when they deal with issues, to try and ferret out the truth," Jones said. "With me, each time they have."

The commission found that Jones did not scheme to help a bank, which had done business with her husband, kill a West Sahara Avenue restaurant project last May.

Following a day-long hearing at City Hall, the panel also ruled there was no evidence to suggest that Jones was aware that her newlywed husband, Richard Schuetz, had obtained a $4.3 million loan from BankWest before voting May 26 against Nick's Fishmarket.

Jones, the commission found, was not influenced by a 24-second phone conversation with BankWest founder William Boyd four days before the vote. Boyd, chief executive officer of Boyd Gaming Corp., had brought up the restaurant vote in the brief conversation. Jones was soliciting a campaign contribution at the time.

This is the seventh time Jones has been before the Ethics Commission since 1994. She has been absolved of wrongdoing each time but often has found herself lectured (as she was on Friday) for not being vigilant about possible conflicts.

Ethics Commission Chairwoman Mary Boetsch on Friday encouraged Jones to go to great lengths in the future to avoid even the appearance of conflicts, especially those involving her husband's business interests.

Immediately after the hearing, Jones acknowledged she planned to open up the lines of communication with Schuetz.

"We're going to quit talking about how much I love him and we'll talk more about money," Jones said with a smile.

One longtime political consultant not involved in the governor's race said Sunday that Jones seems to have come out of the hearing in good shape.

"I don't think she will suffer a lot of natural fallout unless she gets drawn back into the bull's eye of the commission again," the consultant said.

Jones, however, still must get through the Sept. 1 primary, where her nearest challenger, state Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, is poised to make an issue of the mayor's ethics problems.

Neal said Sunday he believed the Ethics Commission ruling left some doubt in the minds of the voters about whether Jones had violated the law in the Nick's Fishmarket vote.

"It's hard to believe that she didn't know about her husband's deal with that amount of money involved," Neal said. "They found a loophole, and we're not buying it."

Neal said the voters should be concerned that the mayor has been before the Ethics Commission so many times.

"That means she has come close to violating ethics laws, and that doesn't look good," he said.

Responded Jones: "Anybody can file an ethics charge. It doesn't mean that it's true."

In this case, the complaint was filed by former City Councilman Steve Miller, who is suing Jones over his 1991 loss to the mayor. Miller has been the mayor's chief political nemesis since his defeat in which he contends the Jones campaign had defamed him.

Jones said she's confident she'll be able to fend off attacks on her ethics from opponents in the future.

"This is American politics today," Jones said. "If they try to focus on an issue that's a nonissue instead of focusing on issues that people care about, I think it puts them at risk."

The political strategist, meanwhile, said Jones has a window of opportunity in the next two weeks to portray herself in a positive light, especially while the two front-runners in the Republican primary, Kenny Guinn and Aaron Russo, slug it out in the gutter.

"Guinn and Russo will be mired in the mud from here on in," the veteran consultant said. "This is a perfect opportunity, if she grasps it and has the ability to do it, to shape her campaign. She should flood the airwaves with positive imagery and feel-good commercials until the end of the primary.

"She has a chance to go into the general election with a new paint job."

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