Ethics Commission penalties to be challenged

Stung by $5,000 fines levied by the Ethics Commission over the filing of a false complaint, three people, including a former county commission candidate, have swatted back in a court challenge to the action.

The petition for judicial review, filed through attorney Patrick Nohrden, contends the Ethics Commission overstepped its statutory authority by handing down the fines on shaky evidence.

The Ethics Commission last month decided to send a message to people who file frivolous or false ethics complaints by Brooks Compton, his mother Shari Compton and his former stepfather Steve Smith with the maximum penalty allowed under state law.

The commission concluded the trio conspired with Shaughn Daily to file a false complaint against former County Commissioner Paul Christensen, who Brooks Compton was challenging in the 1996 election. Compton lost in the Primary Election and Christensen lost in the General.

"They acted in concert with Daily," Ethics Commission Chairwoman Mary Boetsch said after the ruling. Daily was Compton's campaign coordinator.

A July 27 hearing has been set on the challenge that has been assigned to District Judge Sally Loehrer.

Daily had filed at least two ethics complaints against Christensen before the one that got him into trouble.

The third complaint, a letter from one "Helena Lockridge," accused Christensen of using his position as chairman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to get first-class trips for his wife and himself and for using a county phone number in his campaign literature.

The name on the complaint turned out to be fictitious. At a hearing in May, Daily told the panel that he had faxed them the letter without any prompting from the Comptons or Smith. The panel fined Daily $2,500.

Boetsch said she didn't believe the Comptons or Smith when they said that they had nothing to do with the fictitious letter -- based on their demeanor and attitude when answering questions from ethics commissioners.

"We're saying they're all lying," Boetsch said.

Ethics vice-chairwoman Helen Chisolm said she wanted to fine them the maximum penalty "to show everyone that this is not a game."

Nohrden said in court documents that he would "prove the fines were improper and would never have been levied had the commission followed the law."

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