State candidates late with financial disclosure statements

Those failing to file by a May 28 deadline include incumbent Assembly members Morse Arberry, D-North Las Vegas and David Parks, D-Las Vegas; state controller candidate Wally Earhart, and Assembly candidates Chuck Gardner and Judy Witt.

Others who missed the deadline were Democrat lieutenant governor candidates Ian Hirsch and Bill Montgomery and Republican lieutenant governor candidates Jessi Winchester and Mary Ann and Michael Amador; and Clark County Commission candidates Dario Herrera, Tony Badillo and Mark Smith.

The Amadors, a husband and wife competing against each other, owe only $225. Arberry owes $375; Winchester, $475; Parks, $125; and Herrera, $100.

They've submitted their statements, but haven't paid the late filing fees. The others owe more than $3,000 each. With each passing day, the fines grow by another $100.

The candidates can't plead ignorance. When they filed for office, they were required to sign a form stating they'd submit a financial disclosure statement.

On the statements - which generally take only a few minutes to fill out - candidates must list the source of their income, names of creditors, property holdings and names of people who gave them gifts in the last year valued at more than $200.

Once elected, office holders in Nevada also are required to submit additional financial disclosure statements by March 31 each year.

More than 200 officer holders failed to comply with that deadline. As of May 13, they each owed $3,375.

The Ethics Commission has suspended further fines against those late filers, pending an attorney general's opinion on whether the fines can be waived.

But the latest group may not be as fortunate because they signed acknowledgment statements. They also were given copies of the law telling them of the deadlines for filing the statements and the penalties for failing to comply.

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