Gates' relationship with planner probed

The state Ethics Commission wants to know more about the role Michael Chambliss played in helping County Commission Chairwoman Yvonne Atkinson Gates obtain building permits between 1993 and 1995 for house remodeling projects.

Chambliss is a senior city planner who, building department records show, signed for at least two building permits for Gates -- in September 1994 for a patio and in January 1995 for an iron fence at her home.

The panel will call Ron LaBar, central permits manager for the city of Las Vegas, to testify June 25 "regarding the relationship he observed between Ms. Atkinson-Gates and Mr. Chambliss," Senior Deputy Attorney General Louis Ling said in a letter to participants in next week's hearing.

"The information we have is that Chambliss would give Gates deferential treatment whenever Gates showed up to get permits, take her to the head of the line," Ethics Commission Chairwoman Mary Boetsch said.

Such information "goes toward the nature of the relationship" between Gates and Chambliss, Boetsch said.

"When does a friend become such a friend that there needs to be disclosure and abstention?" Boetsch asked. "Different people mean different things by the term, and that is what we are trying to find out."

From 1994 to 1996, Chambliss was also a paid campaign consultant for Gates. His duties included writing speeches and newsletters for her. Gates said she called on him to pick up the permits for her because he worked in the planning department.

"There was something I needed to get, I was here at the (County Commission) office and needed to get a permit but couldn't go over there," Gates said. Since Chambliss was working there, Gates said, she called the building department and asked whether he could pick up the permit for her.

Gates called the inquiry "idiotic" and said she wouldn't know LaBar if he looked her in the face.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gates asked. "This is the stupidest thing I ever heard in my life. This is ridiculous."

Chambliss is a longtime acquaintance of Gates who was paid $50,000 for his campaign work. Both testified during ethics hearings in March that they had known each other for 17 years but that their relationship never had gone beyond a business or professional level.

"Have I ever denied I knew Michael? No," Gates said. "I said I've known him for years."

Gates said she doesn't remember with whom she spoke or what improvements on her house required the permits. But she remembers being told to fax a letter giving Chambliss permission to pick up the permits.

LaBar said his name came up when the Ethics Commission six months ago subpoenaed building-department permits that had his name on them. He said Gates had faxed the letter to him.

"I can only describe what I saw," LaBar said. "Whenever she came in, he was with her, helping her through the system."

LaBar's supervisor, Building Department Director Paul Wilkins, said it's a common practice to let homeowners have a friend or neighbor pick up a permit on their behalf.

"If we get a letter to issue a permit for my house to my neighbor, that's common," Wilkins said. "It's not that big of a deal, in my opinion."

Kathy England, who has represented Gates since October when allegations of ethics violations were first levied against the commissioner, said the investigation is way off track.

"We're so far afield," England said. "I don't think that ethics law gives them the power to make everyone's life miserable forever."

England said that, prior to a letter she received today from Ling, she had been given no notice of LaBar's scheduled appearance. She said she was suspicious that he had not been subpoenaed, which would have required a vote of the Ethics Commission.

England characterized any testimony LaBar might give as "rampant speculation."

England has requested that the Ethics Commission turn over all information it has gathered during the course of its investigation, "and that they provide it by tomorrow so that I have sufficient time to prepare for the hearing."

The Ethics Commission is trying to determine whether the relationship between Gates and Chambliss is such that she should have disclosed it before voting to give Chambliss a concessions lease at the new D gates of McCarran International Airport.

Commissioners Lance Malone and Myrna Williams face similar inquiries. All three are scheduled to appear before the Ethics Commission next week during a hearing expected to last through Saturday. Twenty-one witnesses are scheduled to appear.

Williams is being questioned about her relationship with Judy Klein, who won two locations at the new concourse for coffee kiosks.

In regard to Malone, the Ethics Commission at first was interested only in his relationship with Gay Reber, a friend of his wife's who won a food and beverage concession. But based on Malone's testimony during a May 27 predetermination hearing, the commission decided to summon Malone's brother and sister-in-law to talk about their connection to Tammy Starring, who also received an airport concession.

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