Ethics hearings regarding airport leases set to begin
Tuesday, June 23, 1998 | 11:13 a.m.
A state Ethics Commission probe into the granting of concession leases for the new D gates at McCarran International Airport culminates this week with four days of hearings at the North Las Vegas City Hall beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday and continuing through Saturday.
Twenty-one witnesses have been called to testify about the selection process and what roles Commissioners Yvonne Atkinson Gates, Myrna Williams and Lance Malone played in putting together a list of recommendations they voted on last August.
The probe began in October.
The panel also will be looking at whether the commissioners should have disclosed their relationships to four of those concessionaires before voting or abstained from voting altogether.
A similar complaint against Commissioner Lorraine Hunt was dropped in May.
The maximum penalty commissioners face is a $5,000 fine.
Meanwhile, the companies selected last August for the leases have met federal Disadvantaged Business Enterprise guidelines and invested money in their kiosks. Most are due to open in the next two months, with two companies not opening until January 1999.
District Attorney Stewart Bell said the County Commission has little legal authority to invalidate the leases.
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