New law addresses accountability

From Barbie dolls to Ford trucks, personal and campaign gifts continue to funnel to Southern Nevada politicians and lawmakers.

But because a new law forces candidates to report any in-kind or monetary contributions from a single source that is worth more than $100, the types of gifts reported may get even more interesting, Secretary of State Dean Heller predicted. And, he noted, because of the lower limit, there is more accountability this campaign season.

Before the new legislation, which went into effect Oct. 1, candidates disclosed only those contributions worth more than $500.

"It should get very interesting," Heller said of this year's races. "We believe with these new disclosure laws, 90 to 95 percent of all gifts will be disclosed. I'm not certain what this election cycle is going to bring. From one election to the next, it never fails to surprise us."

Two other state officials say contributions to politicians in recent years have changed dramatically.

For example, vehicles -- a Suburban to Nye County Commission Chairman Dick Carver from Al Drayton, head of the Railroad Valley Rancher's Association, and a Ford pickup to Sheriff Jerry Keller from Gaudin Ford -- are believed to be the first of their kind to be given to politicians, Deputy Attorney General Kateri Cavin said.

Pamela Crowell, deputy secretary of state for elections, said that vehicles "are unusual" as gifts.

On the smaller end, according to his personal financial-disclosure form, Las Vegas City Councilman Arnie Adamsen accepted a $185 golf club from the Las Vegas Founders Club. Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, according to her disclosure form, received "Star Trek" Ken and Barbie dolls valued at $75 from Gary Gregg of the Las Vegas Hilton and Dom Perignon champagne valued at $125 from the law firm of Ecker & Standish.

At the higher end of the scale, Keller accepted the white pickup from Gaudin as a $9,150 in-kind contribution during his first run for office, according to his 1995 campaign filing.

Carver has been driving a $25,500 GMC Suburban since it was given to him in 1995, Drayton, the donor, told the Pahrump Valley Times last year.

"I gave the commissioner the Suburban because he blew up his car," Drayton told the Times. "We drove to the Chevy dealership in Fallon. I wrote a check for $25,500 and Mr. Carver took possession. The whole point of this was to make sure he didn't have to use a county vehicle."

According to Sam Merlino, a deputy clerk with the Nye County clerk's office, Carver did not report the Suburban on his 1996 campaign-contribution report. It also was not reported to the clerk's office on a financial-disclosure form that is to be filed each year, Merlino said.

Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown received ads on billboards from four local billboard companies, according to his campaign-contributions list.

Deputy Attorney General Cavin said the state campaign law, as it reads today, does not spell out how vehicles and billboards should be listed.

Adamsen, Jones and Brown reported their gifts on personal financial-disclosure forms to the city; Keller reported his to Clark County as an in-kind political contribution without identifying it as a truck; and Carver didn't disclose his at all, according to state and county records.

Heller investigated Brown's billboard contribution and found that the dollar amount of the contribution was legal. However, it prompted Heller to seek a revision to the law.

"What we're slopping over into here are ethics laws," Ande Engleman, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's office, said. "It all needs some clarification. We're closing the loopholes."

Gary Ackerman, president of Gaudin Ford Country, confirmed that the nearly $10,000 in-kind contribution to Keller was for the truck he gave him.

"Right, that's what it was for," he said.

Keller's campaign spokesman, Howard Stutz, said Keller accepted and drove the Ford pickup because he turned in his department-issued car while running for office. According to his campaign statement, Keller drove the truck for 11 months.

"He turned in his department vehicle and began driving the truck from Gaudin," Stutz said, adding that Keller drove it during his campaign instead of driving his personal vehicle, "an old Volkswagen van."

Stutz said Keller gave the truck back after the 1994 election and paid about $20,000 to Gaudin for another vehicle, a white F-150 truck, which he drives today.

The law doesn't address whether Keller also should have reported receiving the truck to the Ethics Commission, according to the secretary of state's office.

But Stutz said Keller "followed the laws in 1994."

"You didn't have to say what it was for," Stutz said. "You just had to report that you received an in-kind contribution."

City Council members also are required to report to the city clerk's office any gifts worth more than $100. They may not accept a gift valued at more than $250, according to the city's ethics code.

City Clerk Roni Ronemus said Jones "reports everything," including the $20 boxes of candy she receives.

The confusion in the law is on what forms the gifts are to be reported.

Cavin said in-kind contributions are for services, not for gifts such as vehicles.

"An in-kind contribution is for services rendered," she said. "I'm not sure a car can be an in-kind contribution. It sounds like it would fall under a gift."

The only way to determine whether it was reported correctly, Crowell said, would be for the case to be forwarded to Heller for the secretary of state to look into. "Then we'll review it," she said.

Under the law, Brown was able to report billboard space as a $5,000 in-kind contribution. Councilman Matthew Callister filed a complaint with the secretary of state saying the billboard space provided was undervalued on Brown's campaign-disclosure report.

Heller, at the time he investigated Brown's contribution, said he was "troubled that current state law is silent on the manner in which in-kind contributions are to be valued." As a result, he said, he has adopted a new standard for valuing such contributions.

Heller determined that the in-kind contributions were properly disclosed by Brown and documented by the billboard companies.

In Carver's case, because he did not report the Suburban, the state Ethics Commission accepted a complaint from Pahrump Town Board member Gary Hollis. The commission will determine whether Carver violated Nevada law by failing to report receiving the Suburban on his financial-disclosure statement. The Ethics Commission will hear the case this month.

Brown explained that the reason he accepted billboard advertising was a need for "name recognition."

"I was running against a tenured incumbent," he said. "I had very little money raised at that point. One of the quickest ways to get name recognition was to get A-frames and billboards -- any kind of public recognition."

So he went directly to the billboard companies, he said.

He said he supports the new law.

"Be it in-kind or whatever, as long as there's full disclosure, I support that 100 percent."

Carver did not return a telephone call made to his home.

Adamsen said he doesn't accept any gifts worth more than $250, according to the law. But accepting even those gifts leaves him uneasy, he said.

"I've had people offer me larger gifts," he said. "I say, 'No thanks.' That's the law."

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