Columnist Jeff German: AG still mum on secret probe

IN today's world of presidential lies and cover-ups, what happens inside Nevada government seems pale in comparison.

But not any less important.

For the past 18 months, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, who's now running for a third term, has been at the heart of a scandal that underscores the dangers created when those in high office abuse their power.

Del Papa has been accused of opening a secret intelligence investigation in 1995 of just-retired Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, her political adversary, and other board members.

Amid the mounting evidence she has denied the allegations and, according to some, has attempted to cover up the existence of the probe.

But bits and pieces of the secret investigation that tend to contradict Del Papa have been surfacing in recent months. Someone else stepped forward last week.

The allegations were first raised in March 1997 by Mike Anzalone, a former Del Papa investigator who refused to participate in the probe, which was an offshoot of the criminal investigation of Ron Harris, an ex-Control Board computer whiz.

Harris, who had earlier pleaded guilty to slot cheating, drew headlines in 1997 when it was learned that Del Papa's hand-picked deputy, David Thompson, had videotaped hours of interviews with him. On those tapes, Harris leveled all sorts of unsubstantiated allegations against the very Control Board colleagues, including Bible, who had pushed the hardest to put him in prison.

Copies of some of those tapes were leaked to ABC news last spring in what casino industry insiders viewed as another attempt by Del Papa to embarrass Bible. The two officials had been at odds since the 1995 Legislature when Bible expressed unhappiness over the legal representation Del Papa's office was giving his agency.

Last February Anzalone again raised the specter of the intelligence probe in a lawsuit against Del Papa in which he contended he was a victim in the public feud between Bible and the attorney general.

Del Papa pooh-poohed the accusations as coming from a "disgruntled" ex-employee. She took this position even though the Harris tapes and two former Control Board chiefs, Ron Asher and Andy Vanyo, previously had corroborated Anzalone's claims.

Now comes word of more corroboration from another former Del Papa employee. This employee, who requested anonymity, says the intelligence probe went beyond what even Anzalone has alleged.

In February, Anzalone charged that Thompson had once asked him to obtain Bible's telephone and bank records. Anzalone, however, balked at the request and later was removed from the case and forced to resign.

The employee says other investigators in the office were asked to examine Department of Motor Vehicle records of Bible and his fellow board members for signs of luxury cars. Thompson apparently was trying to determine whether any of the regulators were involved with Harris and his slot cheating ring. It was a ludicrous theory at best.

Even property records of the board members were sought by Thompson in his zeal to link the members to Harris, the former employee says.

Among those targeted in the records search, the employee says, was Steve DuCharme, who succeeded Bible at the helm of the Control Board on Saturday.

Anzalone says the employee's decision to step forward will make it more difficult for Del Papa to brush him off as a disgruntled ex-worker.

"This corroborates everything I've said in the lawsuit," Anzalone says. "This needs to be investigated by the proper authorities."

Del Papa, however stands firm, saying it's "rubbish" to suggest her office investigated any Control Board members.

"Our position hasn't changed," Del Papa says. "As we've said in the past, the attorney general's office does not conduct intelligence investigations and did not do so in this case."

Del Papa adds that she finds it interesting that "this mysterious corroboration" has surfaced one month before the election.

Still, the evidence would seem to suggest that this is more than an election-year attempt to embarrass Del Papa. Too many people have stepped forward to raise questions.

Did the state's top law enforcement officer investigate its top gaming regulators because of a clash of personalities? Could the attorney general be that petty?

In today's political world, thanks to the Clinton sex scandal, the public no longer feels comfortable taking the word of its elected officials.

Del Papa ought to either come clean and admit she indeed did investigate the Control Board members, or prove to us she didn't.

Release your files, Frankie Sue. Let the public decide for itself.

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