Senate's leader balks at dumping ethics law

CARSON CITY -- There's disagreement in a Senate committee whether a two-year- old law to stop dirty election campaigning is actually working.

Senate Majority Leader William Raggio, R-Reno, said he has been told by several candidates they refrained from some negative attacks because of the law.

Raggio said Wednesday he's not ready to repeal the law as is called for in Assembly Bill 130 which is before the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

But Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the law hasn't helped. "It (the 1998 election) was worse than before." She said she opposed the bill two years ago.

The law directs the state Ethics Commission to rule in cases where a candidate is accused of making false statements with malice against an opponent. It found several candidates guilty of violating the law and fined them.

Those cases are now being appealed to District Court in Las Vegas on grounds the law violates the constitutional right of free speech.

The bill, passed by the Assembly, was authored by Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, who said there's the issue of the free speech and secondly the ethics commission "misapplied" the law.

She told the committee the ethics commission was required to make findings in their decisions but they did not.

"We've had negative campaigns since campaigning started," she said. And people come to different interpretations on what is dirty campaigning.

"It's unfortunate there are negative campaigns. But they work," she said.

Giunchigliani offered to work on a compromise and Raggio indicated he might be interested. But he said, "I need some convincing before I jerk this out of law."

Assemblyman Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, who was fined $5,000 for spreading false information about his opponent, said the ethics commission "made legal and factual errors in my case."

His case is one on appeal to the federal court on grounds of violation of free speech. This law, Beers said, "increases citizens' cynicism," in the political process.

He said he "told the truth" in his campaign statements.

The committee will take action later on the bill.

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