Legislators don't like campaign bounty plan

Leaders of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada suggested a $50 payment for each error caught might be an incentive for the public.

Their proposal would fine candidates $100 for each math error. The first Nevada resident to find the mistake and report it to the secretary of state's office would receive $50 of that fine.

Advocacy groups such as PLAN, which review campaign contribution forms, would not be eligible for the bounty, said Paul Brown, Southern Nevada coordinator of PLAN.

"I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who appeared on a list of math miscreants.

PLAN found mistakes on the campaign finance reports of 24 legislators, including seven who serve on either the Senate Finance Committee or the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, which handle billions of state dollars.

Fifteen Democrats made mistakes as did nine Republicans.

PLAN said Buckley made two errors on two different forms. Using her own numbers, the group said the errors resulted in Buckley underreporting by $3,537 the amount of money she actually raised.

No one contends lawmakers are failing to report contributions, just that they use sloppy arithmetic, which PLAN finds ironic in light of legislative criticism of high school seniors who couldn't pass math tests to qualify for graduation.

Officials in Secretary of State Dean Heller's office who create the disclosure documents acknowledge some problems exist with the forms.

Election Deputy Pamela Crowell is planning on revising the forms to make it easier to track dollars and in-kind donations going in and out of campaign coffers.

"I know people have had problems reconciling contributions and expenses," Crowell said. "Some individuals with in-kind contributions failed to subtract that from their total contributions and couldn't figure out why contributions and expenses wouldn't reconcile."

Crowell said she's open to suggestions about how to improve the forms, which need to be redesigned before they are issued to the counties in January.

But Buckley said the bounty proposal doesn't further the goal of public disclosure of where money comes from in legislative races, which she says is more important.

"PLAN is well-meaning, but there are other things more important than math errors," Buckley said. "Such as who puts out false mailers and who pays for them."

The secretary of state accepts the forms, but doesn't have the staff or authority to audit them unless a specific complaint is filed.

Sen. Randolph Townsend, R-Reno, said he hires a certified public accountant to do his reports. PLAN found a $400 math error on Townsend's second of three reports for the 1998 election.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, made $4,394 in errors, according to PLAN.

"The forms are hopeless. They make it impossible to balance," Coffin said. "But I can assure you every contribution is reported."

He doesn't think much of the bounty plan.

"If there was an intent to conceal, I could see penalizing people, but we already have that in the law. Anybody can make a complaint to the secretary of state. There's plenty of force in the law right now if people would establish intent."

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