Assembly committee rejects Guinn's independent counsel

CARSON CITY -- An Assembly committee doesn't want to see the emergence in Nevada of an independent counsel like Kenneth Starr who has spent years and millions of dollars pursuing President Clinton.

The Elections Procedures and Ethics Committee late Wednesday amended and then approved Gov. Kenny Guinn's bill to toughen the ethics law and to overhaul the ethics commission. But it rejected the governor's suggestion there be an independent counsel for the commission and decided instead to put the legal adviser under the state Attorney General's office.

Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, expressed fear about an independent counsel, who would answer to the part-time Ethics Commission. "He could run off, and there is the potential for abuses," he said.

Guinn's legal counsel, Scott Scherer, said the governor wants to remove any perception that partisan politics might be involved if the attorney general hired and fired the lawyer for the commission.

Under the present structure, the attorney general appoints a deputy to represent the commission.

Perkins said he did not think an independent counsel would immediately abuse the powers but said the abuse could happen over time.

Assemblyman Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas, said all boards and commissions of the state should be represented by the attorney general.

The decision is at odds with the budget committees of the Legislature who have voted to give the Ethics Commission an independent counsel. The differences of the bill will have to be resolved by the leadership of the Assembly and the Senate.

While the committee made changes in Senate Bill 478, Scherer said the heart of the bill remains the portions that strengthen the law, improve the procedures and change the membership of the commission.

The committee agreed with former Ethics Commission Chairman Thomas R. C. Wilson and present Chairwoman Mary Boetsch to amend the bill to eliminate what they said was a big loophole.

The Senate initially deleted from Guinn's bill language defining instances where a public official must disclose a possible conflict of interest and abstain from voting where there is a personal relationship.

The Assembly committee agreed to change the bill and return to the present law where the commission decides on a case-by-case basis whether a close friendship required disclosure and abstention.

Added to the bill by the Assembly committee was a section that lobbyists in the future must report money they spend during the sessions of the Legislature on wining and dining the governor to push through legislation. At present lobbyists file monthly reports on expenses made on lawmakers only.

Committee Chairwoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, also included in the bill her plan to eliminate the Ethics Commission's authority over dirty political campaign practices. The Assembly had already passed a bill to take the commission out of the business of deciding if false statements are made in campaigns.

But the bill, Assembly Bill 130, has not been acted on by the Senate Government Affairs Committee.

Scherer also asked the committee to include a section that only the commission can issue legal opinions. There was confusion, he said when the Ethics Commission ruled in a case involving the Las Vegas City Council in abstaining from votes. Later the attorney general's office issued a legal opinion that conflicted with the commission and clouded the issue.

The committee agreed to look at that but did not take formal action.

The committee continued the present law that complaints against public officials would not be made public until it's decided there is sufficient cause to pursue the case. This protects officials from meritless complaints.

The bill expands the commission from six to eight members. It creates two-member panels that will decide if a complaint has merit and should be forwarded to the commission for a full hearing.

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