New ethics board struggles with campaign fines

CARSON CITY -- Anywhere from $114,000 to $750,000 may be owed in fines by errant state and local public officials who failed or were late in filing their financial disclosure forms with the state Ethics Commission in 1998 and this year.

The newly restructured commission struggled Thursday with what, if any, steps should be taken to collect the money.

Kenneth Rohrs, executive director of the commission, said there may be anywhere from 200 to 500 cases involving outstanding penalties. And he said he has heard the amount due may be $750,000. Commissioner Joni Wines said she heard it was about $114,000.

Some of the public officials paid their fines, others asked for waivers and some ignored the penalty. Some complained they had submitted their financial disclosure forms but the commission lost them.

Rohrs said there are boxes of records that need to be checked to compile who has paid and who is delinquent. "It's a mess," he said.

Commissioner Peter Bernhard, who was elected chairman succeeding Bill Bible, who resigned from the commission, directed Rohrs to compile the records by the January meeting so a decision can be made whether to grant waivers, go after the back fines or decide on a case-by-case basis what penalties may be waived.

Bernhard of Las Vegas said the new law allows the commission to waive the fines, but it must be for good cause. And he said the commission needs an accurate record of the status of each delinquent report.

Commissioner Bill Flangas of Las Vegas said, "It doesn't make any sense to spend $50 to get a return of $1."

But he added the commission can't let public officials get away with contempt of the law while others have paid a fine. He said the commission must maintain credibility.

Commissioner Lizzie Hatcher of Las Vegas said she was one of those whose financial disclosure forms were mailed in but the commission maintained it never received them. She said she sent it back again.

Meanwhile, Flangas, Hatcher, Raymond "Skip" Avanzino of Reno and Todd Russell of Carson City were sworn in for their first meeting.

The Legislature, at the request of Gov. Kenny Guinn, expanded the commission from six to eight members and gave it a full-time executive director, a full-time attorney and staff. The commission hired Rohrs as its director and Nancy Lee Varnum, a Reno attorney, as legal counsel. In the past, the commission had only a program assistant as its staff and the part-time use of a deputy attorney general.

It also has new powers and must make decisions quicker than in the past when some cases lingered on for nearly a year.

Rohrs said the former commission made a number of decisions but the state attorney general's office has not written the formal opinions. Some of those cases date back to the early part of this year. He said they should be the first order of business for the attorney general's office to get those ruling written.

It was suggested Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa be asked to have the work done by the end of the year, but commissioners decided against setting a deadline. Instead Bernhard will talk to Del Papa to see if anything can be done to speed up the process.

Rohrs also briefed the commission on the new procedure on handling complaints that a public official may have violated the law. Once a complaint is filed, Rohrs plans to give the public official who is the target, seven to eight days to answer the allegations.

It will be up to Rohrs to make a recommendation to a panel of two members who will decide if there is just cause to go forward with the complaint. If the panel agrees the allegations have substance, then the remaining six members will hold a hearing and make a final decision on whether the ethics laws have been violated.

At the outside, the case must be concluded within 150 days.

Flangas noted that some people drag out the procedures by requesting delays. "They better damn well have a good reason for requesting a continuance," he said.

Bernhard said in the past, some people used the complaint process for political purposes, keeping the allegation "hanging over the public official," during the election campaign.

The other members of the commission are Vice Chairman Mario Recanzone of Fallon and Hal Smith of Henderson.

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