Woodbury's son forces ethics call

CARSON CITY -- Clark County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury says he will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to abstain from voting when the law firm where his son, an attorney, works has business before the commission.

Woodbury appeared before the state Ethics Board on Friday in Carson City to ask for guidance on how these potential conflicts of interest should be handled.

The issue arose in the controversial case in which the County Commission voted 3-2 to keep Wal-Mart Supercenters out of the county. Woodbury abstained because his son, Rodney, worked for the law firm of Sen. Mark James, who represented Wal-Mart.

The James firm was counsel to Wal-Mart until just days before the vote. Counting on Woodbury as a vote for the project, Wal-Mart dumped the James firm in an attempt to remove the possible conflict of interest to allow him to cast his ballot. But District Attorney Stewart Bell advised Woodbury not to vote.

Woodbury then sought the advice of the Ethics Commission, which said he must disclose his relationship whenever the law firm appears before the County Commission. That occurs only once every several months, he said.

"They (the commission) said I would have to make a public disclosure and I would have to determine on a case-by-case basis whether or not the item and my son's relationship to the item could materially affect my independence of judgment," Woodbury said after the closed-door Ethics Commission meeting.

The Ethics Commission, Woodbury said, did not give a blanket opinion that he would or would not have to abstain in every case.

"I guess my decision (whether to vote) could be questioned by anybody who wants to question it," he said. "But there will be a full disclosure so the people can decide whether I'm doing the right thing or the wrong thing.

"It's not as if this firm appears before us this often," he said. "They are not one of the regular law firms that appear before us."

Woodbury was accompanied by Richard Wright, a Las Vegas attorney.

The commission also refused to reconsider its decision that Louis Overstreet had filed a complaint against Clark County School Board Susan Brager to harass her. But it reduced his $1,500 penalty to $473.

The commission in July imposed the penalty based on the number of hours that School District attorney Bill Hoffman said he spent on the case -- 10 hours at $150 an hour. The commission Friday decided the proper rate should be $47 an hour, not $150.

That money will be paid to the Clark County School District.

Overstreet filed a complaint alleging that Brager violated the ethics law by unilaterally awarding a consulting contract instead of going through the full board. The commission found that Overstreet "made false statements to this commission and he did so in bad faith and with the intent to vex Ms. Brager."

Although Overstreet did not succeed in overturning all of the original decision, he said the commission "was a little more civil this time."

The commission since that time has been restructured with six new members.

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