Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 8:41 a.m.
During the Legislature's regular session two interns complained that Assemblyman Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, had sexually harassed them.
After the allegations were first made public, in the Sun, Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, asked Legislative Counsel Bureau Chief Lorne Malkiewich to investigate whether the claims were true.
Manendo, 36, steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, saying he was merely being friendly with the women, both of whom are in their early 20s. He later claimed their motives were purely political. Both interned for Assemblywoman Dawn Gibbons, R-Reno.
Malkiewich interviewed dozens of people within the Legislative Building. The probe created quite the stir, with some of those interviewed telling the Sun they believed Manendo was in serious trouble.
But now, a full two months after the regular session ended, there's still no word on whatever became of the investigation.
"You'll have to ask the speaker," Malkiewich said bluntly. "I turned over everything to him."
Says Perkins: "I read through the information and it left another couple of questions unanswered."
Perkins said he sent the probe back to Malkiewich to pursue addition data -- but states the seven weeks of special legislative sessions that followed the regular session took the Manendo matter "off center stage."
"I only recently had a chance to even see it," Perkins said.
A Rose by any other name
Bob Rose has become something of a thorn in the side of public officials.
The retired Las Vegas resident has filed numerous ethics complaints over the years, most with just news clippings to back up his claim.
Now Rose is working on a new complaint -- one alleging that lawmakers with public jobs acted inappropriately when they voted to approve $836 million in new taxes.
"They were essentially approving their own salary increases," Rose alleges.
His first target, he says, will be Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, and a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Rose said Titus' $84,000 university salary was the reason she supported raises for university employees, state employees and teachers.
University professors will get a 3 percent raise under the budget approved by lawmakers.
Rose said he also plans to look into state lawmaker ties to banks to see if those who voted on the financial institutions tax did so in violation of ethics laws.
Even Rose isn't giving himself much of a chance to cultivate the allegations into fully blooming problems for elected officials.
"The last complaint I filed with the state Ethics Commission didn't go anywhere, and they didn't even decide whether they had jurisdiction to go forward," Rose said. "I'm just going to keep doing what I think is right."
Brower moving up
Former Assemblyman Greg Brower won't be singing the Sharron Angle blues too much longer now that the man once called the future of the Nevada GOP has landed a D.C. job.
Brower, a partner with the Jones Vargas law firm in Reno, has accepted a position with the Justice Department as legislative counsel in the executive office for U.S. attorneys.
Brower served two terms in the Assembly, including a stint as minority whip during his sophomore year. The leadership post, coupled with his litigation experience gave him the honors of rising star.
But Angle, another Reno Republican, beat him in 2002 after Brower found himself redistricted into her territory.
Brower is a former Navy surface warfare officer and has served on a number of state and national boards.
Sin City Northwest?
While Las Vegas and San Diego have drawn the most attention during federal probes into public corruption, Seattle just might have a little Operation G Sting of its own under way.
Three Seattle City Council members are facing ethics scrutiny and, according to the Seattle Times, possible federal investigation for thousands of dollars of campaign donations they received from a topless-club owner.
Judy Nicastro, Heidi Wills and Jim Compton received a total of $36,000 from strip club owner Frank Colacurcio Jr., the Times reported, citing documents filed with the state and city ethics boards. All three also voted yes during a controversial 5-4 ruling in June to rezone property for Colacurcio's new strip club project, the Times said.
Law enforcement insiders in Clark County say indictments are probable in San Diego by the end of the month.
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