Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 | 11:06 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- State Controller Kathy Augustine became the first elected official in Nevada history to be impeached, but her lawyers say they will vigorously battle in the Senate to defend her.
The articles of impeachment charge Augustine with misusing her staff and office, saying that she "demonstrated a lack of honesty, principles and good morals." The articles will be delivered to the Senate today. By law, Augustine was suspended with pay from office pending the trial in the Senate.
Gov. Kenny Guinn is expected to name a replacement and the Senate will give its "advice and consent" to the nominee to the $80,000-a-year job. Today Guinn appointed Augustine's chief deputy, Kim Huys, to replace her while the Senate examines the case.
Augustine, who stipulated to ethical violations to the Ethics Commission, said the unanimous vote in the Assembly to impeach her "was to be expected."
But her lawyer John Arrascada of Reno said, "What we've seen here today (Thursday) is a political lynching in Carson City."
He said he and fellow attorney Dominic Gentile were advised this would be a fair hearing, but it was filled with "hearsay, rumors and innuendoes."
Augustine said today that she's confident she will get a "fair, impartial trial" in the Senate.
The Senate met this morning to accept the articles of impeachment and start the groundwork for the hearing, which is expected to begin after Thanksgiving.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said that Dan Greco of the Washoe County District Attorney's Office would serve as the special prosecutor in the trial in the Senate.
Augustine said the Senate trial would give her attorneys a chance to examine the witnesses.
She said the witnesses against her changed their testimony in the Assembly from what they told the investigators from the attorney general's office. Augustine said Jennifer Normington, her former assistant, told investigators she worked on the campaign 25 percent of her time.
In testimony to the Assembly, Normington said 75 percent of her time was spent on the campaign.
"For the first time these witnesses will be challenged in the Senate," Augustine said.
Augustine's attorneys have indicated that they may have some witnesses to present as well.
Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, said the evidence presented "dictated the results," referring to the three articles of impeachment that charged that Augustine used state workers and equipment on state time in her 2002 re-election campaign.
Augustine, a Republican in the middle of her second term, has said these employees volunteered and she told them to do the work on their free time, not on state time.
Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said there was enough evidence to send the case to the Senate for trial.
"I don't see how you could find anything else," he said.
"The fact that she stipulated to willful violations of the law and that the definition of malfeasance in office was shown to us as violating the public trust, doing something that a reasonable person would know that wasn't correct -- was improper -- I think it clearly rose to the level and we had no choice but to send it across" to the Senate, he said.
Both Buckley and Hettrick agreed the Assembly members took their responsibilities seriously.
"It was very sobering," said Hettrick. "Did you see how quiet that place was?" when each member went to the head of the chambers to sign onto the official articles of impeachment.
"You don't see 42 people in that chamber normally sit there in almost dead silence," he said. "There was dead silence in there for almost 10 minutes while that was being signed."
Augustine was not present during the two days of the hearing in the Assembly. She watched the proceedings on television in her office.
Her attorneys attacked the propriety of the hearings. Arrascada said it was unlawful to allow the state attorney general's office to orchestrate the hearing, where present and past employees of the controller's office testified they had worked on campaign materials during state time.
Gerald Gardner, chief of the criminal division in the attorney general's office, said he was pleased with the outcome and with the unanimous vote.
Assembly members Hettrick, Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, and Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, were designated to carry the articles of impeachment to the Senate today. They were chosen because they were from Northern Nevada and it allowed the Clark County Assembly members to return home Thursday.
Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, said Augustine will have at least 10 days to prepare her case after the Senate gets the impeachment articles. He said her lawyers can then challenge the sufficiency of the evidence.
If the Senate finds there is adequate evidence for a trial, then Augustine will enter a plea and a trial date will be set. It will probably be in early December because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays, Malkiewich said.
The proceeding in the Assembly, he said, went faster than expected. The session opened at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and business was completed by about 1 p.m. Thursday.
The final witness was Stacy Jennings, executive director of the state Ethics Commission, who testified how the commission and Augustine reached an agreement on the complaint against her filed by the attorney general's office.
Augustine entered into a settlement with the state Ethics Commission in which she admitted she should have known that her employees were working on her campaign on state time and should have known they were using state computers and other equipment. She was fined $15,000.
The Senate convened Wednesday, accepted ceremonial tasks and then went home. After voting for impeachment, the Assembly packed its bags and returned home Thursday.
The Senate this morning discussed rules for the upcoming trial and was still deciding a date for the trial to start.
Augustine said she was pleased the the governor had appointed Huys. She said Guinn called her to tell her.
"There will be no disruption in the operation of the office," she said.
Huys has been with the controller's office for three years. Prior to that she was a consultant for American Management Systems that installed the state payroll system. She said she has been in government for 20 years starting her career as an auditor in the state of Washington.
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