Voters in the dark

Wednesday, May 7, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

A mystery surrounds the candidacy of Steve Nathan, who filed Monday to fill the seat in the Legislature being vacated by Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

Also filing Monday for Titus’ District 7 seat, which she is giving up to run for Congress against Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., was veteran Assemblyman David Parks, D-Las Vegas.

Over the years, Parks, the Legislature’s only openly gay member, has had to contend with the dirty tricks of conservative activist Tony Dane. They included an attempted challenge to Parks in the 2002 Democratic primary by a California salesman also named David Parks.

Is it possible the dirty tricks are continuing?

According to a story Tuesday by Las Vegas Sun reporter David McGrath Schwartz, Nathan had not thought about running until some of his friends and business associates planted the idea. He said they “presented me a war chest with $50,000 in it and a promise of a lot more.” Nathan, who filed as a Democrat and works as a casino maintenance engineer, declined to name his donors.

He did, however, acknowledge knowing Dane and owning an auto-dialing political business. Dane also owns an auto-dialing political businness. Is Dane one of those friends and business associates behind Nathan’s sudden financing?

That would be easy to find out if Nevada’s campaign financial disclosure requirements were written for the benefit of voters instead of candidates who prefer being murky about who is backing them.

As it stands, Nathan will not have to file the first of three required financial disclosure statements until Aug. 5, which is 10 days after early voting begins for the primary elections.

Early voters should have the right to know the names and affiliations of those who have contributed to candidates on the ballot. Nevada’s campaign finance laws need many improvements, including one that requires candidates to list their donors within a week or two after filing for public office.