After 2 years not paying on fine, former assemblyman sends state a check

By Joe Schoenmann

Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 | 1:59 p.m.

A former assemblyman, who hadn’t made a payment in two years on a fine for failing to file campaign finance reports, sent a $100 check to the state Monday.

The check came more than a month after his wife told the Las Vegas Sun the check was in the mail.

Despite Wendell Williams’ payment, the Nevada Secretary of State’s office said it would still ask the attorney general’s office to pursue civil action for $9,400 in unpaid fines. The case has been forwarded to the Attorney General’s office for review, though no complaint has been filed yet.

Scott Gilles, deputy secretary of state, said even if Williams intends to resume regular payments after more than two years of not paying the fine, he was already shown leniency.

“The secretary of state’s office is no longer flexible with that,” he said. “The reality is, the Secretary of State’s office cut him a break when the payment agreement was signed (in 2003). He thumbed his nose at that.”

The $15,000 agreement to settle the campaign finance violations was reached with then-Secretary of State Dean Heller, who is now a U.S. senator.

Before the payment that arrived at the Capitol Monday, Williams’ last payment was in August 2009.

Williams also owes the city of Las Vegas $1,940 for personal use of a city cell phone and incorrect time cards that led to him receiving pay for hours he did not work as a city employee while serving in the Legislature.

The city wrote off that debt after unsuccessfully trying to collect it.

Reached last month, Williams blamed the Secretary of State’s office. His wife Zelda Williams said in 2009, she asked for a receipt or an audit of how much her husband owed, but never heard back.

She said on Nov. 8 she had sent a check a few days before, after getting a notarized letter on Nov. 1.

Gilles said the office never received a letter asking for the balance of what Williams owed.